Florescent Light

[ub7rm]

Question for y'all. A couple of years ago I installed a florescent light fitting with a 2D type bulb in it. This light is on pretty much 24/7.

I took the diffuser off today to paint around it and noticed that all the plastic within the light unit has gone brown - UV damage I presume?

The twin and earth coming into the fitting is slightly discolored as well - presumably the same UV problem?

Should I be worried about this? Should the cables be shielded from the lamp?

 

[wingcoax]

Is the fitting indoors or out? There shouldn't be that much heat, but with it on all the time there could be a bit of heat build up. The cable could be protected by fitting silicon sleeves.

 

[1john]

it is heat, seen it loads, when you go to replace the lamp the whole fitting just crumbles away.

 

[ub7rm]

Ah OK - heat rather than UV damage. It doesn't give off very much heat at all - after switching off its warm to the touch but not hot. I guess as said with it being constantly on its enough to cause damage. The light was relatively cheap which is probably part of the problem (~£25). The light is indoors.

 

[Adam_151]

The deisgn of the fitting normally plays a bit part in this.

The ones that seem to last the best are the ones with the metal gear tray that separates the lamp from the wiring and ballast. The ones with plastic gear tray seem to have the gear tray go brittle and break around the lamp holder and the older style ones that have the lamp holder mounted on a bit of bracketry and have the gear on the bade of the fitting with no separate gear tray suffer from damage to the wiring.

I'm not convinced that its all thermal related, I reckon there is possibly enough UV in that close proximetry to the fitting, as I have seen similar cracking, retreating and leaching of plasticiser in wiring of fittings with cat 2 louvers as well which are much more open than the 2D fttings