This fixture has a hum/buzz to it. Wondering if that means anything or how to fix it.

<img src="https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/921x488/fl_7e62cc144dc1ed837626c78bb57c13c8cfa31fc0.jpeg" width="921" height="488"/>

 

Welcome to the forums.

That fixture probably uses a ballast and that's what is humming. Not harmful.... just annoying.
Might be a good time to replace the fixture with an LED type.

 

That is the hum of the magnetic ballast. Keep it that looks like a quality fixture don't replace it with LED garbage that stuff is 100% pure junk. The fixture needs a good cleaning but does not need to be replaced.

 

A good first step would be to try tightening any of the mounting screws and adjusting the channel cover or other fixture components and see if that lessens the hum. Sometimes the buzz originates from the ballast itself, and other times the vibration causes other metal parts to buzz. A small amount of hum is always going to be present. To eliminate the hum, you have a few options.

1. Replace the ballast with an electronic ballast for use with the existing fluorescent tube. A new magnetic ballast might also hum less, but no guarantee. An electronic ballast will not audibly hum.

2. Remove the ballast, wire the sockets to the mains, and install a ballast-bypass LED tube. There are also LED tubes made to work with a ballast, but those won't prevent the humming.

3. Replace the entire fixture with anything other than a fluorescent with magnetic ballast. The most obvious choice would be LED, but a modern fluorescent or an incandescent light won't buzz either.

 

@ pjcpc1 I am a member of Lighting-gallery.net and I have learned quite a bit from others there.

Magnetic ballasted fluorescent fixtures are the most reliable lighting fixtures made (apart from an incandescent which needs nothing other then voltage & current to light up).

This is probably a trigger-start fixture with what looks to be an F15T8 fluorescent tube trigger-start ballasts require a good ground to start up reliably in all conditions.

The fixture is good but could use a good cleaning and it will last years and way longer then any LED junk made today that passes as lighting.

 

Is a delay in turning on at first normal?

 

A brief delay is normal. If you're waiting more than 5 seconds or so, then the starter is probably going bad (if it has one), or something else isn't functioning optimally (faulty ballast, failing tube, even a lack of a ground connection can cause starting delays).