There are 6 shop lights in the garage, each with 4 florescent tubes. They
have all stopped working. No spectacular flashes, no burning smell, the
lights just don't come on when I flip the switch.



There is a single switch, which is a lighted one and it happily glows orange
in the dark.



All outlets work, a couple of other incandescent ligts work, and the door
openers work. Garage has its own panel but no breakers are tripped.



Any ideas about where to start looking?



Thanks.

"Saml" wrote in message
. ..
There are 6 shop lights in the garage, each with 4 florescent tubes. They
have all stopped working. No spectacular flashes, no burning smell, the
lights just don't come on when I flip the switch.



There is a single switch, which is a lighted one and it happily glows
orange in the dark.



All outlets work, a couple of other incandescent ligts work, and the door
openers work. Garage has its own panel but no breakers are tripped.



Any ideas about where to start looking?


Sure sounds like you've got a bad switch -- unless the "other incandescent
ligts" are controlled by the same switch. It should be easy to find out.

Good Luck

Saml wrote:

There are 6 shop lights in the garage, each with 4 florescent tubes. They
have all stopped working. No spectacular flashes, no burning smell, the
lights just don't come on when I flip the switch.



There is a single switch, which is a lighted one and it happily glows orange
in the dark.



All outlets work, a couple of other incandescent ligts work, and the door
openers work. Garage has its own panel but no breakers are tripped.



Any ideas about where to start looking?



Thanks.


Hmmm,
No meter to check the power to fixture? I doubt all 4 of them went bad.

Saml wrote:
There are 6 shop lights in the garage, each with 4 florescent tubes. They
have all stopped working. No spectacular flashes, no burning
smell, the lights just don't come on when I flip the switch.



There is a single switch, which is a lighted one and it happily glows
orange in the dark.



All outlets work, a couple of other incandescent ligts work, and the
door openers work. Garage has its own panel but no breakers are
tripped.


Any ideas about where to start looking?



Thanks.

1. Bad switch
2. Wire broken between switch and first light
3. Lost ground. Usually they'll flash though if a ground is working.
4. Switch might have an extra wire to control the light on it and to the
fixtures - that could be broken.

HTH
Pop`

"Pop`" wrote in message
news:6I6Qi.7657$uC1.6654@trnddc04...
Saml wrote:
There are 6 shop lights in the garage, each with 4 florescent tubes.
They
have all stopped working. No spectacular flashes, no burning
smell, the lights just don't come on when I flip the switch.



There is a single switch, which is a lighted one and it happily glows
orange in the dark.



All outlets work, a couple of other incandescent ligts work, and the
door openers work. Garage has its own panel but no breakers are
tripped.


Any ideas about where to start looking?



Thanks.

1. Bad switch
2. Wire broken between switch and first light
3. Lost ground. Usually they'll flash though if a ground is working.
4. Switch might have an extra wire to control the light on it and to the
fixtures - that could be broken.

5. Sudden drop in outside temperature making it too cold in the garage for
the fluorescent lights to come on.

John Grabowski wrote:
"Pop`" wrote in message
news:6I6Qi.7657$uC1.6654@trnddc04...
Saml wrote:
There are 6 shop lights in the garage, each with 4 florescent
tubes. They have all stopped working. No spectacular flashes, no
burning
smell, the lights just don't come on when I flip the switch.



There is a single switch, which is a lighted one and it happily
glows orange in the dark.



All outlets work, a couple of other incandescent ligts work, and
the door openers work. Garage has its own panel but no breakers are
tripped.


Any ideas about where to start looking?



Thanks.

1. Bad switch
2. Wire broken between switch and first light
3. Lost ground. Usually they'll flash though if a ground is working.
4. Switch might have an extra wire to control the light on it and
to the fixtures - that could be broken.

5. Sudden drop in outside temperature making it too cold in the
garage for the fluorescent lights to come on.

Well, INSIDE, where the ballasts/lights are located anywayg. Usually they
will show at least some signs of life though, especially with that many
bulbs. Mine put on a neat show for me on really cold mornings.
Still, it's possibly temperature and deserved mentioning; good catch.

Pop`

We've just ended a heat wave in Virginia--dropped recently to about 50f at
night, so it's not the cold...

Turned out to be the switch. I bypassed it and all the lights came on.

Thanks--appreciated the suggestions. I don't think of switches going bad.

Sam

"Pop`" wrote in message
newsibQi.1396$2o1.1027@trnddc03...
John Grabowski wrote:
"Pop`" wrote in message
news:6I6Qi.7657$uC1.6654@trnddc04...
Saml wrote:
There are 6 shop lights in the garage, each with 4 florescent
tubes. They have all stopped working. No spectacular flashes, no
burning
smell, the lights just don't come on when I flip the switch.



There is a single switch, which is a lighted one and it happily
glows orange in the dark.



All outlets work, a couple of other incandescent ligts work, and
the door openers work. Garage has its own panel but no breakers are
tripped.


Any ideas about where to start looking?



Thanks.

1. Bad switch
2. Wire broken between switch and first light
3. Lost ground. Usually they'll flash though if a ground is working.
4. Switch might have an extra wire to control the light on it and
to the fixtures - that could be broken.

5. Sudden drop in outside temperature making it too cold in the
garage for the fluorescent lights to come on.

Well, INSIDE, where the ballasts/lights are located anywayg. Usually
they will show at least some signs of life though, especially with that
many bulbs. Mine put on a neat show for me on really cold mornings.
Still, it's possibly temperature and deserved mentioning; good catch.

Pop`

"Pop`" wrote in message
newsibQi.1396$2o1.1027@trnddc03...
John Grabowski wrote:
"Pop`" wrote in message
news:6I6Qi.7657$uC1.6654@trnddc04...
Saml wrote:
There are 6 shop lights in the garage, each with 4 florescent
tubes. They have all stopped working. No spectacular flashes, no
burning
smell, the lights just don't come on when I flip the switch.



There is a single switch, which is a lighted one and it happily
glows orange in the dark.



All outlets work, a couple of other incandescent ligts work, and
the door openers work. Garage has its own panel but no breakers
are tripped.


Any ideas about where to start looking?



Thanks.

1. Bad switch
2. Wire broken between switch and first light
3. Lost ground. Usually they'll flash though if a ground is
working. 4. Switch might have an extra wire to control the light
on it and
to the fixtures - that could be broken.

5. Sudden drop in outside temperature making it too cold in the
garage for the fluorescent lights to come on.

Well, INSIDE, where the ballasts/lights are located anywayg.
Usually they will show at least some signs of life though,
especially with that many bulbs. Mine put on a neat show for me on
really cold mornings. Still, it's possibly temperature and deserved
mentioning; good catch.

Saml wrote:
We've just ended a heat wave in Virginia--dropped recently to about
50f at night, so it's not the cold...

Turned out to be the switch. I bypassed it and all the lights came
on.
Thanks--appreciated the suggestions. I don't think of switches going
bad.

Might not be the switch itself. Heating and cooling cycles, atmosphere?
Could have been just duff connections at the terminals.

Saml wrote:
We've just ended a heat wave in Virginia--dropped recently to about
50f at night, so it's not the cold...

Turned out to be the switch. I bypassed it and all the lights came
on.
Thanks--appreciated the suggestions. I don't think of switches going
bad.
Sam

Right; 50 degrees wouldn't cause that; ours routinely work even at 0 and
below; just takes awhile before the twirling light show goes away and you
have real light that's allg.

Glad to hear it's solved. You'd probably go bad too if someone had been
flipping you back and forth since the 30'sg! It's not all that common
they go bad, but it's not exactly rare, either. Especially the mechanical
non-mercury types with a good, solid "snap" feedback to them.
Our old house when I was a kid had those old, push-button types of
switches; seems like they had a lifetime of only a few years as Dad was
always changing them out, it seemed.

Cheers,

Pop`


"Pop`" wrote in message
newsibQi.1396$2o1.1027@trnddc03...
John Grabowski wrote:
"Pop`" wrote in message
news:6I6Qi.7657$uC1.6654@trnddc04...
Saml wrote:
There are 6 shop lights in the garage, each with 4 florescent
tubes. They have all stopped working. No spectacular flashes, no
burning
smell, the lights just don't come on when I flip the switch.



There is a single switch, which is a lighted one and it happily
glows orange in the dark.



All outlets work, a couple of other incandescent ligts work, and
the door openers work. Garage has its own panel but no breakers
are tripped.


Any ideas about where to start looking?



Thanks.

1. Bad switch
2. Wire broken between switch and first light
3. Lost ground. Usually they'll flash though if a ground is
working. 4. Switch might have an extra wire to control the light on it
and
to the fixtures - that could be broken.

5. Sudden drop in outside temperature making it too cold in the
garage for the fluorescent lights to come on.

Well, INSIDE, where the ballasts/lights are located anywayg. Usually
they will show at least some signs of life though,
especially with that many bulbs. Mine put on a neat show for me on
really cold mornings. Still, it's possibly temperature and deserved
mentioning; good catch. Pop`

"clot" wrote in message
...
"Pop`" wrote in message
newsibQi.1396$2o1.1027@trnddc03...
John Grabowski wrote:
"Pop`" wrote in message
news:6I6Qi.7657$uC1.6654@trnddc04...
Saml wrote:
There are 6 shop lights in the garage, each with 4 florescent
tubes. They have all stopped working. No spectacular flashes, no
burning
smell, the lights just don't come on when I flip the switch.



There is a single switch, which is a lighted one and it happily
glows orange in the dark.



All outlets work, a couple of other incandescent ligts work, and
the door openers work. Garage has its own panel but no breakers
are tripped.


Any ideas about where to start looking?



Thanks.

1. Bad switch
2. Wire broken between switch and first light
3. Lost ground. Usually they'll flash though if a ground is
working. 4. Switch might have an extra wire to control the light on
it and
to the fixtures - that could be broken.

5. Sudden drop in outside temperature making it too cold in the
garage for the fluorescent lights to come on.

Well, INSIDE, where the ballasts/lights are located anywayg. Usually
they will show at least some signs of life though,
especially with that many bulbs. Mine put on a neat show for me on
really cold mornings. Still, it's possibly temperature and deserved
mentioning; good catch.

Saml wrote:
We've just ended a heat wave in Virginia--dropped recently to about
50f at night, so it's not the cold...

Turned out to be the switch. I bypassed it and all the lights came
on.
Thanks--appreciated the suggestions. I don't think of switches going
bad.

Might not be the switch itself. Heating and cooling cycles, atmosphere?
Could have been just duff connections at the terminals.

Might be a bad connection. It's the stab in kind so I can't really tighten
it up. I'm just going to replace the switch.

Sam

"Saml" wrote:
We've just ended a heat wave in Virginia--dropped recently to about 50f at
night, so it's not the cold...

Turned out to be the switch. I bypassed it and all the lights came on.

Thanks--appreciated the suggestions. I don't think of switches going bad.

The likelihood of a bad switch is inversely proportional to the technician's
expectation of functionality

- corrolary to Murphy's sixth law

Jon