There was an "incident" in the train room.......

[flyboy2610]

and I'm lucky the house didn't burn down!
The train room is right next to the man-cave, where the computer and workbench are. I was sitting at the computer when I heard a "BZHT" sounding noise, followed by a crash. I immediately got up and went into the train room, where I discovered that one of the 8' fluorescent lamps from the shop light above the yard had come down. It took some cars off the track as well. I went over to it and instantly discovered what had caused the noise and why the lamp had come down! (This is why I always put a protective plastic tube around a fluorescent shop light lamp!)
What caused the noise:

Why the lamp had come down:

I immediately unplugged that shop light from the outlet box:

Here's the lamp lying on some boxes, you can see the derailment carnage in the background:

It appears that a new 8' shop light is in order, eventually, when the budget is a bit more 'friendly'.
I'm just glad there wasn't any more damage!

 

[Olie]

Wow, that sucks. I'm glad nothing really bad happened. When you go to change out lights, look at LED. No heat, last a lifetime and use very little energy. Just some food for thought.

 

[flyboy2610]

Thanks, Olie. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[montanan]

That fixture must have been made in China. You sure dodged a bullet. LED's are a good idea. At my club, all of the lighting was upgraded to LED's.

 

[flyboy2610]

I don't know where the fixture was made. I got it from work. They were upgrading the shop lighting and were going to just throw them away. Management said if anyone wanted any they were free for the taking. I got two of them. This was about 4 years ago. I haven't any trouble with them until now.

 

[SecretWeapon]

One of the guys in my club had the same problem. he converted to LED's.

 

[cv_acr]

Surprised the tube didn't shatter all over the table when it came down.

 

[Boris]

Wow. That sucks! Could have been much worse. Recently saw an article about LED tubes being recalled for similar issues.

 

[migalyto]

I don't know where the fixture was made. I got it from work. They were upgrading the shop lighting and were going to just throw them away. Management said if anyone wanted any they were free for the taking. I got two of them. This was about 4 years ago. I haven't any trouble with them until now.

Glad the damage was minimal...…...I suppose I better look at mine as well. I also got mine from work when they upgraded to LEDs. They are probably fairly ancient!

 

[JazzDad]

Re: "Management said if anyone wanted any they were free for the taking." (They might burn your house down, but feel free to take them.)

 

[Greg@mnrr]

Sort of looks like to me that the fluorescent tube was loose or became loose in the fixture's socket and the resulting arcing caused the metal to become over heated and melt.

Seen this before in commercial applications

Greg

 

[flyboy2610]

Sort of looks like to me that the fluorescent tube was loose or became loose in the fixture's socket and the resulting arcing caused the metal to become over heated and melt.

Seen this before in commercial applications

Greg

That could well be. I didn't see or hear anything from it before this happened, though.

 

[flyboy2610]

Surprised the tube didn't shatter all over the table when it came down.

One of my prime rules when installing a fluorescent fixture is that the lamp shall be enclosed in a plastic tube. This is why!
I took the lamp outside, still in the plastic safety tube, put it on a table, and gave it a good whack with a plastic hammer. BOOM!
The plastic tube was instantly filled with little glass pieces and white powder. I removed the plastic cap from one end of the tube and emptied the tube into a plastic bag. The bag then went into the trash. I might be able to replace this fixture on the 13th of July.

 

[wombat457]

Darn, as Ollie said -that sucks BUT glad it wasn't worse.

 

[Rico]

Wow close call!
We changed over to LED as well.
Thank goodness you were home and had the tube sheathed, could have been much worse!

 

[Greg@mnrr]

That could well be. I didn't see or hear anything from it before this happened, though.

The connection may have just over heated without any noise or sparking. When the crews changed lamps at our facilities, they did hundreds at a time and the 8 foot lamps were the most difficult to install properly.

Greg

 

[Olie]

If you have a Lowe's near you, the Utilitech T8 LED replacement bulbs are on clearance for $5 a 4 pack. Normally $25. I run the 5000K in my garage and they work well. Picked up another 4 pack this morning to put up more lighting. They also have bright white 4000K for same deal.

 

[Dave S]

My Dad would have said you should also shut off the lights when you are not in the room!

 

[skyliner]

One of my prime rules when installing a fluorescent fixture is that the lamp shall be enclosed in a plastic tube. This is why!
I took the lamp outside, still in the plastic safety tube, put it on a table, and gave it a good whack with a plastic hammer. BOOM!
The plastic tube was instantly filled with little glass pieces and white powder. I removed the plastic cap from one end of the tube and emptied the tube into a plastic bag. The bag then went into the trash. I might be able to replace this fixture on the 13th of July.

Perhaps you know this already, but be careful about breaking fluorescent tubes-- they contain mercury and breaking one open will release it into the air, albeit in very small amounts. I always take my old tubes to the local recycling center, they accept them for free.