Tube lights wont come back on

[djdave01]

Hi,

Ive been repairing several faulty light units in our building. Most needed new ballasts fitted and ive got almost all of them working again.

These light units use two 35w t5 tube bulbs

Ive got 2 emergency units which work fine until i turn them off, then they wont come back on unless i turn the bulbs. Both the emergency and normal ballasts have been replaced in these units.

Wondering if anyone know whats going on and how to fix this?

Thanks in advance

Dave

 

[ericmark]

I did once make a mistake with fluorescent lamps I was looking at length of the tube and forgot about the thickness and watt rating. The tubes fit but don't match fully and one can re-tube and find after just 6 months many have failed again.

Today there are tubes which both state they must use electronic ballast units and must not use electronic ballast units. Where starters are used it also becomes complex with so called universal starters not working with twin tube installations with me it was fly catchers which caused the problem and sourcing the correct starter took some time.

I would guess on a miss match somewhere but also I have had a faulty batch of tubes. A typical data sheet is not the easiest to read but that is the only way to see if everything matches.

 

[djdave01]

thanks Ericmark for your reply.

we use the same bulbs in all our units, guessing over 100 in the building. Its just these two that are causing a problem.

they've all got the same ballasts and the same bulbs.

could be faulty bulbs i guess, i change them, see what happens

thanks

 

[securespark]

Swap the tubes and (if applicable) the starters too and see if this cures the issue.

 

[333rocky333]

There wont ever be any starters.

Them tubes wont fit anything other than a H/F fitting

However 35w and 49w tubes are both the same length, so ensure your control gear is all rated for 35w

Also the emergency units should have seperate delay contacts built in, this ensures both lamps are connected BEFORE outputting power to the ballast, otherwise the ballast senses a missing lamp and may fail to start.
Hence you needing to spin the lamp.

Did you replace like for like.

 

[Lectrician]

Some fittings misbehave if the batteries are duff or disconnected.

Ref the fly killer and 4 tube 600x600 fittings etc. These usually have two ballasts, with two tubes in series on each, with four starters, one across each tube. These starters must be "series" starters, not universal. They are usually coloured with a different hue to standard ones, and all wholesalers should have them. Becoming rare with HF becoming the norm though.

 

[djdave01]

thanks for the replies

these are 35w bulbs with 35w ballasts.

i fitted another brand new set of bulbs in each unit, so far there both still working. They were new bulbs in the first place.

Hopefully this was just a case of faulty bulbs.

cheers, dave

 

[Lectrician]

Could just be one faulty lamp fitted, not all four. With one faulty, the ballast will shut down.

 

[djdave01]

pleased to say that 2 days later the lights are still working.

thanks to all for replies