The way I know the little trick above works is, I had the opposite problem my mirror would not dim even when pitch black.
I have a small dashcam, which at the time was mounted up behind the mirror, which concealed it very nicely BUT the glow off the small screen was shining into the rear sensor and it thought it was daylight, so no matter how bright the lights behind me shone on the front sensor by the green led, the rear thought it was daytime...gggrrrr
Moved the dashcam away from the rear sensor and hey presto a dimming mirror!