On Sun, 2 Aug 2020 07:51:29 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Saturday, August 1, 2020 at 8:31:12 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Sat, 1 Aug 2020 13:26:51 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Saturday, August 1, 2020 at 11:41:24 AM UTC-4, Dean Hoffman wrote:
On 8/1/20 9:44 AM, Lindgs wrote:
I am trying t replace a tube in a kitchen fixture.Â* The oldÂ* one was
difficult
to remove.Â* The new one will not totally seat in the fixture.Â* Can some
kind
of lubricant (WD40) be put on the pins to facilitate the installation?

I think what you're after is called conductive grease. Something
like this:
https://www.amazon.com/NO-OX-ID-Tube-Special-Grease-Compound/dp/B00HSW341A/ref=sr_1_40?crid=3C8MFDS7V4KG9&dchild=1&keywords=c onductive+grease&qid=1596296036&sprefix=conductive +gr%2Caps%2C193&sr=8-40

or
https://preview.tinyurl.com/y3duq8vy

The makers of that stuff are pretty proud of it price wise.
You don't want dielectric grease which is non conductive.

ACtually, I think dielectric grease is what you would want to use. It's
what's used in auto lamp holders for example. Conductive grease would
create a current path. Dielectric grease works by keeping it lubricated
so it won't corrode, but it gets easily pressed out of the way of the
contact point so a good contact is made.

Bit I've yet to see a tube fixture that needed it. I'd suspect if you
put the bulb in correctly and twist, it will seat. Sometimes they can
be tricky, not sure grease will help. And agree that if it were my fixture,
I'd be looking at a new LED fixture as the first choice, or maybe a
retrofit if it can't be changed easily. They don't cost much, sure look
and work a lot better and use less electricity.



I lot depends on the fixture itself. If it was cheap to begin with,
buying a new LED ready to go is probably right but for the same amount
of work you can just hot wire the tombstones, remove the ballast and
use the direct wire LED. That is certainly a better idea if this is
some kind of designer fixture you really like.

Designer fixture and fluorescent tubes does not compute.


You don't know my wife. I think she spent $100 on the one in our
closet in the late 90s. It may not have actually cost her that much
but that was the MSRP. She worked for in interior design place at the
time. I wasn't involved. I just put it up. It is an industrial quality
ballast and good tombstones. Not the junk you got in $20-30 "shop
lights".