Floressent lights wont light

[canoebuilder]

I had put in the cheapest 4 ft floressent lights in my shop in my garage last year and when the temps got down to below freezing the lights began to not work... I have replaced them all with spot lights but now have 4 fixtures staning up in the corner and a box of light tubes.
Want to know why the lights will not work????and can they be fixed and is it worth it???
Gerry

[Java_Bob]

need low temp ballasts, standard ones are for 50+

[HayZee518]

If you want flourescent lights to work in temperatures below 50 degrees, you need high output fixtures. I have three eight footers twin tube in my garage. They are F96/CW/RS/VHO. This is broken down into F96 is tube length, CW=Cool White, RS=RapidStart, VHO=Very High Output. Be prepared to pay for these. Mine were $132 each when I bought them 6 years ago.

[davidg73]

what i did in my shop was to put quad in the ceiling and plugs my shop lights to them. i have a couple of regular 60 watt bulbs with the plug in adapters plugged in up there as well. i turn on the lights and the regular ones come right on, within a couple minutes the shop lights warm enough to come on as well. mine are a mix of 1 year old el cheapos and 20 year old GOOD 4ft lights. surprisingly the cheap ones come on before the good ones in cold weather.

[canoebuilder]

Sooo...are these lights trash????
Will they work again when warm weather comes around???
They do not even buzz when turned on anymore.
Gerry

[HayZee518]

I don't see why they wouldn't work unless the starter is bad - if yours uses a starter - single tube or double tube - ballasts cost around 8 bucks. the older fixtures used a wound ballast. newer fixtures use a solid state ballast.

[canoebuilder]

The whole fixture only cost me alittle over 7 bucks. They were on sale at HD so I got 4.
They are double tube.
I remember them when I still had them on the wall they would hummmm and have a faint glow then one by one they wouldn't even hummm or glow.
Now they lean against the wall in the garage and they will go to the dump if they need new ballasts.
Gerry