Florescent lights

[krd]

Never had them until now. Bought a house because it had a second garage
with a second story. There were no covers over the bulbs. Flip the switch and the ends glow. Touch the bulbs and they put out light. What is the problem.
Thanks for any help. I can start replacing if need be but I still have a 1/2 case of bulbs on hand.

 

[ryanjharvey]

Probably a warm up problem. Fluorescents are notorious for warm up time, especially Screw in self ballasted CFL bulbs. Once they reach operating temp they will have full output. Your touch is probably helping heat them. Are they brighter if left alone to heat up for 10 mins or so? What's the outside temp?


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[krd]

Right now it is just the two double 8 footers up stairs. Temps in the 40's and 50's. Touch is
only momentarily so I do not think any heat is applied.

 

[driz]

Fluorescents aren't too great in the North when it's cold. I had them for many years and they start slow, flicker constantly until they warm up and then typically die an early death. I sure wouldn't use them again. Mine always started misbehaving at around 35 degrees. You know they are going bad when they start to get dark towards the ends near where the glass meets up with the end caps. Light output is greatly reduced as it gets colder as well. They do work better when you leave them on and they warm up. Personally unless you plan on heating the room I would recommend using just regular 100 watt bulbs during the Winter months.

 

[Rookie2]

Old light fixtures do this , bad ballasts do this, cold weather does this , I assume they are 40 watt T12 's .

 

[mopar440_6]

The fact that they light when you touch them sounds like a grounding issue to me. The ground path through the fixtures is likely corroded, loose, etc making it higher resistance. When you touch the light, you become the ground path. I would start with checking connections first.

 

[FordTruckWench]

The fact that they light when you touch them sounds like a grounding issue to me. The ground path through the fixtures is likely corroded, loose, etc making it higher resistance. When you touch the light, you become the ground path.

Fluorescent lights bleed some small current to their (metal) fixture. This helps them start up.

It sounds like there isn't a bleed current because the fixtures in question aren't grounded. Touching the bulb provides allows a small current to flow.

A lack of grounding plus the cold season could be why they aren't turning on.

 

[BD1]

Look at getting the Costco shop LED lights, $30.00. Works in cold weather I think to 5 degrees.

 

[94EG8]

T12s don't, as a rule, work well in the cold. T8s work fine unless it's extremely cold.