New HD T8 fixtures, light circuit ?

[Highbeam]

So I placed the subpanel and am now running some circuits since my panel permit covers 5 circuits as well.

I bought 4 of the 8' 4 bulb t8 fixtures from HD for 40$ each. I bought phillips 4100k tubes with the green ends. Mounted the light and ran the wiring. My ceiling is 14 feet high and it was 25 degrees last night. Fixtures are hardwires with 12 gauge wire on a 20 amp circuit.

When I threw the switch the light turned on but each bulb was pink in the middle and brighter on the ends, as though it was only half way on. No buzz or filcker and all bulbs appeared equally pink in the middle. Like a nice steak. I only ran it for a couple of minutes before I shut it off and checked voltage, reseated the bulbs, hit the fixture a couple of times, etc. Turned it back on and it was a little less pink.

Do these lights/tubes require a break in period? I expected them to fire and get bright. Is my ballast ****? Is this typical of a poor connection? I plan to keep installing the lights so I will be able to test another fixture to see if it is also pink.

Is there some sort of rule against 20 amp lighting circuits?

 

[blackgold]

I don't know if I did it properly or not, but I just bought 2 of the 27 dollar T8 fixtures from HD along with the coolwhite packs of Tb phillips bulbs I believe. Mine look great.. no pink. no break in.
Brian

 

[blackgold]

here's mine.

Brian

 

[SgtRauksauff]

what sort of ballasts are in the fixtures? Certain ballasts are rated to operate at lower temperatures than others, they may not have the power to excite the gas inside the fluorescent tubes until they warm up a bit.

if you've got a heated garage, try warming it up to about 60° and see if the lights do the same thing?

Maybe post a link to the specific fixtures you got, or a photo of one of the ballasts?

--sarge

 

[Highbeam]

Ballast was rated to 0 degrees F. I can't seem to get the links to work at HD. It is a 39.87$ Lithonia 8', 4 bulb, t8, fixture with no big reflector rated for surface mount and end to end connection.

No heat out there and I only ran them for a few minutes. Plan to put up a second (or more)fixture tonight and see what happens. If it is also pink then they will be left on overnight.

 

[HDNewf]

...I bought 4 of the 8' 4 bulb t8 fixtures from HD for 40$ each. I bought phillips 4100k tubes with the green ends. Mounted the light and ran the wiring. My ceiling is 14 feet high and it was 25 degrees last night. Fixtures are hardwires with 12 gauge wire on a 20 amp circuit.
When I threw the switch the light turned on but each bulb was pink in the middle and brighter on the ends, as though it was only half way on. No buzz or filcker and all bulbs appeared equally pink in the middle. Like a nice steak. I only ran it for a couple of minutes before I shut it off and checked voltage, reseated the bulbs, hit the fixture a couple of times, etc. Turned it back on and it was a little less pink. Do these lights/tubes require a break in period?

I think what you have run into is a combination of new bulbs and low temperatures. Fluorescent bulbs do need to be run for a few hours to, for lack of a better word, "break in". Low temperatures put more stress on the ballast. Some ballasts will be rated to start up at zero degrees F. Some others are rated at a 50 degree minimum, but these are becoming less common. Keep in mind that all fluorescent bulbs are designed to be run for hours at a time, and not switched on and off as you would a hall or closet light. I would run them for a while and see how they do. The fluorescent bulbs in my unheated garage take a little while to get fully bright when it's cold out. After a few minutes all is well.

Is there some sort of rule against 20 amp lighting circuits?

No rule that I know of. The 20 amp breaker is designed to protect the wiring circuit, not the lights. As long as you are using 12 gauge wire, 20 amp switches and a 20 amp breaker you should be fine.

I hope this helps,
HDNewf.

 

[Greatbear]

The bulbs need a break in period. I use the same bulbs in my garage and recently replaced several. They come on dim and pink. Leave the lights on for at least a half hour and they will condition themselves. Once this is done, they will light up normally in the future.

This seems to be an issue with the low mercury lamps and the way the internal filaments are treated during manufacture. The slight amount of mercury boils off the filaments/electrodes and properly fills the tube.

 

[Aceman]

They are always pink/purple at startup for the first time.

I always try and leave them on for 24 hours the first time but I don't know if you have too.

 

[tomshep]

I am running the same bulbs in a similar fixtures from HD. My fixture has the diffuser. They are good and bright. My guess would be temps.

Tom

 

[Highbeam]

As a follow up, I now have 4 of the fixtures up and can confidently say that it is normal for the bulbs to start pink and then eventually burn in (season, break in, whatever) and work as normal from that point on. It only took about an hour for full brightness. During that period the pink gradually goes away and there is sometimes some waves occuring in the bulb. No noise.

The HD ballasts are rated for zero degrees F startup and so far work really well.

Just 16 bulbs in my 30x60 x 14 foot tall shop is sufficient for parking and working on non-detail items such as putting up more lights. I will be doubling that to 32 bulbs for phase one.

I used 2 -20 amp circuits to split the lights into two 30x30 areas.

Thanks for your help. New bulbs must be broken in.

 

[The J]

Just 16 bulbs in my 30x60 x 14 foot tall shop is sufficient for parking and working on non-detail items such as putting up more lights. I will be doubling that to 52 bulbs for phase one.

This is great!

Glad you got it worked out; the warmup/break-in is good to keep in mind for my future light install.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Is there some sort of rule against 20 amp lighting circuits?

No, but the 20 amp circuit is limited to 16 amps total draw for lighting. Lighting it considered continuous (3 or more hours) by the code and as such you are not to exceed 80% of the circuit's capacity, 20 amp circuit is 16 amps and 15 amp circuit is 12 amps.

Use the amp draw printed on the ballast(s) label(s) to determine the load.

If you are switching these with circuit breakers rather than switches, make sure that the breaker is marked "SWD" on it in the fine print, most 15 and 20 amp breakers are, a few are not. This indicates that it is listed as a switching device.

Charles

 

[Highbeam]

Thanks Charles, I used switches. In searching the forum for threads I had read that only 15 amps are allowed for lighting but it was a canadian poster from awhile back.

I am confident about my 20 amp light circuits now. All 8 fixtures are up and I really like the light as a base load to be supplemented by task lighting over benches.

I have no intentions of lighting all 1800 SF to a level high enough for detail work.

 

[redpost]

In planning the fluorescent lighting for my garage, I bought one each of the Lithonia 8' fixtures from Home Depot to compare how each would work in the unheated area: the standard fixture at $39 and the high output version at $60. The bulbs did not require any break-in period, and the high output fixture was brighter even with the same 32 watt bulbs installed. The major difference between the two is in the ballasts and the installation options. The standard fixture can only be installed in a stand-alone configuration, but the high output fixtures can be linked together in banks to one power supply line. Examination of the ballasts shows a significant difference in size as well.

 

[regguy1]

In planning the fluorescent lighting for my garage, I bought one each of the Lithonia 8' fixtures from Home Depot to compare how each would work in the unheated area: the standard fixture at $39 and the high output version at $60. The bulbs did not require any break-in period, and the high output fixture was brighter even with the same 32 watt bulbs installed. The major difference between the two is in the ballasts and the installation options. The standard fixture can only be installed in a stand-alone configuration, but the high output fixtures can be linked together in banks to one power supply line. Examination of the ballasts shows a significant difference in size as well.

I used 20 of the HD 48" wrap light with plastic diffusor, you can see them in the video: