fluorescent light problem

mdstermite

I am having a problem with a fluorescent fixture in my kitchen. The bulbs have not been replaced in 4 years and they recently started flickering. I decided to change all of the bulbs. I purchased four new bulbs and put them in the fixture. The bulbs flickered but after a time stopped and all seemed well. I turned the switch off and then back on. However, this time the light did not come on at all. There was no flicker or anything. I have checked the seeding for all the pins, but cannot get the light to work at all now. I put the original bulbs back in to see if the problem was the bulbs, but the old bulbs will not work in the fixture now either. I am at a loss as to what to do next. I will add that one end of the one of the brackets does not seem to hold the pins tightly.

redline

Have you changed the starter?

darren

Sounds like it may be time for some new ballast.

mdstermite

As best as I can tell, there is no starter. My understanding is that most newer fixtures (this one is only 4 years old) do not require starters. Is this incorrect?

I am a little concerned about bulb wattage here. The bulbs put in by the builder were 40W and so that is what I replaced them with. However, based on what I can find since this began, this fixture requires 32W. I can't figure out why the fixture worked before with the 40W and won't now or even if that would fix the problem.

frenchelectrican

Techally wise:

anytime if you have doubt or issue with the floursecent ballast there are few thing you have to follow to get this working right

read the ballast label it will listed what wattage and tube size this is pretty crictal to get the ballast working right

The 32 watts useally is 4 foot T-8 bulb not the T-12 bulb so it will make the diffrence there

the other thing is make sure the luminaire have proper grounding they are pretty picky with this.

make sure the tombstone [ flourscent bulb holder ] is good shape and no corrosion or burn marks even loose connections those item it can send this in funkyland.

some case there are very " cheap " or no name brand ballast do show up and when the bulb burn out it can kill the ballast so keep that in your mind

the cost of replaceing the ballast will useally end up almost the same cost getting new luminiare itself expect for really oddball or specal situation then it will jusitfy the cost to replace it.

but basically check for loose / bad connection this will cause those issuse

Merci, Marc

elkangorito

I totally agree with Marc.

The newer F32T8 (32 Watt, 1") tubes are generally designed to run on electronic ballasts. Placing a different size/type tube in the light fitting can be detrimental to both tube & ballast.

I would also pay special attention to what Marc says about earthing. The standard "rapid start" tube does require good earthing to start & it also needs to be clean so make sure the tube is clean.

My advice to you is to buy a new 32 Watt T8 electronic ballast & tubes to match. In todays world of advanced lighting, ballast & bulb compatibility is important.

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Switchboard design engineer & Licensed Electrician (Australia).