New flourescent kitchen light - thanks Costco....

Just some background on me - I have almost no idea what I'm doing but I have the home depot books that say "I can do it and they can help." I've successfully replaced receptacles and switches and a few lights in my house but I am an accountant and I'm very tired these days

Costco had this fluorescent light on sale - subsidized by our power company for $10! It's a nice enough looking light so I bought it.

I replaced what I imagine is the original light in the kitchen (house built in 1960) and now sometimes it turns on, sometimes it takes a few flicks of the switch. My first thought was that it wasn't grounded correctly. So I climbed back up and used one of those little green clips and attached the ground wire to the metal box.

It's still doing it so I googled a bit which landed me here and onto another thread which suggested someone with a similar problem needed to use the special twister connectors because he was connecting aluminum wires to copper. I stopped at HD this am and picked up a set. But as I sit here I wonder it that's it or if it's just as simple as a bad ballast.

thoughts?

I might just go back to incandescent.

Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forums!

What kind of lamps (bulbs) does it use? Is it the twisty kind? 4-pin? Can you post a link to the light fixture or post the light manufacture/model number? Is the light switch controlling the fixture a dimmer?

Some fluorescent light fixtures do not start instantly so this might be normal if the fixture starts within a few seconds.

 

Why thank you!

I will take pics tomorrow am - I should have done that already - this was an afterthought.....

the bulb is a circular one with a 4-pin cord that has a connector on the end that plugs into the bulb itself.

I'm not sure the light would come on if I just tried to wait it out - but I'm not real patient these days. Maybe I'll video tape it too

 

So....your house has aluminum wiring? The fixture and lamp you describe sounds as if it has a magnetic ballast, but fluorescent magnetic ballasts are quickly disappearing by legislation. IF it has an electronic ballast, the lamp should come on instantly. What you are describing sounds a lot like a bad lamp or the wrong lamp for the fixture, but more information would be helpful.

 

um, I don't think so - thought the house was copper and the fixture alum. See? I only know enough to be dangerous!

I will get pics tomorrow am, promise I can't find the instructions - I may have thrown them out - although that's not like me.....

edit: FOUND IT!

it's a FEIT model 71915 or 71910

 

I can't find any information on that fixture. Are you sure that Feit is not just the lamp manufacture? I can only find info on Feit lamps.

I doubt the wires from the fixture are aluminum. They are likely tinned copper.

 

well that clears that up LOL

on the fixture that's what the instructions said at the bottom. I'll look again.

 

I have seen a lot of hardware store bought Feit lamps that either didn't last or were defective when new.

 

yeah I'm thinking about replacing it and seeing what happens.

sorry no pics yet - it would require me to shut the power off, climb up, take it apart..... yeah, in the 20 minutes that I'm home each day this week it wasn't happening......

 

Unless the box was grounded adding the clip only connected the wire to an ungrounded box. Did you see a bare or green grounding conductor in the box?

 

Purchased the same ceiling light from Costco in the fall of 2009, although after the local power company subsidy the cost here was only $5.95. The light exhibited the same problem as described above, but thinking that I'd just gotten a bad light, I purchased a second unit two weeks later. At $5.95 how could you go wrong? Well the second light was installed in a different room and acted exactly the same as the first.

I've put up with this lights querkiness for over a year now and only this past week called the manufacturer FEIT Electric regarding the problem. I was told there was a manufacturing issue with some of their FC30 circular bulbs in the past, and they would send me two replacement bulbs no charge. If the new bulbs don't correct the problem, then FEIT suggested returning the item to Costco. Our home doesn't have aluminum wiring and both lights have proper grounding. If the bulbs don't fix the problem, then the only other item it could be is the Chinese made ballast. A replacement ballast will cost around $10 per light which may be cheaper than returning the lights to Costco since they'll only reimburse the original cost of $5.95, and only within the past two weeks this light was seen on Costco's shelves again ( same light different model number ) but at the non-subsidised price of $19.95.

I know this is an old thread but thought I'd throw in my 3 cents worth. - Hank

 

Thanks - I ended up throwing it out