Kitchen Tube Light Issues.

[NotBilly]

Hi guys. New user here.

I've got a tube light in the kitchen which has started to annoy after so many years.

It started flickering on and off.

I replaced both the tube and the starter.

It still does it.

Sometimes iswitch the light on and nothing happens, so I twist the starter slightly sometimes to get it to come on. Even then it might switch on and off repeatedly giving me a migraine.

What are my current options? Other than getting an electrician in.

Cheers.

 

[AndyPRK]

You could get an led tube. About £20

Eg brand energiser.

Worse case replace the light unit if that still doesn’t sort it.

 

[333rocky333]

Have you used the correct starter, there are many types

 

[ericmark]

I had one in my kitchen doing the same, problem was originally used a fat tube 65 watt, but these are no longer available, but 58 watt tubes fit and did work, then a load of solar panels fitted in the street and voltage dropped from 245 volt to 230 volt and then the problems started, the cure would be a 230 volt 58 watt ballast, but that means removing the fitting to access the screws to swap ballast, so I fitted a LED tube, they are not as bright 24 watt and 2400 lumen instead of between 5000 and 5600 lumen for a fluorescent tube with an electronic ballast, but it's an easy swap.

Although I removed the connection to original ballast, you don't need to, all you do is fit a special starter and the LED tube the starter comes with the tube, and it saves all the messing around.

 

[winston1]

I replaced both the tube and the starter.

It still does it.

It is foolish and a waste of money to replace items when you don't know whether they are faulty or not.

Sometimes I switch the light on and nothing happens, so I twist the starter slightly sometimes to get it to come on. Even then it might switch on and off repeatedly giving me a migraine.

What are my current options? Other than getting an electrician in.

Cheers.

This sounds like a poor contact in the starter socket. It can be changed. With it repeatedly switching on and off you may have bought the wrong starter replacement. Put the old one back.

 

[FrodoOne]

I've got a tube light in the kitchen which has started to annoy after so many years.

It started flickering on and off.

I replaced both the tube and the starter.

It still does it.

Sometimes I switch the light on and nothing happens, so I twist the starter slightly sometimes to get it to come on. Even then it might switch on and off repeatedly giving me a migraine.

What are my current options? Other than getting an electrician in.

You could get an led tube. About £20
Eg brand energiser.
Worse case replace the light unit if that still doesn’t sort it.

As AndyPRK advised, you could replace it with a LED tube.

Some LED tubes can be used with the existing inductive ballast (but NOT an electronic ballast) and the starter is replaced with a dummy "starter", which is actually a fuse.
However, if you have a loose starter connection, you may still have problems.

While it is a pity that you have spent money on new devices and still have a problem, a better solution (in my opinion) would be to replace the whole unit with a LED Panel, particularly since one "tube light" in a kitchen is not much light.
A 30 W LED Panel will provide much more light than a 36 W 1200 mm fluorescent tube, if that is what you now have.