Any simple fixes for fluorescent light fixture?

[brianl703]

Easy enough to cut off plug and hard wire into the existing circuit used by the former fixture.

An inspector would likely fail that.

 

[mk378]

Remove the old fixture and install an outlet box in the ceiling, fed by the wires for the old fixture (thus controlled by the light switch). Hang up portable lamps and plug them into the outlet. They are then easily replaced next time in case of burn out or new technology.

Many commercial buildings are set up this way so that fixtures can be replaced or upgraded without doing regulated electrical work.

 

[Merek]

We have those lights at work and have replaced a lot of ballasts but a few more still need replacing. On the other side where we have the garage bay there are two lights down each side, on the one we've removed the ballasts and wired them directly for led bulbs, the other side still works. Dad doesn't really like the led's but over there they are mounted a lot higher and you're not really looking up at the lights anyways. That will probably be one of the first things I do if I ever takeover that place is to change all those old lights out, I think the bulbs we've been getting are 75w so figure 150w per light... it all adds up rather quickly. We have 3x rows of lights and I believe it's 6 in each one so that's 36 bulbs just in our shop and not including the other side which has mostly the 4ft 2 pin bulbs.

You can get different led bulbs it may take a bit of trial and error to figure out what works best for you.

 

[GON]

Finally had a free moment to dig a little deeper. The ballast appears to have had a "meltdown".

I will look on Amazon and Home Depot to see availability. I was surprised to see the ballast is hard wired, I will need to cut the wires to remove/ replace.

 

[GON]

Replaced the ballast, all is well. $54 at Home Depot. The replacement ballast is significantly smaller than the original ballast, and takes about two seconds to turn on after flipping the switch.

There are three eight foot florescent fixtures in the garage, I will wait for a super sale on three led fixtures and then replace all three at the same time sometime in the future. One of the working ballast is humming pretty loudly.

 

[mk378]

That is a high output rapid start ballast. It is not for the single pin standard output instant start bulbs which you pictured at the start of the thread. Those should not even fit into the sockets on a rapid start fixture.

 

[GON]

That is a high output rapid start ballast. It is not for the single pin standard output instant start bulbs which you pictured at the start of the thread. Those should not even fit into the sockets on a rapid start fixture.

MK,

Thanks- do you have a recommendation on what I need to do?

 

[brianl703]

That is a high output rapid start ballast. It is not for the single pin standard output instant start bulbs which you pictured at the start of the thread. Those should not even fit into the sockets on a rapid start fixture.

So the original ballast which burned up is wrong, too? It says "RAPID START" on it.

If the bulbs he's using with the fixture he last posted a picture of fit into the socket because they have two pins on each end AND they are of a type listed on the replacement ballast--there's no problem.

 

[mk378]

Yes this was a high output system.
The bulb has two pins in a plastic frame like this:

and the socket looks like this:

This stuff might be found in home stores, but is not common. The single pin standard output was typically used in houses.

 

[brianl703]

I can tell from the picture of the fixture that it has 2-pin sockets on each end. The ballast and fixture appear to be correct for each other.

 

[JTK]

$54 for a single replacement ballast? I guess they REALLY don't want us keeping our old fluorescent fixtures going!

We had such horrible luck with new replacement electronic ballasts at work that we've converted nearly all of our old 4 and 8 footer fluorescents over to LED.

A twin tube HO 8 footer fluorescent consumes ~220 watts of power (110w each tube). The typical 8ft LED retrofits are 40 watts each

 

[mk378]

@GON I look at the picture again and I was wrong, those are HO bulbs so you're fine.

The HO parts have always been expensive.

 

[PandaBear]

How about replace them with 4 foot fixture and then install direct wire LED in 4 foot size?