i have used my shop lights with their original tubes starting in april 2004. i have just completed my 6th season using them.

i bought 4 inexpensive ($7.50) home depot 4' t8 fixtures and tubes, 1 cool white and 1 soft white per fixture. i run them from early march thru the 3rd week in may for 16 hours a day then they do not get used again until the following march. the following year a friend built the same stand, bought the same fixtures, used them for 2 years then i got all 4 with tubes. his are backup i never used until about a month ago.

my question is are these cheap fixtures good for 6 years of use (from early march thru late may about 90 days having them on for 16 hours per day)? read my problems below.

about a month ago i started to have trouble with 1 of my shop lights. i swooped tubes but the fixture was still a problem and now the same thing is happening to a 2nd fixture again 1 of my 4 original fixtures. i assumed the 1st fixture was bad and tossed it.

today i come home and 1 fixture is out. if i wiggle the tubes sometimes i get one or both tubes to light. i have taken the fixture down to swoop tubes or work on the work bench but when i rehang it one of the lights go out. if both are on they'll go out in a short time, not sure how long but maybe 10 minutes. i had this fixture down and up 3 times with the original tubes and new tubes but it will run then shut off or 1 tube will go out. so i tried another fixture (one of my friends with 1/3 the usage on it 2 years use, same 90 days 16 hours per day on) with basically similar results. so now i'm not sure why a fixture with just 2 years use is acting the same as a fixture with 6 years use. i've tried my tubes and his same results. can't get both tubes to go on and stay on.

so i finally rehung my fixture after working on this for over an hour and it's been on for about 90 minutes. i'd bet a $100 that if i raise or lower the chains one or both tubes will go out. i only need to use this for a couple of clody rainy days but there is next year.... i just went back down and in the time it took to post this both tubes are off!

are these home depot shop lights worn out at 6 years (doesn't explain why the fixture with 2 years is acting up)?

i can't run down stairs every 1/2 hour to see if the fixture is on and especially next season.

any ideas would be appreciated. i hate to throw away a fixture that is not faulty but even a newer fixture is acting up. i'm lost.

tom

---
But anyway back to your lights... (i'm no expert here but
maybe can give some ideas).
With the ones that are malfunctioning, do they still go
out if left laying on the floor (or work bench) for a few
hours?

Could be the ballast is over-heating (tho I doubt it since
you have it hung on chains - as opposed to mounted directly
to the ceiling or a shelf)

Ro could be it truly is just wearing out...in which case
electronic items can be flaky when they get old...they
don't always 'just die'

But my most likely guess is that there is a loose wire(s)
somewhere. Take the light down & open it up (unplugged
ofcourse). Where the wires connect to the sockets, take
each one & gently pull on it and twist side to side
alittle. It should be snugly in the socket-connector &
shouldn't just pull out...if any wires come out easily,
they were loose, just push back into the hole they came
from and they should be properly re-seated (i've had this
happen before where a wire can work loose over time)

Also look in the part of the sockets there the bulbs go.
The metal tabs inside should be gold...make sure there's
no blackened/burnt spots (which would be a sign of poor
contact between socket/bulb-pins. If one is bad, Home Depot
sells new sockets & they're fairly easy to replace in most
lights)

tom

so does this point to the ballast?

with 2 of my original fixtures that are 6 years old going bad within a month this makes me think the fixtures are going bad. before i opened this fixture i plugged it in hanging on the stand from chains. in 5 minutes the tubes were not lighted tho it may have happened in 1 minute as i went upstairs to do something. the ballast is not warm to the touch when i opened it, not sure that means anything.

as i stated i don't want to toss out a good fixture but for $8 i can get another and if it lasts 6 years then that's $1.33 per year. pretty cheap considering the food i get for the cost of seeds, electricity, fixture and fertilizer.

tom

Some ballasts have a 'end of lamp life' detection circuit
if it 'thinks' the bulb is bad it will turn off...but since
you've tried new bulbs that shouldn't be a problem (but if
detection circuit or something else in the ballast is
failing, it may have the same result of making the lights
turn off)
Do you by chance remember if the ballast said 'Sunpark' on
it? The 'Sunpark SL-15' one was fairly common for a number
of years in Home Depot shoplights...(and is well liked
by people who overdrive bulbs - see the post on this forum )
I haven't tried overdriving with one, but i also know for a
fact that Sunpark's can be alittle flaky even when wired
normally.

One other thing i thought of is you mentioned that these
are T8 fixtures, are the bulbs you're using also T8's or
are they T12's (i just remembered this: i have a couple Home
Depot T8 shoplights which while they're designed to also
light T12's, the T12's are just alittle too wide to fit
properly, so they wouldn't always light (wiggling the
bulbs would make them go on or off, T8's dont have that
issue.

Hope that helps

no way am i going to try to find and buy the correct ballast. i do not understand anything about electrical stuff and i probably would burn the house down.

if i went to a local hardware store assuming thay sell "good quality" t8 shop light fixtures what should i pay? if i pay $8 and they last 5 or 6 seasons vs $20 and the fixture will last for 20 years maybe i'd be better off getting a good fixture. but then i'm almost 60 and i have no idea if i'll garden 5 or 10 more years. i think i'll be too old to put up with the physical work by the time i am 10 years older (this is a lot of work and while i'm strong today another 10 years and i'll be kissing 70!) so perhaps the cheapo fixtures are the way to go. but what would a life time fixture cost?

tom

but just dumping the bad one was probably the best move -
if you went to Home Depot & bought a just new ballast it
alone would be more than the $10 for a whole new shop
light...the only way to get a deal on ballasts is to go
on eBay (but thats only good if you need multiple)

(since you had an 'extra' light might as well make use of
it anyway)

As far as 'cheap' verses 'expensive' lights, I personally
say go for the 'cheap' ones.

One thing to think about is: say you spend $10 and get 6
years out of 'cheap' a light, by that time T5's (for
example) may have come down enough that its time for an
upgrade anyway.

Personally for my house plants i'm still using some old
non-elecrtonic-ballast T12 lights that i picked up used
for cheap probably 20 years ago and they run every day
...those things will probably last forever (and i could
never replace a working item just because something better
comes on the market, but if it died i'd upgrade)

I have see cheap lights last for ever, and I have seen expensive ballasts die quickly.

I think as long as aesthetics don't matter to you, and they have a good safety rating and get the job done efficiently, why spend more?

dude!

Ballasts go bad in light fixtures on a regular basis. A good electronic ballast should last between 5 and 15 years. With a cheapo shoplight, the best bet is to toss it and buy another.

One thing you MUST watch out for. Most of the shoplights sold today have cheapo magnetic ballasts. They are very prone to failure, often not lasting even a single season. So be sure when you look at shoplights to see if it says there is an electronic ballast. Don't bother buying if you don't see the words 'electronic ballast' somewhere on the package. Wally World is notorious for selling lots of cheapo magnetic ballast lights.

One problem some of the electronic ballasts have is that they generate electronic noise that can interfere with phone lines and DSL service. I make a point to hook up a new fixture and wrap a phone cord around it, then listen to see how much noise it makes. If it is too much, I take it right back to the store because I can find good fixtures that are not noisy. The Sunpark SL15 was notorious for being noisy.

Your question re cost has a simple answer. A shoplight should cost between $7 and $12 depending on whether it has an on/off switch and what kind of ballast is installed.

My lightstand is 6 tiers high and has 18 shoplights mounted so that 3 fixtures with 6 bulbs are on each tier. That is just right to cover 4 celltrays of plants where the celltrays are standard 11" X 22". When it is on, the room gets too bright for my eyes. I just sit a few more trays of plants around the stand where they can benefit from the otherwise wasted light.

DarJones