Fluorescent Fixtures tripping breaker?

[arbour0713]

Hi Everybody - first time poster here, so be gentle...

I recently replaced each of the four porcelain fixtures in my garage with a standard outlet and plugged a 4' Two-bulb T12 fluorescent fixture into each of them. One had a bad ballast (they were all given to me by my dad when he downsized his house), so I replaced it. The problem is now, on occasion, when I turn on the lights, it trips the breaker in the basement. I live in Maine, so it can get pretty cold, but I haven't found anything online that tells me that could be the cause - just that some fixtures won't work in the cold, not that they'll trip the breaker. It doesn't happen everytime I try to turn the lights on, probably only about 20%-25% of the time, but enough that it's driving me nuts.

All of my wiring is sound, and my house is only two years old. The breaker problem never happened with the old incandescent bulbs, it just started happening with the updated fixtures - I guess my question is this: Could the cold be causing the problem? If so, would you recommend that I replace the ballasts with others that are rated for colder temperatures, or give up on my fluorescent lighting dreams and go back to the incandescent bulbs?

Thanks!

 

[redmondjp]

Welcome!

I would try this: unplug one of the fixtures, wait a week or two, and then try another fixture in order to see which fixture is causing the breaker to trip. You definitely have something going on with that circuit. My hunch is one of the old ballasts is starting to fail - it could be that a really cold temperature causes two wires in the windings to touch and short out.

If you want to keep using those fixtures, I strongly recommend the GE electronic ballasts which are very economical to buy online via Amazon. I have replaced the 50-year-old magnetic ballast in one of my 8' shop fixtures and it is amazing how much better it works: 1) instant-on, even when cold, 2) no tube flicker, and 3) brighter light. This is with the old-school T12 tubes that everybody loves to hate on (I have a bunch of new tubes in both 4' and 8' so I'm going to keep using them until they are all gone).

 

[hh76]

Gfci breaker?

 

[pattenp]

Do you have a clamp-on amp meter to check the load on the circuit when turning on the lights? What else is on that circuit?