Robert11 wrote:
Hello,

Put up the typical four foot (2 bulb) fluorescent light over my workbench.
Bought at HD.

Sometimes it takes, literally 3 or 4 tries turning the AC switch on and off
before it lights and stays lit. Other times, rarely, it'll catch on the
first turn-on.

Is this, likely, a bulb(s) problem or something wrong (like made too
cheaply) a Ballast problem.

Considering where you bought it that would be a good guess.

My buddy really bought into all of the HD marketing. He had an
outbuilding built and asked me to help him hang 4, 8' HO strip fixtures.
He bought them from "the depot". Three of the fixtures didn't light
properly. After troubleshooting and swapping stuff it turned out 3 of
the ballasts were bad. We pulled the fixtures to return them. We brought
them back and at least the guy was honest. He said they had changed over
to some even cheesier supplier and returns were common. I told my buddy
he was going to do the job himself if he bought more fixtures from "the
depot". He bought 4 better quality fixtures at the local real supply
house for less money and they worked the first time we turned them on.




Is this a typical problem ?

I see they don't use or have those little "Starter" small tubes anymore.
I guess this really dates me.

If a defective Ballast, best to dump the whow thing and buy another, at
Lowe's this time, or are the Ballast themselves (cheaply) replaceable ?

Any thoughts would be appareciated.

Thanks,
Bob