Whenever I fast travel to any of my settlements that have spotlights (and they all do) they're never on, ever. I always have to highlight them in workbench mode and then back out to get the beams to turn on. Which is shame as those rotating search light beams look fantastic at night - adding some of the best character to my nighttime settlements. Is it just me or do you also get it?


Edit. I'm on Xbox 1

Mine usually are all working when I travel to and from my settlements. Unless I get there right after a "failed to defend the settlement" message.

Same problem. Also light bulbs, after a certain number

My spotlights work right after I place them, but then they go dark. Also, they never point anywhere they are needed... I placed on on top of a shack foundation, and it pointed straight out level with its own position, and never anywhere near the ground.

Yes, as long as they're powered.

Same Bug here. The Light is disappearing

The spotlights, even if lacking juice, don't turn the power supply number on top of the screen red. So, chances are, even if connected, they still have too little power. Try connecting another generator.

I've had similar problems with lightbulbs and ceiling fans, settlement power is definitely buggy for anything to do with lights.

My spotlights never work and I hate those damned "defend such and such settlement" because I always, without fail get the messages when I'm in the middle of a dungeon crawl on a quest that you can't just drop everything for to fast travel to help a bunch of FSA idiots fend off some friggin' Mole Rats.

Settlement power appears to be buggy for a wider range of elements than lights only. More than once I had to scrap and rebuild the generators supplying the water purifiers because they just stopped working with no apparent reason.

IME if inwired lights aren't working you need more wiring to connectors on the walls/ceiling.

As for spotlight turrets, I can't think of a time when they weren't working as expected unless they are damaged. Could it be that they might have been damaged in an attack and not repaired? Since we have a natural tendency to put spotlights in high places that settler's can't reach, can they automatically repair them the way they do everything else if given time?

I had that with an industrial water purifier at the Houseboat. Had added it to the settlement but saw no increase in water production for days. So tried storing all my purifies and generators and reinstaled them. It fixed it Thankfully I didn't need to scrap and rebuild them.

I have my spotlights connected to an alarm. They'll only turn on, if the alarm switch is turned on. But yeah you need power.

My spotlights are definitly working as they're still rotating, just that there's no light on untill you select it in workbench mode and then back out. This prompts the light to come back on. I have this with all my spotlights in all my settlements.

Oh good to know, gonna try that next time the bug occurs.

I've found that, just like the other weirdness at settlements, spotlights work fine as long as you maintain them. You wouldn't believe how many times some electric hookup or other thing just stops working and I have to replace it.

I suppose it adds to the realism, but, really, although I love settlement building, doing maintenance on all this stuff takes up so much time!

I wish they had the option to 1) Actually assign somebody to harvest the dern crops when they regrow! so that I don't have to do it myself all the time and 2) Assign somebody to do "maintenance", so that, when something goes down, they can do the fixes rather than my having to constantly cycle through all my settlements just to be sure everything is in working order. Hey Sturges! I though you said you liked fixing things, so why are being a guard or a scavenger the only things you can do if I don't want you in the fields?

Same issue as OP. Spotlights often just do not light up. Ive double checked that they have enough power and ive replaced wires, and made sure they arent damaged.


OP, its just flat out bugged.

That happens to me sometimes too. Usually I have to put everything connected to it in to storage and then reinstall them.

I have found that, many of the issues can be avoided by hooking your spotlights up to a terminal and setting timers so that they only work after dark and turn off during the daytime. Maybe it has something to do with the way the scripting is written, but that change in behavior seems to jump start them.

The no emitting light from spotlights is a known issue - for some players at least. Some swear spotlights always work for them, some (like me) have SL's in general (90%) not work correctly. There is a fairly ok workaround however.

As OP stated, usual symptom is SL's are powered and hooked up correctly, but after player moves away from settlement, fast travels, re-loads settlement, etc - the SL'd stop working in sense they still rotate, but no lights beams. For players with this bug, the very temp fix is always to pick up and put down the SL again. But this gets rather annoying and tiresome, especially with multiple SLs.

So quasi workaround is to always hook up SL's to an interval switch pylon, and then connect interval switch pylon to your power grid - with a terminal attached somewhere. After SLs are all hooked up to Interval switch(es) --> power grid --> at least 1 terminal attached to grid, then program terminal to min/max settings - power off minimum time only 1 second, power on max time 10 sec

This forces a constant 'refresh' of power to the spotlights, and will force the light to emit again. It is basically an automated way of pickup up and putting down your SLs again. Not ideal, but only way to automate this annoying light emissions bug. Essentially, when you approach your settlement and lights are not emitting, the interval switch will have them work for 10 sec - about time for 3 scans side to side, then they will momentarily droop for 1 sec to off, then start scanning again.

I generally have 2-3 spotlights hooked up to 1 interval switch. It does cost you bit more settlement budget for the additional switches, but does ensure you will always have working spotlights.

Cool Beans, thank you Mr. Mouse.

I have them set up at the castle. They are usually off but once some Raiders walked up near them they turned on. Then my lasers blasted them.

Does the terminal with its 10 seconds on and 1 second off setting effect the power flow to the rest of the grid that's running from the same generator? Or only the spotlight with the interval switch pylon located between it and the terminal?


Working from the spotlight.

Spotlight > Interval switch pylon > Terminal > Wire to grid and all other devices running on it,

Only the spotlight will run in a fluctuating pattern and not the rest of the grid?

I use one of the terminals to turn them off and them on again every 30 secoinds.
IUt seems to refresh the current.


PS: Blame thwe typos on my dentistr. Cheers! :0

It's a bug. Happens with lamps too. Store the spotlight or lamp and then re-create it. it will start working again....sometimes permanently, sometimes not.

Ditto.