Texas Dusk Timer

When Should Landscape Lights Turn On?

Lights look best when they come on just after sunset, while there is still deep blue in the sky — designers call this the blue hour. Switching on 10–20 minutes after sunset lets the lighting build as the sky darkens instead of looking washed out by daylight.

Texas sunsets swing a lot through the year. In Austin, sunset moves from around 5:30 pm in early December to nearly 8:40 pm in late June, and daylight saving time shifts everything by an hour in March and November. A simple clock timer that is never adjusted ends up switching on in daylight half the year and in darkness the other half.

Timer Options

• Photocell: turns lights on at dusk automatically. Mount it where your own fixtures and porch lights won't fool it.
• Astronomical timer: calculates sunset for your location every day — no adjustments, no photocell drift. This is what we install on most systems.
• Smart controller: sunset-based schedules plus app control, dimming and scenes. See smart lighting systems.

Pair your schedule with an off time that suits your street — 11 pm or midnight for most neighborhoods, or dusk-to-dawn on a low-output path zone for safety. The energy calculator shows how little LED lights cost to run either way.