Thank you so much for this instructional video! I have been searching for over a week to find the same fixture and replacement ballast as the one we have in common in your video. You did very well with explaining how to do it. Now I can replace mine myself without having to wait on anyone to do it for me or pay someone else.
Thanks so much! I had the same fixture and bulbs but my bad ballast was ancient and discontinued. It had 2 reds 2 blues on one end then black white green blue red and yellow on the other but I am now back in business after buying the same GE ballast and following along with this video.
I have 2 4-bulb florescent fixtures I'm my kitchen. Only 2 bulbs work in each one (don't ask me why). Recently, one sets of bulbs don't work and the other doesn't and vice versa. sometime both fixtureswork, sometimes they don't. thought was the switch but that doesn't seem to be the case. the issue is intermittent. the bulbs are new and secured properly (the some of the plastic pieces where the bulbs go into the fixture are broken or cracked). Anyway, if it was a bad ballast, fine. but two? the latest seem to work and not work intermittently? thoughts?
+Realsuddenlike There are four seperated bulbs, two in each fixture. There are two fixtures. Sporadically, both lights in the one fixed would come on and neither of the lights in the other fixture would come on. Sometimes the first fixture works then the lights in the second fixture won't come on. Sometimes none of the lights in any of the two fixtures come on and sometimes they work fine. Either I have two ballasts going bad at (strangely) the same time or there is a wiring issue somewhere. What confuses me is that none of this is consistent. Ever heard of this?
I've never heard of this. However, the two lights in my garage (in the video) had the ballasts go out within a short window of time from each other. How old are the fixtures in your kitchen? Are they the original ballasts?
I did some googling and found this link with some basic steps for troubleshooting. diy.stackexchange.com/questions/40803/why-are-my-fluorescent-lights-not-working-sometimes I think it's a pretty good list of places to start. The very first step, the switch, sounds odd but I've had 5 or 6 switches in my house go bad in the last 2-3 years. Sometimes they would work; sometimes they wouldn't! There's also a comment about a starter. I have zero experience with these.
Nice work, but it I were you, I would have saved that white wire sleeve and used it for the wires of the new ballast (so that the colored wires wouldn't be too visible through the lens)
im using the same replacement ballast but the only difference is the fixture itself has two yellow wires coming out form one side. what do i do with the two yellow wires?
Did anyone notice the hole in the lamp where power enters the fixture , possible shorting cause there's no inner plastic washer to protect the wires from being scathed by the sharp edged metal
Lol i got belted by not turning the electric off...I screamed when i got belted my naighbour was on the phone at the time and screamed for me then crapped her self and ran to the toilet 😂😂😂 This is true it happened last week 😂😂😂😂 Thanks for the video weve still an issue with the t5 light unit weve bought a new ballast but no lock down pins inside and I think we are going to get an electrician now...
Electricity goes off first. We had a switch to keep the electricity off but I always through a breaker. Calling an electrician is never a bad thing. Plus, most of them will let you ask questions and even show you how to do what they're doing. Just ask. :)
That's a great question. If nothing has changed in the electrical connection (switches, fixtures, wiring, circuit breakers, etc.) and the bulb is not particularly ancient or excessively well-used, then the ballast is probably your culprit. In my case, when it failed, you could visibly see the heat damage on the body of the ballast. Thanks for asking!
Bc it’s a cheap throw away light.not a commercial fixture with a ballast like what he’s installing now. That’s a 10 dollar Lowe’s shop light, the ballast prob cost as much as the light did new
Thanks for the response! You're a landlord or you're SeanP87's landlord? It's only worth the cost-savings of doing it yourself if you're confident. Otherwise, $50 seems like a good price, to me.
