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Posted by on November 24, 2006, 8:00 pm
Mr_Bill wrote:
> I have under-cabinet fluorescent lights. Two
> light fixures in parallel, wired to one single pole switch.
> Each light fixture consists of 2 13W tubes, driven
> by a "ballast". (So, the total rig consists of 1 switch,
> 2 ballasts, and 4 fluorescent tubes).
>
> Today, 3 out of the 4 tubes went dark. Long story
> short, all is well after I replaced only *one* tube. That
> one bad tube had caused both tubes in 1 fixture to
> go dark, *and* one tube in the neighboring fixture. (?!)
>
> Anybody know what's going on?
>
> Bill
To be honest, I don't have a clue as to how flourescent lights work.
However, I always replace all the tubes in any fixture that fails. To
do otherwise seems like a total waste of time.
In regards to the second fixture, I would think that there is something
coincidental going on. Assuming a good parallel connection, it strikes
me as an impossibility that the one fixture could effect the other one
(except for a short circuit situation).
There is a remote possibility, I suppose, that if the voltage is
marginal, the power factor of the failing fixture's ballast could be
dragging the power down on the other fixture. That seems kind of far
fetched, though.
Do you have an evaporative (swamp) cooler by the way?
Have you tried removing the tube again to see if you can reproduce the
failure?
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