Fluorescence Light Armatures

I am not exactly sure what a "Fluorescence Light Armature" is (perhaps a standard fluorescent tube light fitting) but if I had to hazard a guess I would say you need starters for the bulbs. The starters for standard fluorescent tube lights are inexpensive and can be purchased from local electrical wholesalers, etc.

Moral of the story, lights have starters for a reason.

Can you please provide more information on your light and application (the information that has been provided is a little vague).

A couple of things come to mind. First, have you seated the bulbs correctly? There is a tick mark on the base shell that should be pointing toward the floor. That indicates that the pins are against the spring contacts as intended.

Another case could be that the ballasts that came with those fixtures are just cheap ballasts and won't operate well unless the incoming line voltage is up to par.

Of course, if you have magnetic ballasts in those fixtures, then it means that they are probably some form of Rapid Start. But instead of changing that you might want to try the following trick.

One of the more common starting aids applied to fluorescent lamps is conductive strip that runs the length of the lamp. The strip can be a piece of wire taped to the top side of the bulb but it must run to within 1/4 inch of the base. It can be taped at the two ends or along the entire length. If you look for the notch on the base you can line up the wire so that it is on top of the lamp.

If that doesn't work you will have to increase your line voltage or buy a universal input electronic ballast.

The fixtures have no starters - they are rapid start. In the dark, I see the filaments of the bulbs glowing - ready to ignite the gas - but it doesn't happen. When I play the switch sometimes one, two or all the lights go on and work. Only when pre- warmed up. I remember the rapid start fluorescent before, with the metal line print on it. We used to attach one to make them more or less dim- able too. I will try this, because IMO the gas inside doesn't get ionized and needs some help. The wire might help. In the store they told me to go for electronic ballasts, but new fixtures should be able to work? No? I really have a lot of experience in how to put the bulbs in the holders. Used to maintain the lights in big factories with thousands of these. Only they were 220V -50 Hz before, now 120V - 60 Hz. But they seem to be the same glass tubes and connectors. 4 feet long. Thanks for the help.

Is the fixture grounded properly? Many flourescent fixtures will only fire the bulbs reliably when the reflector is grounded and close to the tubes.

Is it not too cold where the lamps are?

brgds

Snel

Have to agree with #4, had the exact same problem and it was the ground for the case.

I did the tests with the wires on the tubes and have some better result. However it seems to be a wrong buy. Now they ignite after 5 times switching. I had better results with GE bulbs than with Philips. (aluminum end caps vs copper). The temperature here is always high. Even in winter months we never have freezing. All the fixtures have a good ground. They are not worth the money spent. I also will try the smaller diameter bulbs, maybe that helps. For saving...some... time a GA.

Smaller diameter bulbs won't help.

When you observe the coils glowing (before the lamp starts), are all the coils glowing? There is a coil on each end of the lamp, but all coils and all lamps must be glowing before the arc will strike reliably.

Rapid Start ballasts generally must have at least 90% of the rated input voltage in order to start the lamps.

Some types of fluorescent lamps have trouble starting in high humidity locations.

As to "the trick", you must first allow the coils to heat (usually about 1 second) before trying to trick the lamp into starting. Then you really need to interrupt the current flow as briefly as possible - say less than 15 msec. Then if you hit the reconnection right at the peak of the sine wave, you will generate a higher open circuit voltage than usual and start most of the time on one attempt. The problem is having cat like reflexes to achieve that timing.