Lighting Up My Life - At Least My Kitchen

What you see to the right is called a ballast.  Not to be confused with the steadying weights found in a boat, this ballast is a power conditioner for fluorescent lighting.  We have a 4 tube fixture in the kitchen that wouldn't come on the other day.  I checked the bulbs in another fixture we had and they were fine so it had to be the ballast.  Ashleigh and I made a quick run to Home Depot to get a replacement and came away with much more - a new ballast, 4 new bulbs, and an education in "new" lighting.  It turns out that the old style of fluorescent lighting - called T-12 - has become obsolete.  So it is very hard to find a T-12 ballast.  Plenty of bulbs though.  So I had to switch the T-12 ballast with a T-8 ballast but for once, someone did an upgrade with some thought - the T-8 tube bulbs fit in the same fixtures as the T-12.  The tubes are thinner but the end connectors are the same.  So I went home and clipped the old T-12 wires like I was defusing a bomb.  Wired in the new ballast, put in the new T-8 bulbs (a T-8 ballast won't fire up T-12 bulbs) and we were back in business.  Brighter actually.  More natural lighting.  And I guess within a year we will save enough money from the more efficient ballast and bulbs to pay for them.