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Tube or ballast on its way out?

Hi

I fitted a flourescent light fitting just over a year ago in the kitchen, which worked fine, but has recently begun to start off fairly dim, before brightening up over the course of a few minutes, although to nowhere near as bright as it used to be.

It's got a circular 60w tube (360w equivalent apparently - it was very bright when I fitted it) which costs about 12GBP to replace. Before I get a new one, can anyone tell me whether these symptoms sound like it's the tube or the electronic ballast that's dying?

Cheers

Jason

Reply to
JR
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That's a difficult call -- both can fail with the symptoms you describe. I wouldn't expect the tube to fail in a year unless it's been on all the time or switched on and off quite frequently. It might have been a poor tube in the first place though. If the tube is going pink together with going dim, then that is failure of the tube (didn't have enough mercury in it). If either tube end has gone black, then that would sway things slightly more towards tube failure too, but not 100%.

You might as well try a replacement tube. A replacement electronic ballast for a T9 tube will be significantly harder to find (probably cheaper to buy a new fitting). How much did the fitting cost? If it's only a bit more than a new tube, you might as well buy a whole new fitting. You can then swap parts to see which part is dead, if you are interested in reusing any parts.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

In message , JR writes

Sounds like the mercury vapour has been depleted, perhaps by being absorbed into the phosphor or into the amalgam that may have been used to dose the tube in the first place. Does the tube light up a dull pink when initially turned on? If it does then it's probably the lamp.

The slow brightening is down to the mercury vapour gradually releasing back into the lamp as it warms up.

Reply to
Clive Mitchell

More likely to be the tube. Trying a new tube is the only way to know.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Just a note to say thank you to everyone who answered my question.

A new tube it is then!

Cheers

Jason

Reply to
JR

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