The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Flourescent Lights

OK, when I was about 19, I bought a slew of 4 foot shop lights on sale at Home Base (are they still around?) for about $5.00 each. Anyway, they now have several shades of overspray from different cars and truck I have painted and about half of them don't even work. SO . . . I thought I would be smart and buy the new solid state ballasts and retrofit a few. Well, the 4 bulb ballast is way cheaper than two each 2 bulb ballasts. So I bought a 4 tube unit and I also bought the type of tubes that you are supposed to run with the electronic ballasts . . . anyway, I hooked everything up like I was supposed to putting two 4 footers end-to-end to make a 4 tube 8 footer.

They light right up in a freezing shop and make absolutely no noise (I like quiet), but the two tubes furthest away from the ballast are only bright on the ends and kinda a purple/red color in the middle of the tube. I am underwhelmed with the amount of light they put off. Anybody have any ideas what I might have done wrong? :confused:

To answer the first question: Home Base was swallowed up by Lowe's a few years back.

It sounds like the tubes in question are not fully started. Some of these newer tubes (since they took the toxic chemicals out) are finicky about starting, especially when new. Try twisting them in their sockets slightly (not too far, or they will fall out!), then back to the seated position. This has worked for me in the past, but may not solve your problem, since it is a new installation.

Ken,
It's probably the tubes themselves. Don't buy the junk ones, they don't work very well. I've tried the cheap ones and have never been impressed. I told you that those new electronic ballast fluorescents would work, even when really cold. See, you should always listen to me.

Ken, I just retrofitted dozens of flourescent tubes and ballasts for the outfit that I work for. Try this; swap the tubes that aren't lighting for the ones that are. If they now light up properly, then you have a ballast wiring problem, or a problem with the pins on the tube sockets. My guess is that you have a pair of bad tubes, as they usually turn almost "black light" looking when they go bad. Let me know if it's ballast wiring, and I'll walk you through it. I still see the stupid things in my sleep....

Asuming you have t-12 tubes,you are using a t-12 ballast or the same with the newer t-8 lamps? Two tubes not lit properly is usually bad sockets/wiring or just maybe poor grounding(electronic ballasts usually need a good ground)No such thing as a electronic lamp, The correct tube will light in either a magnetic or electronic transformer of the same rating.

Tony,

I am using new T8 ballast and new T8. The grounding did the trick along with something really bizzare that I don't quite understand.

First, I tried it with everything cobbled together on the bench / grounds were half baked and no reflecters behind the tubes - results are described above.

Then I mounted them up where they belonged and hardwired everything in and installed conduit between the fixtures and bonded a ground on the ballast mount and through the conduit to the other fixture. This made a huge difference in light. Then when I finished cleaning up the reflectors I pulled the tubes and installed them and I noticed something really wierd. If you put sheetmetal near the tubes, the light evens out and is uniform from end to end. If you pull the sheet metal away, the light is focused on the ends of the tubes and the middle of the tube starts to flicker a little and isn't nearly as bright? :confused:

The end sockets have two slots for mounting to place the tubes far away from the reflector or clost to it. The T8 tubes are quite a bit smaller in diameter so I moved all the sockets to the furthest recessed position to pull the tubes closer to the metal reflector. Now the tubes burn bright along the whole length and look great.

Way to go Ken.Most ballasts are marked on the label to ground it and install a grounded metal reflector within 3/4 of an inch from the tubes.