Too cold for F40T12?

[JohnnyEgo]

I have a 15 year old Craftsman workbench with an integrated two light F40-T12 fixture. I just replaced the bulbs a month or two back. Hit a bad cold snap in my unheated, uninsulated garage, and now both lights are out. The garage is usually about 10° warmer than ambient during the winter, courtesy of high concrete stem walls and a total lack of insulation that let the cold right in. So it has been about 20° as a high temperature in there for the last three days.

The four T8 fixtures mounted to my ceiling are running just fine. I'm left to wonder if the bulbs are going to come back on when it warms up, or if I should bite the bullet and buy a new T8 fixture to hack up and replace the T12 integrated into the bench.

Bench in question, in warmer days, from when it was my makeshift 'studio' to document a lower receiver build:

Thanks!

JohnnyEgo

 

[Eriehunter]

Yeah too cold for for t-12, the t-8 will work better when colder. In the bench you could replace the ballast and lamps in the existing fixture and no hacking involved.

 

[G_P]

The cold will make them dimmer until they warm up but they should come on. Does that fixture use a starter? If so it may have gone bad.

Nice AR!

 

[JohnnyEgo]

The lights never come on at all. Given that the fixture is 15 years old and the only thing I've ever replaced were the bulbs, I figure any number of things could be broken.

I am awash in T8 bulbs, so if all it would take to switch is a new ballast circuit, that might be the way to go. Are the sockets interchangeable between the two?

Thanks for the compliment to the AR, G_P.

 

[Eriehunter]

The lights never come on at all. Given that the fixture is 15 years old and the only thing I've ever replaced were the bulbs, I figure any number of things could be broken.

I am awash in T8 bulbs, so if all it would take to switch is a new ballast circuit, that might be the way to go. Are the sockets interchangeable between the two?

Thanks for the compliment to the AR, G_P.

yeah just swap ballasts and lamps... If the lights aren't coming on at all they may not be inserted all the way or twisted in all the way. Or the ballast craped out. sometimes it is the tombstone but usually not.

 

[Joe G.]

The "old" T12 (full wattage) lamps had no problem starting in the cold. Only 4' T12's now are the "energy saver" versions (and even those are a dying breed due to legislation), which are only rated to 55-60 degrees starting due to the gas used inside the tube.

 

[Slowgsr]

Sockets become brittle and weak from age, so use care if you plan to re use.
Buy quality ballast and lamp, avoid the standard brand. GE, Phillips, sylvania, etc.

Rewired is easy. A f32t8 uses only one wire to each end of the lamp, the f40t12 has 1 on one side and two on the other, so the side that has two wires just get jointed together with the wire from the new ballast. the new ballast will have a diagram, the old one did... The sticker is probably faded.

You old ballast may have PCBs, and the lamps have mercury, so please dispose accordingly

 

[Charles (in GA)]

New tombstones are easily found at the box stores and old ones are often corroded or burned anyhow. Just install new ballasts and correct tombstones (there are several varieties) and wire according to the wiring diagram on the ballast as it may be different than the old one. Should work fine.

Charles