Finicky Fluorescent Light

I'd start at the switch. Just being connected is a good start, but maybe the switch is intermittently faulty. It could happen. Tom

Make sure the metal body of the fixture itself is grounded. Lack of grounding there can cause hard starting.

If it is grounded, and you can test for and find line voltage at the power leads coming into the fixture when the switch is on, then change out the ballast.

There isn't much more that can go wrong, bulb sockets usually don't fail unless they're abused by someone forcing a bulb into place.

HTH,

Jeff

Don't compact fluorescent bulbs contain their own ballast??

Guilty as charged....I saw only the words "rectangular shaped" and thought that was describing the shape of the whole fixture.

If they are CF bulbs you are correct of course.

And, if that's the case, it does sound like the problem is either a bad switch or a "loose disconnection" in the wiring.

Jeff

Some CFL's are not self ballasted. If yours is not then the ballast(s) need to be changed. See figure 1 on the attached website.

Oopps...here is the web site.

Thank you all. I'll continue my investigation, although it's been working fine for 3 days now, but I am sure it won't be long until it acts up again!

I'm not sure what I am looking at in figure one. My bulbs do look like the ones in that picture though, although the base is sideways, not up or down.

Now the light has stopped working again, and this time it was making a loud buzzing sound from the fixture. I assume this effectively rules out the wall switch

SNIP HAPPENS

Nice reference. Thank you, that went into my bookmarks.

You should still check the connections and the switch. If the connections were poor (high resistance), you could have too low a voltage at the fixture. That might explain the intermittent nature of the lamp.

Me too. He should have said cf if they are cf. You're not guilty.

Never mind. He did say cf, in full words.

Are the bulbs screw base or pin base? Most pin-base ones, and all pin-base ones that I have seen, lack ballasts and require external ballasts.

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)

Most likely a bad ballast, a short in the fixture, maybe a broken wire. Slight chance of a poor connection arcing. If it is the ballast, then I would replace the ballast immediately or before further use of the fixture - the ballast could possibly now be a fire hazard.

See if removing the bulb makes the buzzing stop - that indicates a bulb with a built-in starter (typically 2-pin base) with a shorted starter, and that can cause the ballast to overheat.

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)