PRIVATE PLT RPTS DIFFICULTIES WITH RADIO ACTIVATED RWY LIGHTS.

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THIS OCCURRENCE TOOK PLACE AFTER I WAS CLRED BY ZZZ1 APCH TO A VISUAL APCH TO RWY XX; ZZZ AIRPORT. IT WAS DARK BUT I HAD THE RWY (LIGHTS). MY HDG WAS APPROX (AS I RECALL NOW) 300 DEGS. I WAS TOLD BY APCH THAT THE ARPT WAS AT 1 O'CLOCK POS. BEFORE I GOT TO FINAL; THE RWY LIGHTS WENT COMPLETELY OUT. THERE WEREN'T EVEN 'NIGHT' LIGHTS. I COMPLETELY LOST THE RWY. I CLBED TO GAIN ALT BECAUSE THERE WERE 3 LIGHTED TWRS DOWNWIND TO RWY YY. I CLICKED THE MIKE; BUT COULD NOT GET THE RWY LIGHTS BACK ON. I CIRCLED THE ARPT KNOWING FROM MY NAV EQUIP THAT I WAS WAY OVER THE ARPT. BY THE TIME THAT I GOT ON DOWNWIND FOR RWY XX; I GOT THE LIGHTS BACK ON. BY THE TIME I FINISHED DOWNWIND; BASE; THE LIGHTS WENT OUT. AFTER NUMEROUS ATTEMPTS AT THE SAME ACTION; A PLT CALLED ME ON (BY THIS TIME I WASN'T SURE THAT I HAD THE CORRECT FREQ). I DID. HE WAS THE COUNTY SHERIFF TEST FLYING AN ACFT. HE SUGGESTED I GO TO ZZZ2. THAT IS LESS OF A GOOD CHOICE; I THOUGHT. HE TOLD ME THAT APCH SUGGESTED ZZZ3. AT THAT TIME I WAS PREOCCUPIED; AGAIN WITH THE 'TWRS;' SO I DID NOT CHANGE TO APCH FREQ AS DIRECTED. I FELT AT THAT PRECISE MOMENT THAT I HAD TO AVIATE. THE PLT THEN NOTICED THAT I WAS 'CLICKING' TOO SLOWLY. FOLLOWING HIS HELP; I GOT THE LIGHT ON; WAS IN A VFR/GOOD PLACE TO (ALMOST) STRAIGHT IN RWY YY. I HAVE LOTS OF HRS LNDG AT NIGHT. I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED THE LIGHT TO GO OUT SO QUICKLY AND SO COMPLETELY. I WAS 'CLICKING' THE SAME TEMPO AS ALWAYS; BUT THAT TEMPO AND THE LIGHTS TIMER WERE THE BIGGEST CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO NOT SEEING THE RWY. WHILE IT WAS A CLR NIGHT; WHEN THE LIGHTS WERE OUT; THE ARPT WAS A HUGE BLACK HOLE. APCH HAD DECLARED AN EMER; BUT WE (I) ASSURED THEM AND THE SHERIFF OF A GOOD; LIGHTED LNDG.