I recently bought a Simkar three-bulb T8 hanging shop light from Lowe's to replace a perfectly good Lithonia two-bulb T12 hanging shop light. I liked three things better about the Simkar T8 fixture: More light output, less energy usage, and quality of the light output. The first fixture I hung up and installed the three bulbs. It wouldn't come on. I kept switching it on and off and playing with the bulbs, and it finally came on. I switched it on and off a few times. Sometimes it came on, other times it didn't. Finally, it was working all right and would come on every time. I left it on for maybe an hour and turned it off. I came back later and pulled the chain on, but nothing happened. I couldn't get it to work. I took it back to Lowe's and got another one. I put in the bulbs and it came on immediately. I switched it on and off a few times and it worked perfectly. I then hung it and pulled the chain. Nothing. I tried and tried but couldn't get it to work. I took it back and put the Lithonia T12 light back up. What's going on? Both lights plug into an outlet. The outlet and its circuit are wired and grounded properly. I took apart the T8 fixture and saw that it didn't have a standard ballast. Instead, there was a circuit board with various components soldered to it. Is it just a coincidence that I get two bad fixtures? Is there a quality control problem with Simkar lights?

I'd appreciate your help. I'm too gun-shy to try another T8 fixture or another Simkar fixture without knowing what’s going on.

Dave

 

Simkar manufactures very good fixtures {they used to have a plant here in Philly}. Not make you sound like a fool but did the instructions have any troubleshooting tips? How about a tollfree # to call? Good Luck

 

There wasn't any troubleshooting guide. I don't know if there was a toll-free number. I returned the last Simkar T8 fixture with the instructions in the box. I'm not buying any more T8 fixtures or Simkar fixtures until I find out what's going on.

 

I would double check the connections at the panel & any splices in the circuit

 

This may sound like a dumb question, but did you install T8 lamps in that fixture? Installing a T12 lamp with a T8 fixture will cause exactly the problem you describe.

 

DUH!!!!! Thats really a good question I should have thought to ask.