Fluorescent fixture dramatic failure – any diagnostic tips?
Last night, I turned on the fluorescent tube fixture over the bathroom sink. This is a high-efficacy, instant start fixture.
It flashed brightly and immediately went out. This is a failure mode I’ve never seen in a fluorescent light before; the behavior was like the dramatic death of an incandescent bulb.
I’m going to test the tube receivers for voltage (AC, right?), but can a tube “blow?”
Replies
high-efficacy, instant start fixture
electronic ballast? made in china?
If you know electronics, you can replace the capacitor that likely blew, if not, replace the ballast.
Yea, gone are the days where you just screwed in a new made in the USA edison bulb.
I did have one blow out so violently that it blew a screw in fuse once, but usually just a startling bright flash, then lights out.
Anyhoo, I took out the 4 incandescent bulbs and sockets in my medicine cabinet, and installed a t5 pentron fixture in their place. Nice light, but fairly expensive bulbs. We'll see how well it holds up. Two 14 watt bulbs lights up the room brightly, much better than the 4 40 watt bulbs ever did.
Indeed, it was the tube.
Nice that I didn't have to go deeper into the fixture...too many other things going.
This retirement business...they told me I'd have all kinds of time to pursue other interests....
Use newer technology
I'm glad you were able to fix the fixture, but I have a few other things to ponder.
If you are using a linear fluorescent fixture for an application that requires frequent "starts", a very specific electronic ballast will greatly extend your lamp life. Major component manufacturers (GE, Sylvania, etc) make a "Program Start" ballast. GE's model is called Ultrastart. This type of ballast preheats the lamp cathodes before starting. This only takes a fraction of a second, but greatly extends lamp life by preventing cathode degradation.
Linear fluorescent lamps have a rated life based on number of starts. If you increase starts from 1x per day to 4x per day, lamp life can be decreased by 30%. In my house (with 4 kids), a bathroom fixture may get 20 starts per day. Lamps rated at 30,000 hours at 1 start daily could be reduced to 8,000 hours or less if used in the wrong application.
A high quality long life lamp (GE F32T8****XL) paired with an Ultrastart ballast would be expected to last 40,000 hours at 3 starts per day. The ballast is also rated at +100,000 starts. There are other reasons to use a high quality ballast (UL listing, anti-arcing, etc) which I would be glad to explain if you haven't already fallen asleep.
Having said all that, your neighborhood hardware store or bigbox home store won't have these specialized ballasts or a big selection of lamps; try an electrical wholesale house. Anyone familiar with current products and technology can help. Buying the proper products will pay off many times over in replacement and operating cost.
Hope this helps.