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How can I tell if a light switch gone bad? It connects to two sets of fluorescent lights and neither one turns on. The lights have been on for two months and when turned off/on they do not come back on. The lights are 8-feet variety and changing them is also a task.

Edit

Turned out it was the bulbs.

Maesumi
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    The way to test a switch is with a multi meter. Safer turn off the breaker, remove the wires from the switch and see if there are 0 ohms/continuity between the two screws. – crip659 Aug 18 '23 at 16:15
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    When I have a bulb burn out, my first thought is not "oh no, the switch has gone bad", but "huh... the bulb's burned out". – FreeMan Aug 18 '23 at 16:36
  • @FreeMan Two sets of lights burning out at the same time is rare enough that there might be another reason. The switch is probably just the easiest to check. Besides the breaker. – crip659 Aug 18 '23 at 18:26

1 Answers1

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Sounds like the starter is bad. Is there a device that looks like this? If so they are available on Amazon or at your local hardware or big box store. To replace push it in and turn. starter

JD74
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  • Usually if the starter is failing, there's a long period of it taking 42 attempts to get the tube going… which if you ignore for long enough will result in the tube itself blackening at the ends & eventually also failing. [Golden rule, always change the starter when changing the tube… it's cheaper in the long run.] – Tetsujin Aug 18 '23 at 16:41