I've just installed a retro fit Auto light switch and wired it in, all works fine but I was just trying to guage how sensitive other peoples lights are.

Mine come on when it's still fairly light outside, ie. about 7.10pm today. The car was sat undr a tree so came on when I first got in the car but then stayed on throughout the journey home, even though the sun was still out.

They also tend to come on in the rain, which is a good idea (my mrs Astra H auto lights don't do this).

They work as they should in other cases, so I have seen them come on/go off through tunnels and they have come on then gone off before when coming entering and coming out of a dull rain cloud.

Is this normal for them to be so sensitive, ie. they tend to stay on longer than I think is needed?

My auto lights prefer to come on rather than off.

There are lots of different inputs other than the obvious one (lack of light) that can result in the lights coming on...

Achieving certain speeds, if the wipers are on constant, low bright sunlight etc.

Either way once they are on then most (but not all of the time) they stay on for the duration of the journey...

I'd say the auto lights are certainly set up on the conservative side.

They come on any time it rains and as mentioned they also cleverly know when the sun is low in the sky (even if it is a clear day and light levels are very high) and come on. To be honest the sensitivity annoys me slightly and I tend to leave them in manual and control them myself. For example, near me there is a stretch of road with large trees on both sides of the road where the folage obscures the sky. The lights always come on when i drive through there (even on a nice day) and only sometimes go off again.

Good to know that they are probably doing what they should, the low sun one is a good idea (how does it figure it out?)

The Astra H isn't as sensitive and in someways isn't as good, ie. I think lights should come on with the wipers when it's raining.

One piece of technology that I was blown away with is BMW's full beam assistance, it works perfect and totally amazed me just how accurate it was. When a car overtakes you it must sense the rear lights and place them to dipped beam instantly, very very impressive. I'd love to know how it all works.

Just a short explanation.....

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlamp#Adaptive_High_beams

....read on to the Pixel Light. That sounds a lot more interesting

Anyway:

I find my auto-lights can be a little picky. Sometimes they come on and sometimes they don't going under the same road bridge (J6 M25) at more or less the same time every day, but always come on going under the M20 at Maidstone. On the whole I'd rather they come on early than late though. Lack of enthusiasm isn't a problem if you've got DRLs too.