How many dopers does it take to change this light bulb?

Factual Questions
1

In the bathroom of my apartment, over the sink and the mirror, is a fluorescent light fixture. It is just about the least fancy, over-the-mirror light fixture you could possibly imagine. There’s a metal housing, and a translucent plastic cover over the bulb, and a switch, and that’s about it. I don’t need a soothing ambience, masterminded by a team of interior decorators and a feng shui consultant; but I would like to be able to see. The bulb has been flickering for a while, and lately I think it has become terminal.

So how the hell do I get the damn cover off to replace the bulb? I’ve tried examing it, to see which pieces seem to move relative to one another, and might be likely to come apart, but no luck. My landlord died recently, and his wife does not know.

Some pictures:

Wide shot
Wide, from a lower angle
Low angle shot of one end
End, from closer to the wall
End, and the whole top

The other end is too close to the corner to get good pictures, and it’s a little different. Then end in the pictures has a slot about the size of a quarter. The other end has a red button. (Well, it looks like a button, but I press on it as hard as a I can, and it absolutely doesn’t budge.)

The last picture shows a piece of the cover that’s already broken off. Or maybe it’s supposed to be like that.

I can slide a toothpick all the way along the top and bottom of the transluscent cover, between it and the housing. It must be held in place by those caps on the ends.

So, any handyman dopers out there ever seen a fixture like this? Is it designed for shifty apartment dwellers, to keep us from stealing light bulbs, and only landlords are entrusted with the key to unlock its secrets?
(Figured I’d start this in GQ. Move as necessary.)

2

Are you sure it doesn’t just pop off? Can you bend back the end caps at all? If you can, look for tabs/clips.

3

looks to be the type where the top and bottom need to be pinched in the rear along the width and pull it out. use both hands at about 1/4 and 3/4 and pinch gently with thumb and fingers.

4

It looks like you just pull it off by distorting it.

I would rip it off the wall and replace it, because it’s frick’n uglier than…well everything. I guess it’s the ugliest thing on the planet.

5

The cover should be flexible, or somewhat flexible and should just pop off. I have an under the counter flourescent light in my kitchen and the cover does pop off to change the bulb. Hell, sometimes the cover just comes loose all by itself but it pops right back in.

Oh and here’s the answer to your question. :smiley:

6

Ditto what **johnpost **said.

I had a similar one, and a few months ago I too went crazy trying to figure out how to replace the bulb. It turns out I was able to replace the whole thing for less than $15. Maybe it was even less than $10.

Now consider how much time you’re spending on this, and maybe replacing it is not such an expensive idea after all.

7

Ooh, just got it open. Must have pinched it in just the right place and the end bent outward enough to release the cover and the bulb. Now I’ll see if they still make that size bulb anymore.

The answer is 6. Thanks, all.

Yeah, it’s ugly, but it is a bathroom and I don’t want to be doing any remodeling without my landlord’s permission. And even if I wanted to replace it, I’d still need to open the damn thing up to take out the screws holding it to the wall.

8

Never mind

9

You do realize that most fluorescent lights do not put out a decent light spectrum, don’t you? That sickly green look you have when you get up in the morning and look in the mirror is not you. Well, not all you.