Cockpit night lighting and simulator time problem

I hope this will make sense. When I fly at evening times I can't switch the night lighting on in the VC of my Ifly 737 and my pmdg 744 until it reaches exactly 6pm local time in the simulator. Sometimes it's already dark enough to warrant having the panel lighting on before this time but switching the switches to do so doesn't do anything unless the sim time is late enough. I can always turn dome lighting on In both aircraft at any time but ambient panel lighting - no. Same deal with taxi and landing lights. I think it coincides with the switching on of runway and approach lights at airports.

Is there a fix or a way around this?