danieljay:
all understood, and tested prior to fading code. since i want to use the fading code, id hope for a solution or suggestion that I'm missing thats a workaround for this issue.
If the sensor "seems" random with your fading code, it is likely because of all your delays(). It is probably reading correctly, however you (the human) just can't tell when it is actually reading.
You might have to consider spending some time re-structuring your code to use a state-machine with millis() rather than delay().