T8 lamp failure rate

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Barndog

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does anyone know the failure rate for T8 lamps. We are doing a large fixture replacement where i work and it seem to me we are having alot of bad lamps.
 
Barndog said:
Yes out of the box. I would say we are averaging two to three bulbs per case. one case we had 6 bad. just wondering if thats normal. We will get them exchanged
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I can assure you that is not normal. I would be saving them for a credit and making a phone call to the manufacture. I know its not comparing apples to apples but I recently did a t5 changeout (1100 6 lamp fixtures) and I had three bad lamps total.
 
What brand are they? Something must have gone wrong in that batch. I would try to get the whole lot exchanged, for something with a different date code.
 
stevebea said:
I can assure you that is not normal. I would be saving them for a credit and making a phone call to the manufacture. I know its not comparing apples to apples but I recently did a t5 changeout (1100 6 lamp fixtures) and I had three bad lamps total.
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Thats what i was thinking. i remember doing retrofits with only a few bad bulbs with the whole project. I thought that was high. we are saving them
 
muskrat said:
You aren't just changing out lamps but ballasts too I hope. T-8 lamps w/ T-12 ballasts=bad scene.
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You quoted him, did you not see where he said "fixture" replacement. The fixtures I buy come with ballasts too...

Barndog said:
does anyone know the failure rate for T8 lamps. We are doing a large fixture replacement where i work and it seem to me we are having alot of bad lamps.
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Maybe this is too obvious, but did you check the fixture too? There are poorly made fixtures with wires popping out of push-ins out of the box too.
 
Electric-Light said:
Maybe this is too obvious, but did you check the fixture too? There are poorly made fixtures with wires popping out of push-ins out of the box too.
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We checked that also. When we install a new bulb it lights up and the bad one will not light in another socket. We took a whole fixture down to troubleshoot and put up a new one thinking one of the ballast were bad just to find out it was the lamps.
 
So the two of you experiencing issues, what BRAND lamps were they?

Here's a video of OSRAM SYLVANIA factory. They test (or did... when the video was made) each individual lamp before they're shipped on an automated testing machine that looks like a ferris wheel. For these lamps to not work at all out of the box, one of the cathodes have to have fallen off or air got inside the lamp, but to have 10 out of 20 bad(they were real Philips lamps???) , there had to have been a serious production issue and your supplier would have gotten pallets of them returned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwsDvINxA84 Skip to 5:00 for automated individual testing step.

For F32T8s,
Sylvania lamps are still made in-house in Versailles, KY

GE and Philips are US made. Some GEs are made in Hungary and some Philips are made in Holland.

I don't know about the quality of those China made private label lamps like Utilitech(Lowe's), Maxlite, Satco and such that some supply houses carry though.
 
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Electric-Light said:
So the two of you experiencing issues, what BRAND lamps were they?

Here's a video of OSRAM SYLVANIA factory. They test (or did... when the video was made) each individual lamp before they're shipped on an automated testing machine that looks like a ferris wheel. For these lamps to not work at all out of the box, one of the cathodes have to have fallen off or air got inside the lamp, but to have 10 out of 20 bad(they were real Philips lamps???) , there had to have been a serious production issue and your supplier would have gotten pallets of them returned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwsDvINxA84 Skip to 5:00 for automated individual testing step.

For F32T8s,
Sylvania lamps are still made in-house in Versailles, KY

GE and Philips are US made. Some GEs are made in Hungary and some Philips are made in Holland.

I don't know about the quality of those China made private label lamps like Utilitech(Lowe's), Maxlite, Satco and such that some supply houses carry though.
Click to expand...

Very interesting video Electric-Light, good stuff!
 
U said it! T8 fluorescent lamps are always out of work. Maybe u can try the LED one, I have used the LED lamp for 2ys and it still work perfectly.
 
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