The office where I work has 6 banks of fluorescent tube lights on 6 switches (2 tubes per luminaire, 4 luminaires per bank, so 48 tubes/24 luminaires in total) that have developed a simultaneous flicker. Of late it has on occasions been so bad that the office briefly goes dark, and then the lights struggle to come back on. Other office equipment (monitors, PC power supplies) makes a faint noise, like when a poor electrical connection is evident (a popping/sparking/fizzing sound) at the same time the lights are flickering. We've reported it to maintenance, but are being fobbed off with crap like
them: "well, if one tube is on the way out, you'll get a flicker..."
us: "but every light in the office flickers at the same time"
them: "Yes, even if one tube in one luminaire is going out, it will upset all the other luminaires on all the other circuits"
They add insult to injury by saying that even though we rent the office space (and these luminaires came already fitted to the ceilings when we started renting the unit), electrical problems within the unit are our problem/responsibility to fix and because noone else has this problem, it's not their problem..
I'm convinced their "one of the light fittings or tubes or starters is broken and causing all these problems" story is a pail of horsecrap and it's a quality-of-power-supply problem that's external to the room. I'd like to know if there's something like an oscilloscope that I can plug in and take a recording of, or better still one that does its own data logging, that monitors the quality of the incoming power supply to the lighting/sockets - preferably without spending thousands..
Attached is a zipped up movie (sorry; movies can't be attached directly) of the lights doing their flicker (bit at the start, then a big drop near the end - it's hard to catch these things with a phone camera in the same way the eye sees them) - any comment on the "it's a bulb" claim?
them: "well, if one tube is on the way out, you'll get a flicker..."
us: "but every light in the office flickers at the same time"
them: "Yes, even if one tube in one luminaire is going out, it will upset all the other luminaires on all the other circuits"
They add insult to injury by saying that even though we rent the office space (and these luminaires came already fitted to the ceilings when we started renting the unit), electrical problems within the unit are our problem/responsibility to fix and because noone else has this problem, it's not their problem..
I'm convinced their "one of the light fittings or tubes or starters is broken and causing all these problems" story is a pail of horsecrap and it's a quality-of-power-supply problem that's external to the room. I'd like to know if there's something like an oscilloscope that I can plug in and take a recording of, or better still one that does its own data logging, that monitors the quality of the incoming power supply to the lighting/sockets - preferably without spending thousands..
Attached is a zipped up movie (sorry; movies can't be attached directly) of the lights doing their flicker (bit at the start, then a big drop near the end - it's hard to catch these things with a phone camera in the same way the eye sees them) - any comment on the "it's a bulb" claim?