In article ,
NT writes:
On Oct 6, 1:53*pm, Donwill wrote:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
* *Stephen writes:

Hello,

There's an 8' tube in the garage and when it is switched on it takes a
long time (tens of seconds) before the light comes on.

I thought that when tubes failed they blinked several times before
lighting. With this there is no flashing just darkness, darkness,
darkness, light.

The tube and starter have been here longer than we have, so that's at
least four years.

Do I need a new tube or starter or both?

8' tubes can be hard to start in the cold, but I don't think it's
got that cold yet. Given the tube does start eventually, and assuming
it doesn't have darkened (worn) tube ends, my money would be on the
starter having drifted out of spec, but it could still be either.
(The working spec for 8' starters is might tighter than for other tubes.)
It may well be that the electronic (fluoractor-based) starters such
as a Pulsestarter EFS 600 will work better with long tubes; I haven't
tried one on an 8' tube, but it claims it should work.

Secondly, are you sure it has a starter? A control gear type called
semi-resonant start was sometimes used with 5' - 8' tubes, and that
takes longer to start, but works more reliably in the cold. There
is no starter with semi-resonant start control gear.

Finally, check the fitting metalwork is earthed. That can make a big
difference to ease of starting with the long tubes.

I'd definately recomend an electronic starter. In an earlier life I was
in charge of a suite of controlled environment cabinets and rooms, in
which we had approx 500 8ft tubes. We used to have to replace on average
about 20 starters a day until the advent of the electronic starter I
think it was the pulsestarter EFS 800 or was it 600 I can't remember it
was approx 30Yrs ago. The results were dramatic, our replacement rate
reduced to less than one per Month.

The pulsestarter is not a consumable, and should last the life
of the lighting installation. It was mainly sold wire-ended to
be fitted inside a luminare when manufactured, although there
is a standard starter can version for retrofitting into a
starter socket which you can find in retail outlets (Wickes
is one place I've seen them).

Some of the cabinets were working at *10 degC and they still worked
albeit with a reduced light output

Don
20 starters day on 500 fittings = 25 days life per starter. Shouldnt
be hard to see what the problem was

or maybe half hour life, if it was all one faulty fitting!

--
Andrew Gabriel
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