Flourescent lighting troubleshoot

[hemi68charger]

Hey gang..
Any fluorescent light specialists out there... I have these throughout the house and in the garage. They are original to the house when it was built new 5 years ago when we moved in. I'm sure they are cheap builder-grade fixtures.......... But, these lights are becoming temperamental. I can flip the light switch on and nothing comes on. I tap the fixture and the lights come one. Sometimes both come on (in each individual fixture) or only one comes on. I can't believe all the tubes are going out at the same time. There are about 3 to 4 fixtures I have that are being flaky...

In the picture below, both didn't work when I turned on the switch. I tapped the left one and both bulbs came on and then tapped the right one and only one bulb came on. All 4 lights at any given time recently have worked...

Thanks in advance..
T

[Dino]

You have a bad ballast, the little cylindrical thingies.  Your lights are all wired in series so it will affect them all. 

Try this:  http://www.ehow.com/how_7278562_check-ballast-bad-fluorescent-lighting.html

[b5blue]

Also try re seating the bulbs, wiggle them around in the "tombstones" they attach to. Remove the covers and check the wire nut connections for good contact and tightness. Sometimes contractors use crappy wire nuts that don't fit well. 

[resq302]

the ballast could also be a black brick shaped thing with wires going from it under the metal cover too.  They generally go bad.

[hemi68charger]

Is it even worth getting a new ballast or just getting a new fixture?

[moparstuart]

Is it even worth getting a new ballast or just getting a new fixture?

alot of times its just as cheap to get a whole new one ,  sometimes those replacement ballasts are not cheap

[resq302]

True but then you are stuck with the same crappy ballast in another crappy housing again.  We replaced our ballast in our old 8 foot flourescent light fixtures that were in our old Cover-it garage with a cold start one and it fixed the problem too.  Come to think of it, we have yet to do any other work to that light fixture since we upgraded the ballast.

[Dodgecharger74]

You have a bad lamp or ballast   Those are builder grade fixtures. Are they T12's lamps magnetic ballast ?   Throw them away and get  T8 's fixtures  electronic ballast