I have a question. The previous owner of the house we are in apparently was a big fan of fluorescent lights, and we have about 4-5 different fixtures that are these type of lights. It was fine in the beginning, but now I've started noticing that when I turn a few of them on, they sometimes remain unlit except for the very edge of the bulb. If I flick the switch on and off and few times, it will eventually fire, but it's not uncommon for me to have to flick sometimes up to about 30 seconds to get it to work. What could be the problem?

I don't really know a lot about the electrical makeup of these bulbs, and was curious if there was perhaps something loose or something that could be replaced without having to replace the entire fixture.

9/17/2008 10:49:04 AM

replace the ballast

9/17/2008 10:52:41 AM

Is that difficult?

9/17/2008 11:20:37 AM

Do the fixtures have starters?

9/17/2008 11:42:43 AM

google much

9/17/2008 1:01:46 PM

Quote :

"replace the ballast"

9/17/2008 2:42:07 PM

try replacing the bulbs first if you haven't done that already

9/18/2008 11:10:23 PM

^ Since you probably have tons of lights you can swap the bulbs from I'd recommend this. If not the bulb then it's going to be the ballast.

Sounds like a good time to put in some nicer lighting though.

9/19/2008 7:40:18 AM

you can also rub a broom across them to make them come on

9/20/2008 10:17:30 AM

I hate the big circle fluorescent lights

9/20/2008 10:56:59 AM

Quote :

"Sounds like a good time to put in some nicer lighting though."

Yeah, I like this idea.

9/20/2008 11:48:18 AM

at my parents place, when they first moved in, there was a ton of fluorescent lighting in the kitchen

you could have literally done surgery it was so bright

those things immediately went into the garage and we installed recessed cans

insane difference

9/20/2008 12:46:03 PM