Help Required with Fluorescent Light fitting

[Ray1000]

This is at a friends house a distance away,

Single 5' Fluorescent new enough not to have a starter
Turn the light on, it comes on perfectly normal, no flickering, then goes of after maybe 2 seconds
Just have to wait a short while to do it again.
It does it exactly the same each time.
It won't start at all if you switch it back on instantly

I don't have a spare tube

Can you help me with the best way to check if it is the tube or the ballast?

Thank you very much
Ray

 

[333rocky333]

The only way to test is putting in a tube, some ballasts shut down when the tubes failed this is possibly whats happening

 

[Ray1000]

Thank you Rocky … could the tube have “gone“ and still light perfectly for a couple of seconds?

 

[mattylad]

Just change it for a new LED one, you will likely be very unlucky in finding a new tube as they were banned from being sold some time last year ISTR.

Not worth trying anything else at £20.

4lite Single 5ft LED CCT Batten 35W 4700lm 220-240V - Screwfix

Order online at Screwfix.com. Robust, slimline LED batten with a high transmittance polycarbonate diffuser. Supplied with movable stainless steel mounting clips for a flexible and easy installation. CCT selectable between 3000, 4000 and 6500K. Ceiling or wall-mounted. Suitable for ancillary...

www.screwfix.com

 

[flameport]

Can you help me with the best way to check if it is the tube or the ballast?

Does it really matter?
Fluorescent tubes and the devices to drive them are obsolete.

 

[333rocky333]

Thank you Rocky … could the tube have “gone“ and still light perfectly for a couple of seconds?

Yes but not for long usually only for about a second i find it quite often, i usually try that before wasting time going to get tube, if it dont light at all then usually its a bigger issue

 

[Ray1000]

Thank you very much for the replies and for the link to Screwfix
Ray

 

[JohnW2]

Does it really matter? .... Fluorescent tubes and the devices to drive them are obsolete.

As, I'm sure, is the case in many other houses, there are plenty of the things in mine which are are 'obsolete' (as is my car!). However, that's not necessarily a reason for not continuing to use them, nor even a reason for not attempting to mend them if they go wrong.

I know it has become very much a 'throwaway' world, but .....

 

[Ray1000]

I entirely agree with you John

I’m calling for an obsolete tube and new LED fitting this this morning and one of them will be going back to SF

Ray

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

As, I'm sure, is the case in many other houses, there are plenty of the things in mine which are are 'obsolete' (as is my car!). However, that's not necessarily a reason for not continuing to use them, nor even a reason for not attempting to mend them if they go wrong.

I know it has become very much a 'throwaway' world, but .....

I have around 20+ fluorescent lamps in my garage and workshop, elsewhere around another 6+, with a good stock of spare lamps. Only when that stock runs out, if ever, or the fittings fail - will I think about changing those to LED. Simple economics - they don't get used that much, and they are as efficient as LED.

 

[Ray1000]

It was the tube that had failed as Rocky predicted, I had bought a SF £20 LED fitting just in case, which has since been returned.
Thank you again for your help
Ray

 

[securespark]

For anybody coming here, I can recommend JCC LED batten Skypak fittings.

 

[333rocky333]

It was the tube that had failed as Rocky predicted, I had bought a SF £20 LED fitting just in case, which has since been returned.
Thank you again for your help
Ray

One of my jobs today was similar, a four tube fitting with a single ballast, on arrival was asked if i had a new fitting, i said no but i would check the old one first.
Site had even ordered tubes from amazon and tried one tube , they said all 4 lit for 2 seconds then went off.
So they declared the fitting knackered and called us out.

Knowing what i know i said did you try changing all 4 tubes, they had not.
I put 4 new ones in and the fittings fine.

By removing the 1 tube it was resetting the ballast temporary but failing again due to one of the other failed tubes still in place, he had a 25% chance of guessing the correct failed tube and it would have likely worked till another tube failed.
I generally change all four as the other 3 are proberly aged and failiure immenent and for better colour matching due to there light output failing.

When electronic ballasts were introduced that was one of there key selling points, that the unit shut down to prevent that annoying flashing and glowing tube ends which was an issue with the older choke and starter fittings.
This became a benefit in retail and commercial where access and maintenance was costly.

If tubes still available, that fitting is certain to outlive a majority of led replacement units.

How much is a 5ft tube nowadays by the way.

 

[Ray1000]

Thank you for that
Ray

 

[Ray1000]

Have they made LED units that replace the bottom plate on a fluorescent fitting to save re-fixing to the ceiling… and if so was that one I got from Screwfix I wonder ?