Any simple fixes for fluorescent light fixture?

[GON]

The garage I work in has three florescent eight foot light fixtures. One of the fixtures, the one in the bay I service vehicles in, went very dim.

I replaced both eight foot elements, but no improvement in lighting. Are there any simple repairs that can be performed, before I look into tearing apart the fixture or replacing the fixture?

 

[tmorris1]

Ballast is probably shot. Remove the ballast and get direct wire LED tubes. They work great and you can keep the same fixture.

 

[Kira]

People would always say, "the ballast is dying".
Assuming the tubes are OK/new, there ain't much else in those fixtures.
I remember seeing ballasts on hardware store shelves commonly. Today, I doubt they're there.

Unless you have a stock of replacement tubes you want to realize the value of, it might just be time to go with an LED fixture.

 

[brianl703]

I remember seeing ballasts on hardware store shelves commonly. Today, I doubt they're there.

Last time I was in Home Depot a few weeks ago they had a selection of replacement ballasts.

 

[Warstud]

Try twisting the element

 

[alarmguy]

The garage I work in has three florescent eight foot light fixtures. One of the fixtures, the one in the bay I service vehicles in, went very dim.

I replaced both eight foot elements, but no improvement in lighting. Are there any simple repairs that can be performed, before I look into tearing apart the fixture or replacing the fixture?

As someone posted here. Actually the most simple is to replace the ballast with a new one which is what you seem to imply, simple.
or
Optional, direct wire the bulb contacts for new LED tubes. Sometimes though (in my case) I had to change out the end caps too because the way the end caps were wired didnt match up with the way the LED was needed. I suspect seeing your fixtures are older they would be fine
or
You can replace the whole fixture with a new LED

My thoughts, you seem to be looking to keep it simple vs not looking to save some electricity. Go with replacing the ballast in that case.
Get the ballast, take the wire nuts off the old one, put up the new one and re-connect.

BTW- in case you dont know, if you keep using the "dim" light the way it is, the ballast at some point will overheat and you will smell a burning smell in the garage. That is the ballast overheating and this tar like substance will start leaking from it.

 

[97prizm]

Last time I was in Home Depot a few weeks ago they had a selection of replacement ballasts.

This but... I had a ballast go bad and had to bring it in. Home Depot The guy looked at it and said I'd have to go online. Not sure why as they were the standard square bulbs with the pins.

 

[Jdeere562]

Most of the ballasts you buy these days are electronic, not those heavy old magnetic ones.

We tried electronic in our machines at work. Never warrantied so many ballasts in my life.

We went to LED with an almost zero failure rate.

 

[eljefino]

You might still need magnetic ballasts for those old T12 bulbs.

My state offered good deals on "energy saving" LED tubes but they had to run off a ballast to qualify for the rebate. They were like 50 cents a tube. I still got 'em, they don't draw that much power, are bright as **** and come up to full brightness even at 20 below.

 

[oldhp]

I put a 4' LED in my little shop. Liked it so much, drove back to Lowes and got two more to replace the florescent tube fixtures in my garage. Instant on even in zero cold. No humming from the ballasts either. No spare tubes leaning up against the corner too!!! It's a WIN, WIN, WIN with the LED lights.

 

[tmorris1]

LED are the way to go. Saves electricity, works in the cold and instant brightness. No downside.

 

[notharry]

I replaced the bulbs on my 8' florescent with LED tubes from Amazon. I had one fail within a few years, although they were under warrantee. If I had to do it again, I would just change the fixture. All new, you get a complete product with a warrantee. Looks better. Loose connections on the "tome stone" sockets could act similar however I have to agree with other, the Ballast Transformers are more than likely are low on output. voltage, or current. A lot of the new bulbs are Eco friendly low mercury ones, (as indicated by the green ends). If you can locate non eco bulbs it may bring it back to life. I have had new fixtures I've installed new bulbs in do the same thing. So there is this. Florescent lights are in- efficient by todays standards. LED uses an 1/8th of the power. Good luck

 

[Dave9]

Replacement ballast is usually cheapest. Check Amazon.

Rewire (direct wire to) LED tubes is likely 2nd cheapest but a bit more work.

Replace with enough new LED housing to have same amount of light, most expensive but could be a bit less work, arguably a one person job if dealing with 4ft housings instead of 8ft.

 

[Greasymechtech]

Since he already replaced the 8ft bulbs, there really isn't a need for LED conversion.

Pull the ballast out of it and match it at ace/lowes/homedepot. The ballast starters.... are readily available and in stock almost everywhere I looked here locally Worst case is you shop online.

Before replacing bulbs, swap with another fixture. I do hope that you did not get defective bulbs. And, its an easy way of testing the ol' ones before recycling.

 

[Dave9]

Florescent lights are in- efficient by todays standards. LED uses an 1/8th of the power. Good luck

This is not remotely close to an accurate statement. The efficiency difference moving to LED is a bit (nowhere near 8X) greater for those old 8ft, magnetic ballast designs, but when comparing the typical 4ft electronic designs from the last 25+ years, lots of LED tubes are barely any more efficient than those.

Some are less efficient. Remember you have to account for the amount of light, usually you need more than one LED fixture to have same amount of light as one twin tube fluorescent of the same length. There are LED fixtures that equal the output, but then there's greater expense to get something with good lifespan.

Then there's the fraudulently rated garbage that doesn't even make the rated lumens and is best avoided due to lifespan and worthless warranty issues.

At the same time, I'm not advocating fluorescent for new installs or complete fixture replacements. Once they fail (ballast instead of just the tubes), cost and effort starts to become a wash so might as well switch to LED.

 

[tmorris1]

Rewire (direct wire to) LED tubes is likely 2nd cheapest but a bit more work.

Not really any more work than replacing the ballast. Just twisting wires.

 

[Nukeman7]

GON, Here is the easiest long term solution to the problem with ballast powered fluorescent tubes:

8 ft. Direct Powered LED Bulbs

You simply rewire the existing fixture with wire nuts to bypass the ballasts. Direct powered LEDs have no lag time and last much longer than the drop-in LED tubes which require the ballasts.

 

[Dave9]

Not really any more work than replacing the ballast. Just twisting wires.

Bit more work putting back up 8ft fixtures, compared to replacing with 4ft LED. Maybe you can do 8ft without a helper, but I can't, but can do 4ft. If it takes two people, twice the man-hours equals more work? I can take down 8 foot fixtures to replace with 4ft LED without a helper because I don't care if they get damaged once the bulbs are out, housings can crash to the floor for all I'd care.

 

[PimTac]

I wouldn’t play with it much. Take the whole fixture down and replace it with this plus a properly sized LED bulb.

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[mk378]

Pull the ballast out of it and match it

Match a new ballast to the type of tubes that you are going to use. This may not be the same as the original ballast.