fluorescent tube and starter question

Hello,

There's an 8' tube in the garage and when it is switched on it takes a long time (tens of seconds) before the light comes on.

I thought that when tubes failed they blinked several times before lighting. With this there is no flashing just darkness, darkness, darkness, light.

The tube and starter have been here longer than we have, so that's at least four years.

Do I need a new tube or starter or both?

Thanks.

Reply to
Stephen
Loading thread data ...

New starter.

NT

Reply to
NT

As a matter of interest, if a tube starts flashing is it always the fault of the tube, as opposed to the starter?

Reply to
Timothy Murphy

8' tubes can be hard to start in the cold, but I don't think it's got that cold yet. Given the tube does start eventually, and assuming it doesn't have darkened (worn) tube ends, my money would be on the starter having drifted out of spec, but it could still be either. (The working spec for 8' starters is might tighter than for other tubes.) It may well be that the electronic (fluoractor-based) starters such as a Pulsestarter EFS 600 will work better with long tubes; I haven't tried one on an 8' tube, but it claims it should work.

Secondly, are you sure it has a starter? A control gear type called semi-resonant start was sometimes used with 5' - 8' tubes, and that takes longer to start, but works more reliably in the cold. There is no starter with semi-resonant start control gear.

Finally, check the fitting metalwork is earthed. That can make a big difference to ease of starting with the long tubes.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Tube flashing continually means the starter is working. This would normally indicate the tube has failed (particularly if one end of the tube has dark internal shadow and/or one end glows white and the other end orange). However, fitting the wrong starter for the tube can also cause the starter to keep trying to start a tube which is already started, so wrong value starter is another possibility.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Thanks for the fast replies.

I have swapped the starters in the other (smaller) tubes around the house to electronic ones but never got around to touching the one in the garage.

It does have a starter, I can see it behind the tube. It has always had a delayed start, even in the summer, so I am sure it's not the cold.

I'll buy a new starter and see what happens; at least that will be cheaper than a new tube.

Thanks again.

Reply to
Stephen

Check to see if they are rated for a 125W tube, and if so, borrow one to check if it solves the problem in the garage.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

it can be either. Sometimes its both, especially where a fitting has been left flashing for some time.

NT

Reply to
NT

Managed to revive a tube by twisting it in its contacts a few times and did the same with the starter. That was in a kitchen, so moisture and other nasties had probably deposited clag everywhere. In a garage, just some corrosion is more likely.

Reply to
PeterC

I'd definately recomend an electronic starter. In an earlier life I was in charge of a suite of controlled environment cabinets and rooms, in which we had approx 500 8ft tubes. We used to have to replace on average about 20 starters a day until the advent of the electronic starter I think it was the pulsestarter EFS 800 or was it 600 I can't remember it was approx 30Yrs ago. The results were dramatic, our replacement rate reduced to less than one per Month. Some of the cabinets were working at 10 degC and they still worked albeit with a reduced light output

Don

Reply to
Donwill

20 starters day on 500 fittings =3D 25 days life per starter. Shouldnt be hard to see what the problem was

NT

Reply to
NT

The pulsestarter is not a consumable, and should last the life of the lighting installation. It was mainly sold wire-ended to be fitted inside a luminare when manufactured, although there is a standard starter can version for retrofitting into a starter socket which you can find in retail outlets (Wickes is one place I've seen them).

or maybe half hour life, if it was all one faulty fitting!

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

As an update, I think I may need a new tube. I checked the old starter and it was the 125W required for an 8' tube, so it was rated correctly.

Are 8' tubes getting rarer? Everyone seems to sell the starters for smaller tubes but I found it difficult to get a 125W one locally. I did eventually get one but with the new starter fitted, the tube flashes continually without striking, which as you've said above, suggests the tube has gone.

It's strange as I thought the tubes usually darkened at the ends before failing but this one does not seem discoloured. I do not know how old the tube is but the fitting is ancient. Before I go looking for a new tube is there anything important inside the fitting or are the starter and the tube all that there is? Is it worth renewing the whole thing or just the tube?

Thanks again.

Reply to
Stephen

Just tube and starter to replace. Maybe get a 100w tube rather than

125w.

NT

Reply to
NT

They are mostly only used commercially - there's no domestic market for them, so you may need to go to an electrical wholesaler. 125W tubes have pretty much been replaced with 100W tubes nowadays, and you can use them with the 125W ballast in the fitting (they're designed to retrofit).

I think you might struggle to find a new 8' fitting nowadays. The T5 and T8 tubes are used in new commercial fittings today, and none are made 8' long (in Europe anyway; there is an 8' T8 in the US). There are still lots of commercial 8' installations in the UK though, and they'll be around until the EU bans the tubes.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Thanks for your replies.

I don't desperately need an eight foot light; that's just what was here when I moved in. I'm sure a smaller tube would light the area just as well but if I went for a smaller size I would obviously need to buy a smaller fitting, this one is a bit rusty so a change could be justified but it might be cheaper just to buy a replacement 8' tube.

Are they planning to ban them just like the 100W incandescent bulbs? I never knew that. I don't think it will work.Where shops used to use one big tube they now use four smaller ones to light the same area so although the wattage of each tube has fallen, this is balanced by a four fold increase in the number of tubes which must use the same or greater power in total. I think the government is wrong to chase after householders using ten 60W bulbs when shops use several kilowatts of lighting for ten hours a day, every day; sometimes left on overnight.

Reply to
Stephen

Thanks. I forgot to say, isn't it strange that the tube will work without flashing and eventually light with the old starter but not the new one: does this mean they have both worn out together?

Reply to
Stephen

The old one gives the tube a good long preheat before starting it. The new one flickers and flashes, denying the tube a 100% duty long preheat time. So the tube must be low on emission, and need that long warm up to start. IOW while the tube could still be used, its late in its life cycle, and too late to run on standard equipment.

NT

Reply to
NT

simple to calculate it and see. Allow perhaps 10% loss for an old iron ballast, so 110w total use.

not afaik, but they are on a very ill considered banning spree

8' tubes are rather more efficient than 5'

Its just politics, not really sense

NT

Reply to
NT

The 125W tube will be banned by virtue of most of the halophosphate tubes being banned for having too low efficiency. These are mostly T12 tubes, and no fittings have been sold for them in the UK since around 1980, and they have been quite difficult to obtain for the last 15 years, so no one is much going to notice here (not so true in other parts of the EU where use it still more widespread). The

100W 8' tube is a strange beast. It was the first ever energy saving retrofit tube, invented by Thorn Lighting in the late 1970's. However, unlike the other (later) energy saving retrofits, it's a T12 rather than a T8. I don't know off-hand what gas fill and phosphor it uses nowadays, or its efficiency (although it's higher than the original T12 125W), but it might survive. The original 100W 8' tube retrofit would only work with series ballast switch-start fittings, and for this reason, some 8' fittings with rapid start or quick start control gear couldn't take the energy saving retrofit tube, and had to continue using the original 125W tube. The technology of the current versions of the retrofit tube may have changed in the light of later developments.
Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.