The Med Circline guide Before you begin, turn off the power at the circuit breaker box! If you are not comfortable working with electrical wiring, then get professional help. How to replace a Circline ballast: Once you have determined that you need to replace your ballast (see troubleshooting) the next step is to determine the replacement ballast that you will need. Depending on your fixture, this can range from trivial to difficult. In order for you to get all of the necessary information to replace your ballast, you need to remove it. If you did not do so earlier, make sure you have shut off the power for the fixture at the circuit breaker box. Or if it is portable lamp, unplug it before continuing. A word of warning if your fixture is old, before 1979, you should call for a professional as your ballast probably contains highly toxic PCBs. For more information see (http://www.state.nj.us/health/eoh/peoshweb/pcbib.htm) For a fixture mounted on the ceiling, follow these directions: If your fixture has a cover over the lamp(s) remove that. Older fixtures have a nut in the center of the glass cover. Newer fixtures have plastic snaps on either side of the cover. In any case, it should be obvious how to remove it. This is the same cover you would remove to relamp the fixture. Now look in the fixture. If there is a circular white plastic thing in the fixture that the lamp(s) are around, then unfortunately you can?t easily replace the ballast in your fixture. Replace the entire fixture instead. If you don?t see a circular white thing, then pull down on the lamp(s) until they ?snap? out. There will be a cord attached to each of the lamp(s) and this simply pulls off. Now you should be down to a metal plate attached to the ceiling. There are either 2 screws that hold it to the ceiling or 1 large nut in the middle. In any case, remove them. Detach the wire nuts that hold the wires from the ballast to the ones from the ceiling by turning the wire nuts counterclockwise. Now remove the fixture. The ballast will either be on the top of this fixture or on the bottom. In any case, it will be held on by 1 or 2 screws. Remove these. Pull the 2 sets of wires that would be attached to the lamps out of the holes they run through. The connectors on the ends might be a little tight but they will fit. For a floor or desk lamp, follow these directions: If you are trying to replace the ballast in a Circline adapter, (a round plastic thing that screws into a standard light bulb socket and has a place to snap a Circline lamp in around the outside), it is not easily possible. Replace the whole adapter unit. The ballast on a desk or floor lamp may not be standard, so a replacement may be hard to get. It may also be hard to locate in the lamp. It will usually be warm start (pre- heat) which means there will be a starter with it, or you have to hold down a button to start the lamp(s). If there is a ?can? near the bottom try opening this up since the ballast is probably inside. Also try looking under the base of the lamp if it looks big enough. Once you have found the ballast, remove the wire nuts or cut off the crimp nuts. If it is in a can it will probably just lift out with a little force. Otherwise it is probably screwed in, so find and remove the screws. Now that you have removed the ballast get the following information. 1. The number on the lamp(s) in your fixture: This will probably be FC6T9, FC8T9, FC12T9, or FC16T9. Some fixtures will have more than one type of lamp in them, so get all of the numbers. Some older fixtures have FCxT10 lamps where x is 6, 8, 12, or 16. These lamps are compatible with newer standard FCxT9 lamps. If your lamps don?t have numbers, you can look at the ballast label to see what they should be. 2. The voltage of the fixture: This will probably be 110 or 220. If it is in a standard home it will probably be 120. This is also written on the label of the ballast. 3. What kind of ballast your fixture has: The types that are most often used with Circline fixtures are Pre-Heat (warm-start), Instant Start and Rapid-Start. If you have a starter which is a little plastic or metal can that has to be replaced occasionally in your fixture, then your fixture is warm start. The starter can will usually be poking out under the cover (if there is one) where the lamps are. Look at the label of the ballast. It will be marked as Rapid-start, Instant-start or maybe even Trigger-start. 4. What the form factor of your ballast is: This means what kind of box it is in. You get this information by removing the fixture and measuring the ballast. The most important measurement is the distance between the center of each screw hole or slot on the ballast but write down all of the dimensions anyway. Now that you have all of the information you need, see if you can get the replacement ballast. There are several ways you can do this. You can go to Home Depot or Lowes and see if they have the ballast you need, but I recommend looking it up on the internet first. The advantage of this is that there are many more ballasts that you can order on the internet than hardware stores stock. There are several manufacturers of ballasts. The one I recommend is Advance Transformer (http://www.advancetransformer.com). Their online catalog is the best out there and they make the largest variety of ballasts on the market. If you like someone else, for instance Sylvania, theirs will work too. Use the information you got earlier to find your ballast in the online catalog. When you find the ballast you need on the internet, you can order it there, or if it is a fairly standard one, buy it at your local hardware store. Install the new ballast in the same way that you removed the old one. Make sure that you connect the wire nuts securely and that no bare wire shows from under them. Make sure that the wires that connect to the lamp(s) are through the appropriate holes so that they connect to their appropriate lamps. For a ceiling fixture, make sure that you connect up the ground wire to preferably a dedicated ground screw (a small green screw usually marked GND) or if there is none, to one of the ballast mounting screws. As I said earlier, if you are not comfortable with these things then get professional help. Remount the fixture making sure no wires get caught under it, and reinstall the lamps and the cover. Now for the moment of truth! Turn on the power at the circuit breaker box and then turn on the switch to your Circline fixture. If it works, congratulations! If it does not light up, see ?Troubleshooting.? Troubleshooting So your Circline Fluorescent light doesn?t light? Are the lamps new? Even if only one is burned out in a two lamp fixture the other one probably won?t light. Also check that both of the connectors are securely attached to the lamps. Make sure that the problem is actually the fixture. If other devices don?t work, check the circuit breaker box. If your fixture is warm start then check the starter by replacing it with a new one. You should probably keep a pack of starters with your light bulbs if you have any warm start fixtures or lamps. For 12W lamps you should use an FS-2 starter. For 22W lamps you should use an FS-22 starter but an FS-2 will often work. For 32W lamps you should use an FS-12 starter but an FS-4 will often work. For 40W lamps you should use an FS-4 starter. To check what kind of lamp you have, see ballast replacement. If your fixture smells of burning electronics, or if smoke came out of it when it failed, or if the ballast has scorch marks on it or tar like stuff dripping from it or oozing out of it the ballast in your fixture has failed, See ballast replacement. Warning: the smoke or tar from a ballast that has failed and contains PCBs is highly toxic. See ballast replacement for complete warning information. If you have just replaced the ballast in your fixture, make sure that you have connected the right wire lead to the right bulb. The ballast label has a wiring diagram that you can use to make sure this is right. If you have reversed the wires and if you have left the fixture turned on for extended periods of time you may have burned out 1 or more of your lamps. Make sure that your ballast is properly grounded, that is, the ground wire is attached. For more information, see the ballast replacement section. Also make sure that the lamps are fully snapped in and that they are within a half inch of the metal part of the fixture. You can bend the clips to achieve this. Before performing the following final check, shut off the power at the circuit breaker box. The final check is that the black wire from the ballast is connected to the black wire from the source wiring and the white wire from the Ballast is connected up to the white wire from the source wiring. (note: in a lamp the wires may not be color coded. Try both possibilities. If none of this helps, contact the manufacturer of the ballast or get professional help. If none of the above information has helped, you probably need a new ballast. See the ballast replacement section. Choosing a fixture or lamp So, you have decided to buy a Circline fluorescent light fixture or Circline lamp, In order to have the best possible experience with your new Circline fluorescent light fixture or lamp you need to make sure the one you get is of high quality. Here are a few items you should take note of when buying your new Circline fluorescent light fixture or lamp. First check the general construction of the fixture or lamp. Does it look ?cheesy?? Does it ?bend?? Is it made of cheesy plastic? Are the clips that hold in the lamp(s) easy to bend? Are they crimped in? If it has a lens make sure that it is made of acrylic or better yet glass. Do not buy a fixture or lamp that has an ordinary lamp socket that has a Circline adapter unit (a round plastic thing that screws into a standard light bulb socket and has a place to snap a Circline lamp in around the outside) or one that looks about the same as a Circline adapter but it has wires coming out of it.. The fixture or lamp you choose should have wires coming out of a ballast that plug into the lamp(s). If you want to dim the fixture be sure to buy a fixture with a rapid start ballast or better yet a dimmable electronic ballast. In either case make sure that you buy a dimmer specially made for that kind of ballast AN ORDINARY LIGHT DIMMER COULD DESTROY YOUR NEW FIXTURE OR EVEN START A FIRE. A word about Circline fluorescent tubes: most tubes that come with Circline fluorescent fixtures are of low quality. I recommend buying new tubes for your new Circline fluorescent fixture or lamp. a quality tube will almost always have a small screw in the middle of the four connection pins. You should also make sure to get tubes of the correct color for your application. Worm white tubes are best for a living space like a kitchen or bathroom. Cool white tubes are for a utility space like the garage or workshop. There are many colors of tubes besides warm and cool white but this document will not go into detail about them. I recommend Philips (www.philipslighting.com) for all kinds of fluorescent tubes including Circline. I recommend Lithonia Lighting (www.lithonia.com) or Hampton Bay for Circline fluorescent fixtures. Why go Circline Many people are using compact fluorescent lights. They are helping to save energy and they are saving money at the same time, but many of them are unaware of another choice available to them: Circline fluorescent lights. Circline fluorescent lights have many advantages over compact florescent lights and linear (straight-bulb) fluorescent lights. Circline fluorescent lights, unlike screw-in base compact fluorescent lights, have separate ballasts. This is even true with adapter ballasts that screw into a lamp and take a standard 22 or 32 watt Circline fluorescent light. The ballast in a Circline fluorescent fixture is a full ballast as you would find in a linear fluorescent light. This means you can get electronic ballasts, pre-heat ballasts, rapid-start ballasts, etc. to fit your specific need. This is also an advantage over a compact fluorescent which you would screw into a normal socket because you are not paying for a new ballast every time your bulb dies. This also is more environmentally friendly, since you are throwing less stuff away. Circline fluorescent lights last as many years or even longer and put out as pleasing light, if not better, compared to linear fluorescent lights. Since the tube on a Circline fluorescent light is a T9, the phosphor coating on the inside of it will be near the electrode, which is hot. This keeps the phosphor from darkening prematurely. This also means that if you get quality Circline fluorescent lights then they will not start to flicker or flash after only a few months of use. Because they are ?real? fluorescent lights, they come in many ?colors,? really shades of white, ranging from a cool shop light to a warm light you would like having in your kitchen. Circline fluorescent lights are attractive because of their small size and high light output. Normal linear fluorescent light fixtures like you might put up in your kitchen or garage are large, heavy, hard to put up, and can be very ugly. Circline fluorescent lights can put out comparable amounts of light and they are small, light, and easy to put up in any room in your house. They will fit on your existing electrical box, so no new wiring is necessary. They come in a variety of styles that will fit your personal decorating needs. In summary, homeowners and businesses should consider using Circline fluorescent lights to save energy and money while still providing quality lighting. Circline fluorescents are inexpensive, easy to install, and help keep our landfills from filling up. How a fluorescent light works You may think that a fluorescent light works the same way an incandescent, or ordinary light bulb, works, but they do not. They work on a completely different principle called Gas Discharge. One of the first fluorescent lights was shown at the world?s fair in the 1930?s Electricity can jump across a gap. This is called sparking or arcing. Inside a ?standard? fluorescent light tube there are two heating coils, one at each end. When you turn on a fluorescent light, a spark jumps from one of these coils to the other one at the other end. While the light is on, this spark continues to run from one to the other. In normal air this would take a huge amount of electricity and quickly burn the two heating coils, but there is no air inside a fluorescent light tube. If you have ever seen an electric spark, you know it is an ugly blue or yellow color, but the light from a fluorescent light tube is a ?nice? white. The light is white because the fluorescent light tube is coated with phosphor. This phosphor glows white when light or other radiation excites it. The spark jumping between the heating coils makes ultraviolet light. This makes the phosphor glow white. You may have been wondering why the spark jumps between two heating coils. In order for the spark to start, you can either use really high voltage electricity or you can heat the places where the spark is jumping between. With modern electronics it is easy to make high voltage easily and safely, but when fluorescent lights started being made there were no modern electronics. So the heater system was used. Most new fluorescent lights have ?instant start? which uses high voltage to start the arc. But most smaller or older ones use the heaters and relatively low voltage. The part of the fluorescent light fixture that starts the arc and keeps it going is called the ballast. In the first kind of fluorescent light, ballasts called ?pre-heat? or ?warm-start? ballasts, the ballast consisted of a simple coil. When you turned on the light, a ?starter? would turn on the heaters and the ballast coil would give the electricity a boost to start the spark. When the spark started the starter would turn off and the spark would continue until the light was turned off. Later systems like ?rapid-start? and ?trigger-start? eliminated the starter but still used the heaters in the ends of the light to help start the arc.