florescent light
 

I have a kitchen ceiling light with four 48 inch florescent tubes. The
light has recently just stopped working. It is about 2 years old, from
Lowes. It is one of the newer type fluorescents.

Is there a repairable part in this light, or does the whole fixture need to
be replaced?

Thanks.

florescent light
 

On Jan 21, 9:16*am, "trailer" wrote:
I have a kitchen ceiling light with four 48 inch florescent tubes. *The
light *has recently just stopped working. *It is about 2 years old, from
Lowes. *It is one of the newer type fluorescents.

Is there a repairable part in this light, or does the whole fixture need to
be replaced?

Thanks.

Might be the ballast. Might be poor lamp sockets. Both might be found
at your box store. Check prices vs. replacing fixture, then decide.

Joe

florescent light
 

On Jan 21, 10:50*am, Joe wrote:
On Jan 21, 9:16*am, "trailer" wrote:

I have a kitchen ceiling light with four 48 inch florescent tubes. *The
light *has recently just stopped working. *It is about 2 years old, from
Lowes. *It is one of the newer type fluorescents.

Is there a repairable part in this light, or does the whole fixture need to
be replaced?

Thanks.

Might be the ballast. Might be poor lamp sockets. Both might be found
at your box store. Check prices vs. replacing fixture, then decide.

Joe

Or the switch on the wall. Or the breaker in the basement.

One thing sure, four tubes didn't reach end of life at precisely the
same time.

florescent light
 

On Jan 21, 1:06*pm, TimR wrote:
On Jan 21, 10:50*am, Joe wrote:

On Jan 21, 9:16*am, "trailer" wrote:

I have a kitchen ceiling light with four 48 inch florescent tubes. *The
light *has recently just stopped working. *It is about 2 years old, from
Lowes. *It is one of the newer type fluorescents.

Is there a repairable part in this light, or does the whole fixture need to
be replaced?

Thanks.

Might be the ballast. Might be poor lamp sockets. Both might be found
at your box store. Check prices vs. replacing fixture, then decide.

Joe

Or the switch on the wall. *Or the breaker in the basement.

One thing sure, four tubes didn't reach end of life at precisely the
same time.

Assuming the light fixture is somewhere in North America/Mexico etc.
AND, unlike some European fixtures, is of the type that does NOT use
starters.
Agree: Unlikely all four tubes fail at once.
As suggested by others; sounds like something affecting the whole
unit. Bad switch (Note 1), blown fuse/circuit breaker, broken wire
somewhere, etc.
If it does become a matter of opening up the fixture it may be found
that there are two ballasts; one for each two tubes. That is more
likely than one ballast for all four tubes. It is unlikely also that
both ballasts would 'blow' at once, although it is possible if there
was some sort of electrical surge. Or perhaps a bad neutral connection
somewhere?
Also if does become a matter of repairing the fixture it may be just
as well to replace if cost of labour is high? Retain the fluorescent
tubes they may have much life left in them.
Note 1. Switches that turn on and off fluorescent lights may in
certain instances suffer more wear and tear internally because they
are (compared to plain old light bulbs) switching an inductive circuit
Note 2. We have repaired numerous fluorescent fixtures, including the
newer 'electronic types' but it requires electrical knowledge, proper
tools and spare parts.
More so than any other fixtures, IMO, fluorescent fixtures need to be
worked on by someone who knows what they are doing.

florescent light-update
 

I replaced the ballast and it works now.

I guess I was under the impression that electronic ballasts seldom failed.
Guess I was wrong.

Thanks for assistance.

"terry" wrote in message
...
On Jan 21, 1:06 pm, TimR wrote:
On Jan 21, 10:50 am, Joe wrote:

On Jan 21, 9:16 am, "trailer" wrote:

I have a kitchen ceiling light with four 48 inch florescent tubes. The
light has recently just stopped working. It is about 2 years old, from
Lowes. It is one of the newer type fluorescents.

Is there a repairable part in this light, or does the whole fixture
need to
be replaced?

Thanks.

Might be the ballast. Might be poor lamp sockets. Both might be found
at your box store. Check prices vs. replacing fixture, then decide.

Joe

Or the switch on the wall. Or the breaker in the basement.

One thing sure, four tubes didn't reach end of life at precisely the
same time.

Assuming the light fixture is somewhere in North America/Mexico etc.
AND, unlike some European fixtures, is of the type that does NOT use
starters.
Agree: Unlikely all four tubes fail at once.
As suggested by others; sounds like something affecting the whole
unit. Bad switch (Note 1), blown fuse/circuit breaker, broken wire
somewhere, etc.
If it does become a matter of opening up the fixture it may be found
that there are two ballasts; one for each two tubes. That is more
likely than one ballast for all four tubes. It is unlikely also that
both ballasts would 'blow' at once, although it is possible if there
was some sort of electrical surge. Or perhaps a bad neutral connection
somewhere?
Also if does become a matter of repairing the fixture it may be just
as well to replace if cost of labour is high? Retain the fluorescent
tubes they may have much life left in them.
Note 1. Switches that turn on and off fluorescent lights may in
certain instances suffer more wear and tear internally because they
are (compared to plain old light bulbs) switching an inductive circuit
Note 2. We have repaired numerous fluorescent fixtures, including the
newer 'electronic types' but it requires electrical knowledge, proper
tools and spare parts.
More so than any other fixtures, IMO, fluorescent fixtures need to be
worked on by someone who knows what they are doing.

florescent light-update
 

In article , "trailer" wrote:
I replaced the ballast and it works now.

I guess I was under the impression that electronic ballasts seldom failed.
Guess I was wrong.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Made-In-China...

florescent light-update
 

In article ,
wrote:

On Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:19:10 -0600, "trailer" wrote:

I replaced the ballast and it works now.

I guess I was under the impression that electronic ballasts seldom failed.
Guess I was wrong.

Everything will eventually fail. Someday you'll crawl in bed with
your wife, and your d**k will fail too.......
Now THAT is serious @!@!@!@!

My politically incorrect take on "E.D." is that it's caused not so much
by the age of the dick as by the age of the wife.

florescent light
 

On 1/21/2009 8:06 AM TimR spake thus:

One thing sure, four tubes didn't reach end of life at precisely the
same time.

True; but if it has a newer electronic ballast, it may shut down all 4
bulbs if it senses that one of them is going out. Might be worthwhile
trying new bulbs first.


--
"I know I will go to hell, because I pardoned Richard Nixon."

- Former President Gerald Ford to his golf partners, as related by
the late Hunter S. Thompson

florescent light
 

On Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:16:08 -0600, "trailer" wrote:

I have a kitchen ceiling light with four 48 inch florescent tubes. The
light has recently just stopped working. It is about 2 years old, from
Lowes. It is one of the newer type fluorescents.

Is there a repairable part in this light, or does the whole fixture need to
be replaced?

Thanks.




Be sure to read David's response.

Some units are somewhat sensitive to temperature and if you have
the heat turned down in you home and the light is under an unheated
part of your home, then you might try just warming the room up.

florescent light
 

In m, D. Nebenzahl said:
On 1/21/2009 8:06 AM TimR spake thus:

One thing sure, four tubes didn't reach end of life at precisely the
same time.

True; but if it has a newer electronic ballast, it may shut down all 4
bulbs if it senses that one of them is going out. Might be worthwhile
trying new bulbs first.

My experience with electronic ballasts for fluorescents is that they
don't do that. All bulbs going out at the same time is usually (in this
order) a bad connection, ballast failure, lack of grounding, or very
unfavorable conditions (sometimes including bulb-ballast mismatch).

2-bulb non-electronic ballasts usually have both bulbs go out (or
extremely dim) if one bulb fails. The bulbs are in series with each
other, though one is slightly bypassed by a small capacitor to assist
starting.

- Don Klipstein )

florescent light
 

On 1/22/2009 5:25 AM Don Klipstein spake thus:

In m, D. Nebenzahl said:
On 1/21/2009 8:06 AM TimR spake thus:

One thing sure, four tubes didn't reach end of life at precisely the
same time.

True; but if it has a newer electronic ballast, it may shut down all 4
bulbs if it senses that one of them is going out. Might be worthwhile
trying new bulbs first.

My experience with electronic ballasts for fluorescents is that they
don't do that. All bulbs going out at the same time is usually (in this
order) a bad connection, ballast failure, lack of grounding, or very
unfavorable conditions (sometimes including bulb-ballast mismatch).

Are you sure about that? I ask because I recently had a problem
installing a new ballast in a fixture; I connected it the way I thought
it should work, but it wouldn't light what I knew were good bulbs. (I
had connected the two leads to each bulb's end together as the old
ballast had been wired.) I called the manufacturer's tech support line,
and they advised me that I had to connect it exactly as shown on the
diagram, because the ballast incorporated a protection feature (I forget
the exact name of it now) that sensed when a bulb was about to fail and
then shut down both bulbs, rather than allowing them to flicker.

This was a 2-bulb ballast; not sure if this would apply to a 4-bulb
fixture, but it certainly seems possible.


--
"I know I will go to hell, because I pardoned Richard Nixon."

- Former President Gerald Ford to his golf partners, as related by
the late Hunter S. Thompson

florescent light
 

In article m, David
Nebenzahl wrote:
On 1/22/2009 5:25 AM Don Klipstein spake thus:

In m, D. Nebenzahl said:
On 1/21/2009 8:06 AM TimR spake thus:

One thing sure, four tubes didn't reach end of life at precisely the
same time.

True; but if it has a newer electronic ballast, it may shut down all 4
bulbs if it senses that one of them is going out. Might be worthwhile
trying new bulbs first.

My experience with electronic ballasts for fluorescents is that they
don't do that. All bulbs going out at the same time is usually (in this
order) a bad connection, ballast failure, lack of grounding, or very
unfavorable conditions (sometimes including bulb-ballast mismatch).

Are you sure about that? I ask because I recently had a problem
installing a new ballast in a fixture; I connected it the way I thought
it should work, but it wouldn't light what I knew were good bulbs. (I
had connected the two leads to each bulb's end together as the old
ballast had been wired.)

Take a good look at the wiring diagram on the ballast - it may be
different from what you had before.

I called the manufacturer's tech support line,
and they advised me that I had to connect it exactly as shown on the
diagram, because the ballast incorporated a protection feature (I forget
the exact name of it now) that sensed when a bulb was about to fail and
then shut down both bulbs, rather than allowing them to flicker.

This was a 2-bulb ballast; not sure if this would apply to a 4-bulb
fixture, but it certainly seems possible.

OK, maybe true, though my experience is that this was typical of 2-bulb
magnetic ballasts, and that the 2-bulb electronic ballasts at my workplace
do not shut down when either or both bulbs have at least one foot or
both feet in the grave.

There might be some new safety feature, but I think the problem that
would solve is from the last bulb burning out. In a "pseudoparallel"
multiple bulb electronic ballast, when the last bulb is dying, at least
one end of the bulb usually gets awfully hot, sometimes cracks from the
heat. Sockets from before electronic ballasts became common may be unable
to withstand that heat.
Bulbs other than the last one, when in the process of burning out,
usually have at least one end getting fairly hot, but the last one while
in the process of kicking the bucket is the killer.

- Don Klipstein )