Is There an Electrician in the House?

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Try replacing the timer or remove it for testing. It may be grounding out
causing the condition that you see.

Buzz




"NetMax" wrote in message
.. .

"Dunter Powries" wrote in message
...
Gordon newsin_at_hgp.nildram.co.uk wrote in message
...

"Dunter Powries" wrote in message
...
I'm great at this hobby until something doesn't work. Then I'm all
swearing
and throwing stuff and the kids have to go stay with my mother for
a
couple
days. OK, that's not true (well, some of it's not).

I have a compact fluorescent light hood with four 55-watt bulbs on
a
timer.
For about a month now, when the lamp is turned on, nothing happens
right
away. After a few minutes, the ends of the tubes begin to glow
very,
very
faintly orange. Until a few days ago, after about fifteen or
twenty
minutes
the tubes would suddenly light up or if I flicked the switch once
or
twice
the tubes would light up. Now, after twenty minutes the bulbs
still
haven't
lit up, so I flick the switch on and off a few times and they'll
light.

The fixture is a few months old. Right after I fired it up the
first
time
I
noticed that one of the tubes was discoloured. Does anyone have
any
ideas?
I bought it online so, although I COULD return it, I'm strongly
inclined
to
fix it myself.



This sounds like a problem with the starter device. There are two
types,
that I know of, the first and older type is cylindrical about 3/4 of
an
inch
in diameter. It is normally located on the top, side or end of the
unit.
If
you have this type then the fix is relatively easy, grabbing it
between
thumb and forefinger, twist it out and replace it with another
purchased
at
any half decent electrical supplier. They are not expensive and
should
last
more than a year. (dependant and the number of times the light is
switched
on, the number of tubes it has to fire and almost all other
environmental
conditions! I.e. YMMV) As you have four tubes, you might find you
have 2
of
these, although then I would have expected you to say that two tubes
lit
and
the others didn't or at least battled to.

The other type is all intergrated into the ballast (thats the heavy
thing
normally associated with flourescent lights and in aquaria lighting
units
is
normally seperated from the tubes to keep it away from the water!) If
this
is the case you can try removing, all but one of the tubes, checking
to
see
if it lights first time, then adding another and so on until you
potentially
eliminate a faulty tube (could be the one you mentioned looked a bit
off
colour!) If this doesn't work and it won't fire with any one of the
tubes
then I would say you have a duff unit and it will need replacing.

I hope this helps.

Gordon

P.S. be sure to unplug the mains plug before attempting any of this,
I
would
hate for you to get a nasty surprise!

Thanks, Gordon. But that was not the answer I was hoping for!
Something
along the lines of, 'put the left side on the right side and turn the
plug
over' would have been more my thing.

In that case ;~), remove the tubes and inspect the ends for corrosion
(clean with a bit of sandpaper). Replace the tubes in a different order
and test to see if the problem returns, and if it follows a particular
tube. Replace suspect tube (s).

It does sound like it could be a starter problem, or poor grounding in
the light or the outlet, but the easiest thing to do is try new bulbs.

NetMax