flourescent ceiling lights not working?

rickvikki wrote:
Thank yhou, Doug and Sandy. Yes they are 18" double. I guess we will switch over to LED also, but will wait till we are in the U.S., they are cheaper :)

Hey Ricki and Vicki;
Ever thought of ordering the parts and having them delivered to Ogdensburg using Kinek (www.Kineck.com)? They only charge $5 to hold it and you can get an email notice when it arrives. I'm just south of Ottawa and its only a 30-40 minute drive down the 416.

I've ordered a few things from PPL this way, the only issue is that the PPL parts department has to have the front office call you back if you use a Canadian credit card. (They've given me a contact in the front office so now I can bypass this each time I order.) Another positive factor is that most of the time I've had free shipping as well.

I've often run down after work and picked up an item, declare it at the border (pay the taxes) and am home again in just over an hour. I've literally saved hundreds this way. I've noticed that in Ottawa and area all the RV dealers use the same parts catalogue and prices are usually 50-100% higher than PPL. A real rip-off IMHO.

I've also planned it so that if I have an expensive item coming, I camp in the US for at least 48 hours to get the $800 tax exemption coming back.

Chris

Mandalay Parr wrote:
I replaced the whole fixture. PPL parts I believe.

Ditto. I did the same. They are not that expensive to replace the whole fixture and PPL has just about everything you'll ever need for RV parts. I think I paid about $35 for each fixture. Four screws hold them to the ceiling and two wires to cut and splice for replacement. I replaced 4 of them in my coach in about 30 minutes.

A few yrs back mine failed. Diodes in the ballast were the cause. This article shows how I found and fixed the problem for about $2. The old ballast had 2 diodes in parallel for increased current handling. Apparently one diode weakens until the other can't handle the load and then they both failed. I replaced them with one larger diode and they are still working today.

The fix

When mine went out, the fuse was corroded, it tested fine, but not making contact

Terry.

Starters are falling out of style as instant on lamps take over, The "Ballast" in an RV florescent is, in fact, an inverter, they do fail.

Recommendation is to take the hit and upgarde to LED now.. LED strips (Some of them simply stick on your existing tubes, or you pull the tubes, sockts and everything else, or in one case I found you re-wire the socket for 12 volts, and pull the "Ballast" completly. WELL designed LEDs have a mean time between failure that suggests you wont' live that long.. Poorly designed LDS. can blow in as little as a few hours. (The story behind that line is my door handle, which was poorly designed, I had to re-design it)

I had a ballast fail and and replaced it to a tune of $38.00 plus shipping. That was 2 yeaqrs ago. whan the next one failed, I converted that fixture to LED tubes for the same cost. Bought 2 LED tubes at the Atlanta Rally for 20 bucks each.

All lights at same time
You blew a fuse ... dc fuse panel...
Or you have a broken connection....slide out wiring harness ?

I did not know the LEDs from China were more expensive in Canada.

Hi,

LED is the way to go rather than replacing the ballast. Mine are ten years old and have not yet failed. Part of me is happy about that--but I feel it is a repair waiting to happen.

I replaced the whole fixture. PPL parts I believe.