4foot flourescent....

[smelly]

why do I have to touch the lamp to get it to come on, it has a new ballast and new tube, the first few times it came on by itself now I have to touch it....

[BHD]

Is/are the tubes properly in the holders? I have found some tubes are harder to get properly set than others, and are the wires firmly in the holders on the end. and connections tight, (sounds like you had the fixture worked on),

you could try a different tube as well, it is possible there is some thing not quite right with the tube, I have had times when working on a fixture that I can put in the tubes and things will not work and then switch the tubes around and everything will work. so I do not know, in the past, 15 to 20 years ago, never seem to have that problem but now it seems like I have had it a few times. Some times reversing the tube seems to help.

I would guess a lose connection or one of the tubes is not proper seated or faulty, and by touching it it makes contact enough to complete the start and the the light is lit and the other pin or wire is energizing the tube to keep it lit.

hope you figure it out.

[Woussko]

Before going to much trouble be sure the steel case of all fixtures is well grounded to an earth ground. That in itself makes a big difference. You also need to be sure of exact matching of tubes to ballasts. Anymore there are energy saving tubes which simply will not work with older magnetic ballasts or even with electronic ones unless they are exact matched.

If your fixtures have magnetic ballasts (Hmmmmmm and Bzzzzz) try to find F40T12 tubes that do not have anything on them about being 34 Watt energy saver type. Anymore thankfully most companies have replaced the F40 with F34 but there are lots of tubes out that say something like F40/SPEC41/WM or SS or EW on then ending which means they are the energy saving type.

Hint: In cold areas such as a garage you really want to upgrade to electronic ballasts and T8 32 Watt tubes if you can. Again, exact matching is a must. If you can do so, look carefully at the label on your ballasts and please post any info you can that's on them.

BHD
Brings up a very good point that all pins must make good contact in the tumbstone holders. Sometimes tubes are defective even when new. I've been through that a few too many times already. In addition sometimes while you can't see it a pin will get pushed or pulled resulting in a leak where the gas inside the tube slowly leaks out. They are fragile and demand careful handling both in the carton and outside of it.

[piette]

If you have to touch the glass of the lamp to get it to light, I would agree it is a connector problem.

If you are touching any metal part of the fixture and it comes on, the fixture is not properly grounded.

Considering you said th eballast was just changed, I would make the assumption that whoever changed it probably tugged a bit on one of the leads to the connector and pulled it out to far, those wires are just barely held in with pressure connections. Turn off the switch to the light and take it apart and push on all the wires going into the connectors. As you put it back together, make sure the lamps go in correctly and both pins are seated correctly on both ends of the lamp.

Jeff

[smelly]

well to start they are not grounded,
and it is just the regular ballasts type. I can run a wire to the main ground which is about 8 feet from the lamp, it goes right into the ground, near the well which is in the basement, the lamp is in the basement too.... very old building 1935 some wiring is original.

[piette]

What are you actually touching when you get the light to come on, the metal of the fixture or the glass of the lamp? If it is the glass and they are lighting when you touch them, the ground is not your problem. While having the fixture grounded is a wise idea, it likely wouldn't solve your problem. The problem would be in the connectors that the lamps twist or push into.

Now if you are touching metal and the lamp lights up, then yes you have a grounding issue.

Jeff

[Woussko]

I would first ground the cases of the fixtures for safety if nothing else.

I would try to keep this simple, by first grounding the cases of the fixtures running a wire to each of them and then to ground. If they now all start up quickly and light up, then great.

If grounding doesn't solve things, then get a pack of 2 tubes for now. Try out the new tubes in each fixture and be sure to have power off when changing them. Do use care removing and installing tubes. The pins (all 4) must make good contact. Then turn power on and see what happens.

As for fluorescent tubes if you buy them at a hardware store or home center (big box place) look for residential type F40 tubes. Be sure they are not energy saver type. If you look on the tubes the energy saver type will have EW, SS, WM or such as part of the number. Those only work properly with ballasts designed for them. In commercial applications in the USA such are required, but for home use the older type are fine. Also for now do not get any new tubes that start with F34 or F32. You want F40

If you can find any new old stock, see if you can find any tubes (never used only) with just F40/CW or F40/WW on them.

If grounding doesn't help, then work with tubes but, I really recommend grounding first. If the basement is cold and damp you'll need special outdoor fixtures and tubes. In that case try to heat it some and also lower humidity. As for lighting you may need to go back to simple sockets and light bulbs.

Please read and try to follow what Piette posted too, but I can't stress enough the importance of grounding all fluorescent fixtures. It's a real must do.

[smelly]

just touching the lamp very light touch

[piette]

just touching the lamp very light touch

You have a loose connector someplace. Very likely it came loose when the ballast was replaced.

Jeff

[smelly]

ok guys I will check that all out
thanks

[threecreeks3]

I agree with Woussko.My guess is a loose wire or ground more likely.
Many many moons ago I was doing a new construction commercial building it was when the electronic ballasts 1st came out.Setting the finish I had 1 fixture that would rarely go on.I replaced tubes etc an was near changing the ballast when I tried the old wipe da tube with the finger trick it lit off right away.I then checked all connections including the contacts in the lamp socket and it all checked out but still the lamp wouldnt fire unless wiped.Since it was a medical ofice i took a scarp of wire hooked it to the fixture and touched it to the sink faucet and bingo it worked.The whole building was romex and in the end I found the ground wire in the romex to that fixture was bad.Cutting the romex it was obvious that the ground was bad from the manufacturer as about an inch was missing inside the romex.That wasnt the only piece of romex I ever pulled that had a broken or missing piece of wire.After you mess with romex enough you can sometimes feel a bad spot in the cable on the install.
Sam

[CWSmith]

Smelly,

How's the humidity there. In the house I'm renovating the basement florescents had to be fussed with everytime I went down there. After checking grounds and every other imaginable things, I pulled the tubes, cleaned the pins and then applied some No-Ox grease (anti-oxident...Home Depot or electrical supply store). That's taken care of the problem for me.

Just a thought,

CWS

[smelly]

I found it one of the little connectors at the end was slightly bent, but I added a ground wire too.

:lovies:

[piette]

Good work. Glad to hear you added the ground as well.

Jeff

[Woussko]

I'm glad you got them working now. The No-Ox is a good idea if your basement is damp-humid.