I have 4 fluorescent lighting fixtures hanging in my garage. They’re the standard 4 foot, 2 bulb (each) that you might have in your own garage.
As long as I’ve had them (they were here when I moved in) only one bulb in each fixture has worked. That’s usually been enough light for me, so I’ve ignored it. But this week I decided to bring them all up to their full potential.
I can’t and I don’t know why.
I first thought that there were 4 bad bulbs. A trip to Home Depot and a few minutes in installation proved this not to be the case. One bulb is out in each fixture. I tried swapping the lit bulbs for the unlit ones and the position of the unlit ones stayed the same. That is, the bulb location that was out before is still out even though I swapped in the bulb that had been lit just moments before.
Not that I think it matters, but I did try jiggling the bulb, and moving it on the contacts in case it was intermittent, to no avail.
And let me re-state, this is happening on 4 fixtures, all with the same symptoms.
The bulbs that were originally there, and my replacements, are T12s. (It’s an older house.)
I opened up two of the fixtures to see if there was something on the ballast about using a different/special bulb (maybe a T8?) but there is no information. On each side of the fixture is a small transformer, resistor and a capacitor.
Iam flummoxed. Yes, I can replace the entire set of four assemblies, but would prefer not to.
Am I missing something simple? Please enlighten me (pun intended, of course.)
Take some photos of the fixture and how it is wired and post them.
First thought is they are sharing a single ballast, and it is bad, but that would be a very unusual configuration.
Here’s the thing: Although I feel competent to change a ballast*, I’m not really sure what it looks like. As I said, there’s a transformer and a couple components at each end of the fixture. Where would I find the ballast, and incidentally, what do they cost? Is it cheaper to upgrade to a new LED fixture ($20 each at Costco this week.)
*= I’ve worked many years as an electronic tech. We never did fluorescents in college.
The transformer may be the ballast. How many wires are coming out of it?
Generally, for a small single-tube fixture, the ballast will only have two wires. It’s just a lossy inductor inserted in series with the tube that keeps the current to a reasonable value. The other components may be for the strike circuit.
As others have said, the ballast is probably the problem. I highly recommend swapping these out for LEDs instead of fixing them. LEDs use less energy, will be easier to replace, will last longer, are easier to handle, and are easier to dispose of properly.
When the ballast went bad in my kitchen fixture with 2x 48" tubes it was 37$ or so for just a new ballast and 25$ for a whole new fixture including a brand new ballast. The new fixture used a more efficient electronic ballast and the smaller, more efficient tubes. It makes a lot less noise and gets to full brightness far faster than the old one. In my case replacing the fixture and sending the old one to e-waste was the only logical thing to do. :smack:
Pics will have to wait until I get home, but thank you.
They are double tube fixtures, not single, with the same set of components at each end of the fixture, but I don’t remember how many wires at the moment.
With some older fluorescent fixtures, the metal reflector must be connected to ground for the tubes to reliably start. (It relies on capacitance to ground for starting.) So I would first make sure the metal reflectors are electrically connected to earth ground.
Depending on the age of the fixtures, there might be a silver-colored cylindrical device at the end of the tube (I’m sorry, I can’t for the life of me remember what they’re called); it contains a neon bulb that regulates the arcing that keeps the bulb burning steadily. They may not be available any more, but if so, they were cheaper than a ballast and easier to replace.
If someone remembers what those are called, I’d like to know, thanx.
And depending on where you live, a brand new fixture with bulbs might be cheaper and less of a PITA than replacing a ballast.
I bought some LEDs that fit your basic 4’ light. It requires disconnecting the ballast, but the LEDs will last a very long time. You would lose the investment you have in your tubes.
I get the part number off the ballast. It or they resemble a transformer. One pair of wires connects to 110v, the others to the tube. I take the number to the hardware store and buy new a new ballast.
I just replaced eight tubes in my basement workshop with LED tubes and have never been happier with the light. They come on instantly, full brightness, no flickering. I had spent almost 20 years fighting with lights that would come on half of the time, or dimly, or …
The ones I bought require no rewiring.
Buy them at HD or Lowes so you can try them and return them if they don’t work–I had to try two different styles before I found one that really did work without rewiring.
Expect a few trips to HD–even with the correct bulbs when I did this one of the bulbs was DOA.
Honestly it’s not really much more expensive to just turn off the power, unscrew the lamps from the hanging cables, and start over. Why go back to the fluorescent tube form factor? There are numerous kinds of LED solutions, from hanging, tightly focused bulbs to recessed fixtures that go in the ceiling, to all kinds of neat things. And they’re cheap.
I’d recommend 3000 color temperature - higher than that is too harsh. And make sure you get stuff with a high color rendering index. Go wander around the hardware store lighting section until you see something you like. It won’t cost much.
. Thanks, kayaker.