bulb or fixture problem?!

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You are both very welcome. It is nice to be able to give back some good advice after all I have received on this site. :) The bad part is, unless you have a very expensive tester the best way to find a problem is trial and error. One other thing you may try. Be sure to unplug the fixture before you do this because the ballast jumps the voltage way up before sending it to the lamps. The wires coming off the ballast and running to the tombstones (white plastic do-dads that hold the lamps) are usually connected to the tombstone by a spring type clamp. Sometimes they just get loose and vibration will cause them to not make good contact. You and wiggle them gently and make sure they are pushed in completely to ensure a good contact. It is a bit of a pain because you need to take the cover off that holds the tombstones in place but it costs nothing.
 
rdnelson99 said:
You are both very welcome. It is nice to be able to give back some good advice after all I have received on this site. :) The bad part is, unless you have a very expensive tester the best way to find a problem is trial and error. One other thing you may try. Be sure to unplug the fixture before you do this because the ballast jumps the voltage way up before sending it to the lamps. The wires coming off the ballast and running to the tombstones (white plastic do-dads that hold the lamps) are usually connected to the tombstone by a spring type clamp. Sometimes they just get loose and vibration will cause them to not make good contact. You and wiggle them gently and make sure they are pushed in completely to ensure a good contact. It is a bit of a pain because you need to take the cover off that holds the tombstones in place but it costs nothing.

Oh wow, didn't even think of that! Thx :)

Well, the fixture ran WITHOUT issues all day yesterday so for now I just observe.
Maybe it just needed to "warm up" as the sales rep explained when my BF called (wonder if they are screening our calls by now).
If the issue comes up again I will follow the great troubleshoot advice you guys gave me. THANK YOU <3
 
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