Replacing a fluorescent light

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Patchouli

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Shorty here. Trying to figure out a few things and didn't know where else to post these questions.
First, I can't get the tube out of the fixture thingy.
Second, I do not know if what I have will fit for a replacement, but I am fairly certain it will.
It says it is an LED. I did not buy it, it was here in the garage with a few others. I assume it's a good tube, doesn't look used.
Third, Do I have to turn off the power to it or can just turn off the light switch?
Fourth: Is it dangerous to handle it with bare hands? Peeps at ACE said to use gloves to handle it. ?
 
First, is it a straight tube? If a straight tube, you can try turning the bulb a quarter turn. Doesn't matter which direction. Once turned a quarter turn it should pull straight down away from the fixture.
Second, none of us know if what you have will fit :)
If it is a LED it might or might be proper for that fixture.
Third, you do not really have to turn the power off or even turn off the light but turning off the light switch would likely be a good idea.
Fourth,I have never used gloves but I am a man and we never follow directions;)
 
How long is the Tube? 4ft? if so it will have two little pins on each end. You have to rotate the tube so the pins line up with a slot. Then one end will slide out, then repeat with the other end.

Does the light assy have ballast? If the fixture is really old the ballast might be bad and no new bulb will work.
 
Thanks guys! There will be no attempt tonight. Too dark with no lights on.
I watched a yt vid and the guy said if it is just a ballast it will not work, you must have an electric ballast.
:dunno:
I need a man friend :brewing: They're so handy to have around. Sick of this cra.......hi how ya doin?

Edit to add: @hiwall yes it is a straight 4 ft tube
 
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I have seen "tube" LED fixtures that did not have removable tubes, and the entire fixture had to be replaced. Every fixture is an opportunity to learn both new things, and increase your vocabulary of words you shouldn't use in polite company. Some replacement LED tubes require the ballast to come out of the circuit, others didn't. Even then, there can be fitment issues. More than once there were were two retired maintenance voluteers on ladders biting their tongues and then going outside to "vent"
 
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Fluorescent lights have multiple parts. You have the tube, you have the ballast, and you have a starter. "Rapid start" tubes do not have an external starter however. If your light doesn't come on, it could be any of these components. But most likely it is the tube. That's why you replace the tube first. If that doesn't work, you'll have to move on to other things.

Note: Do not drop a fluorescent tube! They will shatter into dust (and that "dust" is glass with a coating on the inside). Quite a mess to clean up. And you sure don't want to get it in your eyes.

Second note: If you end up replacing a ballast, cover your flooring underneath the light with something protective. I have seen ballasts leak a black oily/tarry substance before. But that was over 40 years ago and I haven't seen it since. So either it's a rare occurrence, or newer ballasts are built differently and don't leak. Luckily that ballast I saw leak was over a tile floor, so the mess was clean-up-able (but a real mess doing so). If it had been over carpet, it would have mandated replacement of the carpet. Ballasts come in different wattages, depending on the length of the tube(s) in the fixture. But the folks at Home Depot and probably any hardware store can advise you what you need.

The contacts in the fixture that the tube mates with are often times really cheaply made. Over the years they crack. So inspect yours, and replace as needed.

If your problem is more than just the tube, consider replacing the entire fixture with a new LED fixture. Then you can forget about replacing bulbs/tubes for the rest of your life. If you go with LED, be sure and check the "color temperature" of the lights. LEDs can be so white that you feel like you're on the surface of the sun due to the harshness. The color temperature is rated numerically, the lower the number, the "warmer" (yellowish/reddish) the light is. The higher the number, the "cooler" (blue-ish) the light is. In a home you are going to want to stay below 4000K. 3500K is probably better in most peoples opinion. The incandescent lights of years past were very warm, about 2700K. You can get 5000K and 7000K LED lights. Don't. You will feel like you are in a commercial laboratory or hospital surgical suite. Fine for a garage workshop, not so good for looking at yourself in a mirror. I put 4000K in our kitchen and bathrooms. Honestly, I wish I had gone warmer. It took us quite a while to get used to even that level of white-ness.

One of our bathrooms has a fixture with six globe lights. Old - from the incandescent days. I initially replaced those bulbs with six 5000K 9watt LED bulbs. That's only 9x6 = 54 watts total. I thought it was going to be terribly dim in there. I turned those puppies on and I was blinded for a week. The cat nearly caught on fire and went running out. It was like the surface of the sun in there. I replaced them with 4000K globes and unscrewed half of them (now down to 27 watts). It's still mega-bright in there, but at least I no longer have to take special optical precautions before entry. 18-20 watts of 3500K would be about perfect, but I don't have that, so I continue living in my little tanning booth.
 
Wow, Haertig. You're hilarious.
The warnings are appreciated. In one of my other homes I remember discussion about the starter.
Another concern I'm having is if the connection is solid. I can't explain right now. Photos tomorrow or sometime this weekend. Tomorrow taking the cat back in for her check up. She's finally feeling better.
 
Wow, Haertig. You're hilarious.
The warnings are appreciated. In one of my other homes I remember discussion about the starter.
Another concern I'm having is if the connection is solid. I can't explain right now. Photos tomorrow or sometime this weekend. Tomorrow taking the cat back in for her check up. She's finally feeling better.
Haertig is pretty much right with all that. My 2 cents is stay with 3000-3500K for color. A direct replacement 4' LED tube will only work with the new electronic ballasts. New meaning less than 15yrs old. If the fixture is older than that it is best to replace it and be done with it. Downside to that is if you are not handy you will need to hire someone to do it for you.
Yes- turning off the switch is the same as turning off the breaker as long as you confirm the power to the light is off. Make sure no one is going to turn it on while you are working on it.
 
...Yes- turning off the switch is the same as turning off the breaker as long as you confirm the power to the light is off.....

I'll agree assuming the wiring was done to code with the switch is on the hot side of the circuit. If the switch isn't wired by code by placing it on the neutral side of the circuit there will be a remote possibility of electrical shock.
 
Only very old fixtures have a starter. The starter is usually directly under the bulb on one end. The starter is a round cylinder about the size of a roll of pennies only about an inch and half long. If your fixture has I starter I would just replace the fixture.
 
For $20 you can buy a complete 4' LED light. I have replaced all the 4' lights in my shop with them. One has a pull string, is super bright, uses very little power, so it's cheap and it will last a long time.
I started replacing my florescents with LEDs last year, 3 fixtures so far. They are brighter, last longer, use less power and forgiving as to how to hook them up.

Patch , you can just replace that Florescent fixture easily ...2 wires ( plus green ground wire).
Put up new LED fixture.

Voila..
This is one of mine..
IMG_20201023_101247061~2.jpg

IMG_20201023_101300491.jpg


Jim
 
For $20 you can buy a complete 4' LED light. I have replaced all the 4' lights in my shop with them. One has a pull string, is super bright, uses very little power, so it's cheap and it will last a long time.
Exactly what I did last year.

There was an additional hidden cost to the project.

The local recycling services wants to charge $2/bulb so for the 18 tubes it will cost an additional $36 to finish the project.

Ben
 
One of the local towns has a disposal box for florescent bulbs and the first 10 are free.
When I started working in the local hospital the maintenance guy just threw them in the dumpster. I questioned that and their reply was we have always done that. They all were pretty careless with hazmat until they got caught. We had a big mercury spill and they said just clean it up and put it in the trash. I contacted the company that handles stuff like that for the hospital and they dispatched a woman from 200 miles away to come and clean it up. She did not throw it in the trash.
Walmart has a very bright 4' LED 2 complete lights for $21.84and it comes with a pull chain.

Hyper Tough 5000 Lumen Daylight Gray Finish Light Fxture 2 Pack No Need Bulb - Walmart.com
 
Ok! I think the bulbs I have were used and not disposed of since box doesn't match the bulb brand. What is in place doesn't match it either. What I bought is too small.
I like the Wal-Mart idea and will probably head over there shortly. I do have an ACE hardware coupon or two, might be worth it to compare prices.
5000 lumen may be a bit much?
I think I'm starting to see the light.:ghostly:

Thank you everyone for all comments. It is good to have the humor to carry me along.
I sure need it.
 
5000 lumen may be a bit much?
I might have missed it, but I don't think you've told us what you are trying to light. "Lumens" are a measure of total light output. "5000 lumens" is roughly equivalent to a fixture with two 4-foot fluorescent tubes in it. Or three 100watt incandescent bulbs. You haven't told us specifically what you are replacing, other than it uses "tubes". If you are replacing a single tube two foot fixture, then 5000 lumens will blow you out of the water. If you are replacing a four tube four foot fixture, then 5000 lumens will see dim compared to what you're used to. If you are replacing a two tube four foot fixture, then 5000 lumens is pretty much a direct replacement for that. But watch the color temperature, higher temperatures - 4000K, 5000K - will seem brighter than the same lumens in a warmer light - 3500K. 4000K won't seem too much brighter, but 5000K will feel brighter even though technically it isn't.

FWIW, "lumens" are total light output, and do not take into account directionality. So a 5000 lumen fixture that uses bulbs that radiate light in all directions will be dimmer than a fixture that focuses all that light in one direction. Think of "floodlight" vs. "spotlight". LED fixtures tend to be designed with light only coming downwards (but not all of them are like this). Whereas fluorescent fixtures use tubes that radiate light in all directions (often times with a downwards reflector above the tubes however). So generally speaking, an LED fixture will seem brighter than a fluorescent fixture if both are putting out the exact same lumens.

Back in the old days, you knew how bright a bulb was by it's wattage. Everyone here knows generally what a "60 watt bulb" feels like compared to a "100 watt bulb". But watts are NOT a measure of light output. They are a measure of power consumed. When all bulbs were the same technology, incandescent, then you could consider watts as an indication of light output. But these days we have lots of different technologies - incandescent, fluorescent, LED, halogen, etc. Each of these have different "efficiencies". An incandescent bulb takes a lot more watts to put out the same amount of light than an LED bulb would. So while a 100 watt incandescent bulb might make a good reading light for your living room, a 100 watt LED bulb would make for a good reading light for your entire town. I still think of light levels in terms of watts though, because that's the way I grew up. "A 9 watt LED is equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent bulb". Most of the newer lighting technologies say something like that right on the box. They state the "incandescent equivalent". That's how I go fooled in my bathroom lights. I estimated, "9 x 6 = 54 watts, not bad". But when you think about it, that amount of LED light is equivalent to 350 to 400 watts of incandescent bulbs. No wonder it was toasty in there. We're talking stage lighting in a large theater level illumination.
 
I thought about starting a business and calling it Rent a Husband. I got asked weekly to help some nurse or X-Ray Tech to fix something for them and it wasn't always women asking. Simple things like light bulb changes, dripping faucets, electrical problems or some other routine household chore. Some I did, some I didn't. The ones I did I always took my wife with me just so there was no idle gossip and funny looks. Hospitals are a breeding ground for gossip.
 
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Me and my retired engineering buddies from work thought about starting something similar. But it was for computer problems specifically. We called it "Old Farts Unix Consulting" (OFUC). Because what's the first thing you say when your computer goes south on you? But it never really got off the ground for some reason...
 
I ordered 3 four packs of LED lights from Amazon that can be found here.

The price has gone since I purchased them so maybe you can find them at lower costs elsewhere. These are the ones on our office.

20201023_164135_HDR[1].jpg


They also went into the garage to replace the old florescent fixers there. I also had a large decorative florescent fixture in our mudroom that had gone bad. I was able to remove the guts and LED strips from one of those fixtures and then used a glue gun to glue the strips into the decorative fixture. One would never known that it has been upgraded to LED.

Ben
 
These are in the garage, @Haertig
One by one, each 4 ft. fluorescent tube light has died and now there are none working. There is one incandescent bulb in the ceiling. It has a light socket plug adapter and that is what the two units are plugged into. Each unit has (2) four ft. long fluorescent tubes in it.
Madly, I can't get the */@% things unplugged. Weak sauce.
My next project will be figuring out what to do about the big garage door.
 
Oh, if you are talking about garage lighting then I change my recommendation - Put whatever the heck you want out there! Two foot, four foot, LED, fluorescent, color temp between 2500K and 7000K, brightness level between shady/rainy afternoon and full sun at noon in White Sands National Park. You name it ... it works in a garage.
 
OFCS! I ain got time for this! I mean it.
Took other light unit down.
Put up LED unit, plugged it into gizmo, (I'll see about posting a photo of gizmo)
pulled chain cord to turn on new LED light (it lit up the way it was supposed to),
and it started making a lot of zzzztzzzztzzzztzzzzt noise where it was plugged in.
Turned it off.
Now what? Should I plug it in somewhere else? I was not satisfied with that result.
The cord is not real long. It might reach to the wall outlet.
You can advise me if you want and I do have other real life guys I could ask to come over and take a look but the cool thing about this was I did it myself on my schedule and I didn't have to wait until next month. Ha.
 

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