# fluorescent lighting tester



## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

I've used the greenlee version and its a very handy tool


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## leland (Dec 28, 2007)

I am not familiar with either.
Please 'enlighten' me with the operation. Thanx.


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

leland said:


> i am not familiar with either.
> Please 'enlighten' me with the operation. Thanx.


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## HARRY304E (Sep 15, 2010)

mcclary's electrical said:


> View attachment 12056
> 
> 
> View attachment 12057


Happy 10,000 Jerry............:thumbup:


mcclary's electrical 
976-EVIL

 

Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: State of Euphoria
Posts: 10,000...:laughing:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Hold next to lamp:












Push test button:











If lamp lights, it's good:


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## Sky Seattle (Jul 5, 2011)

*Which brand is that*



480sparky said:


> Hold next to lamp:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I like it!


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## Sky Seattle (Jul 5, 2011)

*Milwaukee vs Greenlee*

These testers were new to me, Greenlee has one 5715 Gas Lamp Tester
It says it will test MH and HPS lamps also, the Milwaukee one you to link does not say anything about that,
The Milwaukee one was on sale at Ohio Tool for $200 the greenlee $300 at Amazon.


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

Greelee's leser model>>>

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Greenlee-LT-100-Lamp-Tester-/290668910422?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ad379756

~CS~


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

they're also great cattle prods for slow apprentices.....~CS~


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## svh19044 (Jul 1, 2008)

I have the Milwaukee tester, what would you like to know?


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## Sky Seattle (Jul 5, 2011)

*Milwaukee Tester*

The beauty of this site! :thumbup:



svh19044 said:


> I have the Milwaukee tester, what would you like to know?


Will this test MH and or HPS lamps?


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## svh19044 (Jul 1, 2008)

Sky Seattle said:


> The beauty of this site! :thumbup:
> 
> 
> 
> Will this test MH and or HPS lamps?


Definitely yes to the HPS, don't have any other bulbs at my house and to be honest, I don't know why the hell this one is here either. :laughing: Now I don't know why Milwaukee can't/won't/doesn't advertise that it can be used on other bulbs, I'm guessing that there is some legal/patent matters involved with Greenlee. Either way, I'll probably end up ordering a couple more for the other trucks.










You slide off the tube cradle from the end...









And there you have it...


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## 10492 (Jan 4, 2010)

Really?

You guys need test equipment to t-shoot a bulb?


Say it ain't so.......


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## Sky Seattle (Jul 5, 2011)

*Unfortunately*



Dnkldorf said:


> Really?
> 
> You guys need test equipment to t-shoot a bulb?
> 
> ...


When the local supply house is charging me $89.99 for a 1000w MH reduced envelope lamp and the fixture is 35' up and it's windy, yeah, I like to be sure.


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## svh19044 (Jul 1, 2008)

Dnkldorf said:


> Really?
> 
> You guys need test equipment to t-shoot a bulb?
> 
> ...


Needed? No. Save some time for a minimal price, absolutely. I like my convenience tools.


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## 10492 (Jan 4, 2010)

svh19044 said:


> Needed? No. Save some time for a minimal price, absolutely. I like my convenience tools.


 
Yeah, I know what you're saying. 

In time, you wind up having a shop full of crap that you thought would save you time and money, at one time, and now sits on the shelf collecting dust.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Dnkldorf said:


> Really?
> 
> You guys need test equipment to t-shoot a bulb?
> 
> ...



Tell us your time-tested, most efficient money-saving method then.


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## 10492 (Jan 4, 2010)

480sparky said:


> Tell us your time-tested, most efficient money-saving method then.


Outhinking the light bulb comes to mind.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Dnkldorf said:


> Outhinking the light bulb comes to mind.


A very useless suggestion.


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## Lighting Retro (Aug 1, 2009)

Dnkldorf said:


> Really?
> 
> You guys need test equipment to t-shoot a bulb?
> 
> ...


Huge time saver to know immediately if you are going to be replacing lamps or ballasts. One of our top guys carries one with him, and he can trouble shoot a building faster than anyone else. I'd say they are worth the investment if you are into repair or have warranty work.


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## Electric_Light (Apr 6, 2010)

Lighting Retro said:


> Huge time saver to know immediately if you are going to be replacing lamps or ballasts. One of our top guys carries one with him, and he can trouble shoot a building faster than anyone else. I'd say they are worth the investment if you are into repair or have warranty work.


I question the usefulness. Usually lamps don't lose vacuum unless they're defective, dropped or driven to the ground. The only useful thing is finding DOA shipments of lamps, which is more likely if you're using generic Made in China lamps. If you're getting more structurally intact lamps with lost vacuum than you can remember a year, its time to ditch that brand. 

When lamps are dropped but don't shatter, sometimes the cathodes break, or the seal breaks internally, but this doesn't usually happen without a lamp or two broken in the case. 

Only thing it will tell you for certain is that if it doesn't glow in lamp test mode, the lamp is bad for sure. If a fluorescent lamp doesn't glow in gas lamp test mode, it means air got inside. 

Parallel wired IS is fairly easy to diagnose, but series wired PRS can be complex for n00b techs. 

Defective end seals from mfg defect or rough handling. Usually happens on brand new lamps. If you find lost vacuum/air entry on newer lamps with no blackened cathodes, other non-working lamps from same batch should be tested and returned for warranty. 

When you run the lamps past their useful life, the cathode leads can glow red hot and cause the lamp end seal to crack. Such lamps usually exhibit severe blackening on one or both ends. 

Lamps can be worn bad enough to not strike, but still glow. Often time, a broken cathode goes unnoticed on instant start unless the installer failed to jumper the socket. These lamps eventually fail with severe blackening. 

Some programmed start (almost always in T5 and commercial CFL ballasts. Some T8s) ballasts check for broken cathode and lock out. 
Tech checks that cathodes are good. Use ballast test mode and find the ballasts aren't firing and replaces ballast. The ballast might not even be bad. A 2 lamp programmed rapid start ballasts have six wires to the lamp. All it takes is one failed self-test and ballast will shut down.

Several causes for that:
-loose connection. Misaligned socket (especially with two-ended lamps). bent pins. Intermittent broken cathodes. Sometimes, the lamps work when flicked.


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

Dnkldorf said:


> Really?
> 
> You guys need test equipment to t-shoot a bulb?
> 
> ...


 

We were called to Westminster Canterbury in Richmond to quote fixing 4' flourescent strips. The main hallway is 240' long with 4' t8's down each side of the hall for cove lighting. At each end of this hall way, it branches right and left and again has 4' strip down each side of the hallway. Another 100' each way. So, there are 320 fixtures for cove lighting. And 45 8" recessed for primary lighting. They ask you for a quote on fixing all the lights that are out. How much time are you gonna spend to walk through and figure your price? Oh, one other small detail. That was the first floor. There are 8 more.


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## Electric_Light (Apr 6, 2010)

Tester may have their place, but knowing what you're doing is more useful.
The key is to as much as you can in your head and figure out a way to get away with as much you can with visual inspection. 

This is what *I* would do: 

Power off, then on the system a few times. Visually determine if they're instant start or rapid start uniformly across the entire circuit.

Open a fixture and see the ballast lamp configuration.

Let's say they use one ballast per each pair. 

Visually inspect for fixtures with just one lamp out. Mark them bad lamps. 

Visually note fixtures with lamps out in matching ballast-lamp combination. Note them as bad ballasts. Ballast failure almost always cause every lamp powered by that ballast to go out, not partial outage. 

At this point, you can go back to each fixture and perform a confirmatory test, or use the above finding for the purpose of writing up a proposal. Getting a fairly accurate grasp of repairs needed is more important than knowing the necessary repair to the exact count.


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## svh19044 (Jul 1, 2008)

Electric_Light said:


> Tester may have their place, but knowing what you're doing is more useful.
> The key is to as much as you can in your head and figure out a way to get away with as much you can with visual inspection.
> 
> This is what *I* would do:
> ...


Multiply your time at $140x1 hour and let me know how much money you are losing by not using a tester. 

It's quicker. And it's just over 1 hour's worth of labor spent, so money well spent. :thumbsup: Now multiply that by future savings.

I used it again last week for a small store, replaced a bunch of bulbs and 2 ballasts, saving about 2 hours between travel and taking the fixtures apart. It already paid for itself before last week, but now it's assured me that it was a good purchase.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

I have a really old one made by BEHA. I think that's now sold under the Greenlee name.


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## Big John (May 23, 2010)

That second picture made me laugh.

-John


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

MDShunk said:


> I have a really old one made by BEHA. I think that's now sold under the Greenlee name.


I am sure you are right, that looks exactly like the Greenlee one I have, including the leather case.


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

I miss Pierre too. He was funny


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## NacBooster29 (Oct 25, 2010)

Mcclary,
On a building that size how would you differentiate, for warranty purposes which lamps,and ballasts you had replaced. It may get complicated trying to prove to the customer which lights were swapped and which are old. In addition to a per non working fixture why not throw in a lump sum price per floor.


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## electricmanscott (Feb 11, 2010)

mcclary's electrical said:


> I miss Pierre too. He was funny


A class act. He'd never fit in here. :no:


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## k_buz (Mar 12, 2012)

NacBooster29 said:


> Mcclary,
> On a building that size how would you differentiate, for warranty purposes which lamps,and ballasts you had replaced. It may get complicated trying to prove to the customer which lights were swapped and which are old. In addition to a per non working fixture why not throw in a lump sum price per floor.


Lamps you can mark, and ballasts should be easy. You may not be able to tell the customer over the phone if they are covered, but it would be no problem once you check it out.

(I have never worked for a company that warranted lamps)


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

BBQ said:


> I am sure you are right, that looks exactly like the Greenlee one I have, including the leather case.



BEHA part no. LT277 is rebranded as Greenlee part no.5715.


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## Electric_Light (Apr 6, 2010)

svh19044 said:


> Multiply your time at $140x1 hour and let me know how much money you are losing by not using a tester.


Visual inspection I explained above can be done just walking around and looking at fixtures.


BBQ: 
haha, its common with many items. They're called rebadged product ordered by the brand holder, or sometimes the brand holder will sell the branding right to another company which is called brand licensing.


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