There are various shapes and sizes of fluorescent lights today. They may differ in the outside appearance but still they all work in one similar way. When some problems arise in your light fixtures, doing fluorescent light repairs on your own is pretty easy to do.
There are three symptoms to watch out for to know that there is a problem in your fluorescent light fixtures and these are one bulb is only burning, the bulbs are flickering, and the lights are completely out. Here are some easy ways to do fluorescent light repairs at home.
Order of Fluorescent Light Repairs
1. When the bulbs of your fluorescent light fixtures are burned out or loose, performing a simple inspection with the power applied to the light is helpful in doing some of the fluorescent light repairs. Check is the bulbs are seated properly in the tombstones by carefully twisting the bulbs with the use of both your hands. If they are seated properly, then the bulbs are already burned out. You need to replace all the bulbs in the fluorescent light fixtures since a weaker bulb will drag more power and thus affecting the performance of the ballast transformer.
2. If you already have new bulbs but there is still no lights coming from the bulb, then something else is not working correctly. Disconnect first all the power going to the fixtures before proceeding to do the fluorescent light repairs. After disconnecting all the power, take out the bulbs and the main cover of the fixture to see the ballast transformer and the complete wiring underneath the main cover. Inspect all the wiring connections starting from the primary going to the ballast transformer then to the tombstones especially those small wires that gets loosen up.
If the wiring connections seemed to be fine then its time to inspect if the light fixture is receiving the correct power voltage. Take out the wire nuts away from the primary wiring thus exposing the main power wires. Arrange those wires in a way that there is no possibility of a short circuit. Turn the power back on and inspect the power voltage using a multi-meter. If the power voltage is correct, then turn off the main power again and check the starter of the fixture.
3. For older models of fixtures, a small cylindrical relay starter can be found. Replace the starter, turn the power back own, and put the new bulbs again.
4. If still nothings works with the fluorescent light repairs listed above, then the final conclusion would be that the ballast transformer is defective. Replace the ballast transformer with a new one and follow the instructions that come from the manufacturers of the product.
