New t5 fixture ruined by odd bulb?

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mark32

mark32

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Currently in NJ
During my vacation (1,100 miles away) I installed two 4' t5 fixtures in my parents house. They worked great but we didn't care for the 3500k coloring of the bulbs I bought at HD. On the day I left I sent my parents to a bulb specialty store for two f28t5's 3000k, which they had to order. I get a call tonight from mom and dad saying that upon turning the fixtures on with the new bulbs my father smelled something burning and promptly turned them off. He said the bulbs didn't put out much light before he noticed the smell, which wasn't long. The new bulbs, from Osram, are FH28t5's. Does anyone have any ideas as to what attributed to the more than likely damge done to these brand new fixtures?
 
My guess is that he'd didn't fully seat the pins into the tombstones properly and the arcing burned them up.
 
Thank you for the responses. The first thing I asked big daddy was if the bulbs were in correctly which he assured me they were, however he is no electrician. I'll give him a ring tomorrow and see what he finds. Thanks again, Mark
 
H is for high efficiency. Osram is very advanced in lighting, and has been around since 1906 they say.They are the second largest lighting company in the world and are owned by Siemens. I am more familar with the Sylvania part of the company. If the ballasts are rated for 28 watt T-5 lamps, there shouldn't be a problem. If they relamped with the power on, or didn't get them seated properly, it could ruin them. If the ballasts smoked I would suspect faulty Chinese ballasts, as they should have had electronic protection that would have caught it before you smelled smoke. I have had much trouble with China's electronic ballasts. That's a long ways to go for a service call :)
 
Are you certain that the replacement lamps were the correct wattage?
Here in the UK and presumably elswhere, most lengths of T5 lamps come in two different wattages which are not generally interchangeable.

HE stands for high efficiency, these are the lower wattage lamps in any length.
HO stands for high output, these are slightly less efficient and are the higher wattage lamps for a given length.

Markings on lamps for the USA market may differ, but I suspect that they are standard.
 
quogueelectric said:
Hillbilly??
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"Can you say 'hillbilly' boys and girls? I knew that you could."​
 
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