Touching a fluro light to help it turn on.

Can someone explain this…

Im my room back home there was a small (about 36 inch) fluro light. It was fairly old and sometimes it would not turn on properly. When you switched it on the two ends would just glow slightly.

Well, I worked out that if you touched the glowing ends they would glow more brightly and if you ‘dragged’ the glowing part (it seemed to follow your fingers) to the other end of the light (so it was all sort of glowing) the thing would turn on.

After a few years I just took it as usual that that was how you turned the light on.

Weird. What was going on?

Simply put. ypu’re shortening the distance the arc has to travel.
Peace,
mangeorge

Yeah, maybe the layman (aka wrong) terminology warning electrons released by the electrodes just attracted to your fingers and kind of ‘caught on’ along the light. That makes sense to me, since I know how fluorescent lights work, basically. But it probably sounds wrong to anyone else.

So you’re saying that I don’t have super powers?

Better return that lycra jumpsuit.

An important feature necessary for some fluor.s to work is that there has to be a hunk of grounded metal in parallel and close by (<.5") the tube. It provides capacitance to help with starting. When you touch the bulb your hand does the job instead. The possible reasons your particular lamp might be exhibiting this problem include:

  1. The metal “shield” has been bent, moved, removed or its grounding broken.
  2. The lamp itself it not grounded properly.
  3. The wrong type of bulb is used (fast/slow tube with magnetic/electronic ballast.)

As usual, Sam Goldwasser is The Man with The Answers on these types of questions: http://an.hitchcock.org/repairfaq/REPAIR/F_flamp.html, see the third question under trouble shooting.