I think I have two from October 1977 too! (they're from 1977 for sure). I think I have three or four spares of these total, plus the one in my 1973 shoplite, which struggles to light lamps (but runs fine otherwise. Something inisde must be on its way out. )
And it's in perfect shape too! I have two, one that's immaculate like this, and one that has a rusty case and toasty label that's half dead but works fine shunted for one lamp.
Mike and Darren, do yours have that classic raspy buzz typical of this model?
My 1973 one has a nice audible buzz, but you can't hear it over the mechanical timer for the outiside front outlet, which is in the same room. The 1977 ones are pretty silent from what I remember.
My dad bought it and was put up in the garage of the house just after it was built. I took it after moving out. (Same garage as the four lamp 8 footers were installed in that I rescued before the demolition.)
Nice! I'm in the process of bringing all the vintage fluorescents in my family under by roof. I won't get all of them before I move out though. Some will have to wait until after I get my own place.
Over the past couple years, I have brought the following lights under my roof that were in other family members' houses before:
- (3X) Western Electric Spec'd (one manufactured by Pittsburgh Reflector Co. and two by Day-Brite Lighting) F20/TS HPF fixtures from my great-aunt's house (I replaced one with a pull-chain incandescent and other other a 2X F32T8/IS shoplite, which was originally F40/RS with a ballast identical to the one above, same year too and great condition! I still have the ballast in my collection as a spare.)
- (1X) Harmony House 2X F40T12/PH industrial fixture (got repainted and rewired, keeping ballast leads original). I used a twin to the shoplite I used to replace one of the WE fixtures in my great-aunt's basement. It had an identical Universal F40 ballast too. Also kept that ballast. I retrofitted the flimsy fixtures to F32T8/IS and used them to replace really cool fixtures!)
- (2X) F40/PH industrials from my aunt and uncle's basement (one ended up having a bad ballast EOL and the other resides in Joe's collection in Ontario) These I didn't remove (or replace). My uncle removed them because they didn't work. Their basement is going to be fully-rewired since the wiring is ratty. None of the fluorescents down there work. Ironically, the one that had a bad ballast a year or two after I got it was the only one that actually worked when it was removed.
Here's what I have left to remove from service in the family and add to my collection:
- (3X) Western Electric Spec'd two-lamp F40/RS fixtures in my grandma's, aunt's and late-grandpa's garage
- (1X) Western Electric Spec'd two lamp F40/RS fixture identical to the ones in the garage, but not in service, in my grandma's, aunt's, and late-grandpa's basement
- (2X) F90T17 louvered preheaters (one over my late-grandpa's desk, the other half-removed in my great-aunt's garage; I took the reflector off of hers and disconnected it from power, adding a pullchain incandescent in place of the industrial pull-chain that used to control the T17)
- (1X) 2-lamp F40T12/PH 8ft tandem fixture. Really unique light that was intended to be mounted off and maintained from a catwalk. It's in my great-aunt's garage and has a pair of 2008 Philips Alto F40/DX lamps and manual reset starters that were already in there.
- (3X) F40/PH industrial/shoplite fixtures from my aunt's and uncle's basement (with the ratty wiring) as well as a 2X F20/PH fixture. My uncle will actually be removing these and no replacements are needed since they're pretty much gutting the basement *eventually*.
- (6X) 2-lamp F40T12/PH industrial/shoplite fixtures ay my cousins' grandma's house, three are in her garage and have recent Sylvania F40/CWP and /CWX lamps, since I relamped them. I had used four replacement starters and five replacement lamps, since one of the six lamps still worked. The other three are in her basement. One's got two Duro-Test F40/CWs and both work. Another's on a pull-chain and has two Westinghouse F40/CWs, still working and like-new condition IIRC (no blackening from what I recall) and the third was lampless but had one Westinghouse F40/CW and one 34W red-etched GE on the floor under it. I couldn't trace the romex back to a switch anywhere so I don't if it's got power. It was dark over there and a ton of crap all over the place so I couldn't get a great look at it. If it has a pull-chain, maybe it broke and that's why the lamps were taken out (maybe the pullchain i stuck 'ON'...). The pullchain would be on one of the endcaps if it's got one. Some have pull-chains and some don't but the six fixtures are otherwise identical. The ones in the basement are in much better condition than the garage. The garage leaked at one point (fixed like ten years ago) plus the garage isn't insulated or climate-controlled so the fixtures pretty much in a covered outdoor location and thus are a little rusty and ratty looking but all work. The sockets are finiky though...
Here's what I need to buy to replace the above fixtures:
- For the three WE F40/RS fixtures in my grandma's/aunt's/late-grandpa's garage, I need to find three two-lamp F32T8 strip lights or wrap lights and six lamps (either 3500K or 5000K) for them. Maybe I can get them from the ReStore but they need to be identical since it wouldn't look good otherwise.
- I have a fixture for the F90T17 over my late-grandpa's desk, so no fixture purchase is needed. I bought a fixture with one of those Benchlite ballasts and was disgusted by the light output of the Benchlite ballast so I cut off the leads and tossed it. I had originally installed a HPF ballast in the fixture but soon decided I'd convert it to T8-instant start to use as a "replacer fixture".
(Continued from above since i reached the character limit lol):
The ballast in the fixture now is a GE Residential F32T8/IS and the lamps are new Sylvania Octron F32/835s. I'll use it to replace the huge T17, probably not for a few years though since I lack room right now... My great-aunt's T17, identical to the first, was disconnected around New Year's and a pull-chain incandescent was put in its place. The fixture itself is still up, but its reflector has been removed and placed in the shed. It's missing some hardware and is missing the endcaps. It works, but is it tougher shape than the one over my late-grandpa's desk. I think I'll be parting with it though (recipient already in-line for it). I'd supply a cord and starters with it but no lamps, since I'd need them for my late-grandpa's. I have around a dozen starters though.
- As for the 8ft F40 preheater that's wall-mounted in my great-aunt's garage, I'll probably just install two 1-lamp or 2-lamp strip lights end-to-end. The strips could be new or used but again, would have to be identical or else it wouldn't look right. Lamps would be 3500K to match all the other T8s I've installed in the house (a 2X F32 shoplite in the basement and I converted her F40/RS strips in the garage to T8, I kept the ballasts, a 2X F40/RS Therm-O-Matic from circa-1980 and a Robertson NPF single lamp F40 ballast but the label fell off it when I took it out and seemingly disappeared as soon as it hit the floor. I searched the whole garage to no avail but it's not a big deal... I left a note on it saying it's a Robertson (1)F30/F40 RS ballast so I remember...
- Like I said, no replacements needed for my aunt's and uncle's fixtures, though they're ratty and will require some restoration work for sure...
- My cousins' grandma's six F40/PH industrial/shoplite fixtures in the garage have replacements in the garage already: F32T8 cheapo shoplites with a case of Alto F32T8/741s from 2005, still got the shield logo. So All I need to do is replace those lights. As for the ones in the basement, I'll need three F32T8 fixtures (probably will buy cheapo shoplites since that's what my cousins' late grandpa has originally bought to replace the garage lights but never got around to do more than one of them (so there would have been seven fixtures). One of the replacement basement fixtures will need a pull-chain, one definetely doesn't, but I'm unsure of the lampless one.
So I guess I have my work cut out for me lol. Most of these remaining fixtures will need to wait until I get my own place since I simply lack the space to store them all but perhaps I can build some sort of small shelter for my cobraheads that are in the shed right now and then put my fluorescents in the shed (since the cobraheads can survive direct moisture contact but the fluorescents would rust if in direct contact with moisture, but would survive being in my shed for a few years, as I had one fixture out there for a few years and it didn't rust at all and had some chipped paint, exposing raw steel, which didn't rust, surprisingly, as New England has a very humid climate.
Oh boy! Sounds much like my agenda!
Stuff on my radar right now: a couple Sylvania/GTE F40CWs, (One's bad though I think), a GE F40CW like the one from my teacher's woodshop, some (Sylvania?) shatter-proof 34w lamps, a GE that I don't know what it is, and a pair of vaportights that may or may not have working ballasts.
A houseful of F20T12 preheat and rapid start lights, mainly 70s Lithonia 1X and 2X strips and Lampi preheat units, with GE F20T12/CWs from the mid 80s and mid 90s-early 200s, Philips F20T12/WW and F20T12/WW/ALTO lamps, and maybe a few others.
And of course a few cheapy shoplights, always good for replacing something else and even using on my own. Can never have too many of those things.
And another Sears shoplight and six Norelco F40CWs (four of them NOS too) in the city tool shop here. One of the maintenance guys turned me on to their trash shed, at that time full of GE mainlighters and Norelco F40CWs and a few other F40 goodies. (Most of which now live in my attic).
And a couple more vintage shoplights (a Sears I already have the reflector for and another unidentified one) in the woodshop at the former history teacher's house. The unID'd one has a yellow UL tag and a 70s looking avocado green finish on the outside. It's a bright SOB too, and currently has a 90s Sylvania Design 50 and GE Kitchen & bath from after 2003 but before the EcoLux time. He knows his stuff with fluorescents enough that he'll remember me telling me to keep 34 watt lamps out of it since we don't know what the ballast is (Could be pre-'74 easily, before energy saver lamps existed and we all know what they can do to older ballasts).
Oh wow you got some goodies on the radar too! Good luck getting everything! I'm not into vintage wallplates so next time I'm at the ReStore I'll probably grab a bunch. My grandpa apparantly had thirty single-gang wallplates (ivory switch, ivory duplex, brown switch, and brown duplex) which I now have but no double or triple gang. The ReStore currently has a crapload of vintage NOS wallplates in single, double, tripple, and maybe quadruple but I don't know for sure. I especially like the brown/black ones.
Wow Mike and Andy, sounds like you guys will get your hands on some nice fixtures, there really isn't anything I can get from family as they don't have much in the fluorescent department lol. The fixture I obtained was single 4ft strip from my Grandma because I installed a wrap-around fixture instead over the kitchen sink,also an under-cabinet type grow-light fixture.I have one of my small wall packs on her house to illuminate the back yard. From my other Grandma (Now late-grandma) I got a mid 70's 2 lamp F20T12 reflector fixture like my Kamro fluorescent fixture.
I would have saved the '88 Philips F40CW lamps from my mom's house after she passed but shipping them out of state wouldn't have been easy. If they were F20T12s they would be here now though.
Maybe when you get a captain's license you could take them by boat? That would be a long journey for sure though and I'm sure there's all sorts of maritime rules that I don't know about. And this is assuming the house is still in your family's possession.
Many reasons why that won't work:
-I don't own the house. It sold in April of 2014.
-And the trip/likeliehood of them breaking.
And besides, any lighting finds from down there would likely be if I moved back down there again, or would have a long road trip back up here (Possibly in a Deuce) then they WOULD have a certain amount of seatime getting to where I live.
I had a Westy F20T12/CW silverender spend a couple weeks getting thrashed around on the boat though driving back and forth, actually PAST where I live multiple times, before I had an opportunity to make it to the house. But it made it unscathed! However the postal service managed to destroy some nice insulators in the out-of-state move out of that house. (But some did survive and now "live" here).
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Mike and Darren, do yours have that classic raspy buzz typical of this model?
Is this in that vintage shoplight you just posted?
Over the past couple years, I have brought the following lights under my roof that were in other family members' houses before:
- (3X) Western Electric Spec'd (one manufactured by Pittsburgh Reflector Co. and two by Day-Brite Lighting) F20/TS HPF fixtures from my great-aunt's house (I replaced one with a pull-chain incandescent and other other a 2X F32T8/IS shoplite, which was originally F40/RS with a ballast identical to the one above, same year too and great condition! I still have the ballast in my collection as a spare.)
- (1X) Harmony House 2X F40T12/PH industrial fixture (got repainted and rewired, keeping ballast leads original). I used a twin to the shoplite I used to replace one of the WE fixtures in my great-aunt's basement. It had an identical Universal F40 ballast too. Also kept that ballast. I retrofitted the flimsy fixtures to F32T8/IS and used them to replace really cool fixtures!)
- (2X) F40/PH industrials from my aunt and uncle's basement (one ended up having a bad ballast EOL and the other resides in Joe's collection in Ontario) These I didn't remove (or replace). My uncle removed them because they didn't work. Their basement is going to be fully-rewired since the wiring is ratty. None of the fluorescents down there work. Ironically, the one that had a bad ballast a year or two after I got it was the only one that actually worked when it was removed.
Here's what I have left to remove from service in the family and add to my collection:
- (3X) Western Electric Spec'd two-lamp F40/RS fixtures in my grandma's, aunt's and late-grandpa's garage
- (1X) Western Electric Spec'd two lamp F40/RS fixture identical to the ones in the garage, but not in service, in my grandma's, aunt's, and late-grandpa's basement
- (2X) F90T17 louvered preheaters (one over my late-grandpa's desk, the other half-removed in my great-aunt's garage; I took the reflector off of hers and disconnected it from power, adding a pullchain incandescent in place of the industrial pull-chain that used to control the T17)
- (1X) 2-lamp F40T12/PH 8ft tandem fixture. Really unique light that was intended to be mounted off and maintained from a catwalk. It's in my great-aunt's garage and has a pair of 2008 Philips Alto F40/DX lamps and manual reset starters that were already in there.
- (3X) F40/PH industrial/shoplite fixtures from my aunt's and uncle's basement (with the ratty wiring) as well as a 2X F20/PH fixture. My uncle will actually be removing these and no replacements are needed since they're pretty much gutting the basement *eventually*.
- (6X) 2-lamp F40T12/PH industrial/shoplite fixtures ay my cousins' grandma's house, three are in her garage and have recent Sylvania F40/CWP and /CWX lamps, since I relamped them. I had used four replacement starters and five replacement lamps, since one of the six lamps still worked. The other three are in her basement. One's got two Duro-Test F40/CWs and both work. Another's on a pull-chain and has two Westinghouse F40/CWs, still working and like-new condition IIRC (no blackening from what I recall) and the third was lampless but had one Westinghouse F40/CW and one 34W red-etched GE on the floor under it. I couldn't trace the romex back to a switch anywhere so I don't if it's got power. It was dark over there and a ton of crap all over the place so I couldn't get a great look at it. If it has a pull-chain, maybe it broke and that's why the lamps were taken out (maybe the pullchain i stuck 'ON'...). The pullchain would be on one of the endcaps if it's got one. Some have pull-chains and some don't but the six fixtures are otherwise identical. The ones in the basement are in much better condition than the garage. The garage leaked at one point (fixed like ten years ago) plus the garage isn't insulated or climate-controlled so the fixtures pretty much in a covered outdoor location and thus are a little rusty and ratty looking but all work. The sockets are finiky though...
Here's what I need to buy to replace the above fixtures:
- For the three WE F40/RS fixtures in my grandma's/aunt's/late-grandpa's garage, I need to find three two-lamp F32T8 strip lights or wrap lights and six lamps (either 3500K or 5000K) for them. Maybe I can get them from the ReStore but they need to be identical since it wouldn't look good otherwise.
- I have a fixture for the F90T17 over my late-grandpa's desk, so no fixture purchase is needed. I bought a fixture with one of those Benchlite ballasts and was disgusted by the light output of the Benchlite ballast so I cut off the leads and tossed it. I had originally installed a HPF ballast in the fixture but soon decided I'd convert it to T8-instant start to use as a "replacer fixture".
The ballast in the fixture now is a GE Residential F32T8/IS and the lamps are new Sylvania Octron F32/835s. I'll use it to replace the huge T17, probably not for a few years though since I lack room right now... My great-aunt's T17, identical to the first, was disconnected around New Year's and a pull-chain incandescent was put in its place. The fixture itself is still up, but its reflector has been removed and placed in the shed. It's missing some hardware and is missing the endcaps. It works, but is it tougher shape than the one over my late-grandpa's desk. I think I'll be parting with it though (recipient already in-line for it). I'd supply a cord and starters with it but no lamps, since I'd need them for my late-grandpa's. I have around a dozen starters though.
- As for the 8ft F40 preheater that's wall-mounted in my great-aunt's garage, I'll probably just install two 1-lamp or 2-lamp strip lights end-to-end. The strips could be new or used but again, would have to be identical or else it wouldn't look right. Lamps would be 3500K to match all the other T8s I've installed in the house (a 2X F32 shoplite in the basement and I converted her F40/RS strips in the garage to T8, I kept the ballasts, a 2X F40/RS Therm-O-Matic from circa-1980 and a Robertson NPF single lamp F40 ballast but the label fell off it when I took it out and seemingly disappeared as soon as it hit the floor. I searched the whole garage to no avail but it's not a big deal... I left a note on it saying it's a Robertson (1)F30/F40 RS ballast so I remember...
- Like I said, no replacements needed for my aunt's and uncle's fixtures, though they're ratty and will require some restoration work for sure...
- My cousins' grandma's six F40/PH industrial/shoplite fixtures in the garage have replacements in the garage already: F32T8 cheapo shoplites with a case of Alto F32T8/741s from 2005, still got the shield logo. So All I need to do is replace those lights. As for the ones in the basement, I'll need three F32T8 fixtures (probably will buy cheapo shoplites since that's what my cousins' late grandpa has originally bought to replace the garage lights but never got around to do more than one of them (so there would have been seven fixtures). One of the replacement basement fixtures will need a pull-chain, one definetely doesn't, but I'm unsure of the lampless one.
So I guess I have my work cut out for me lol. Most of these remaining fixtures will need to wait until I get my own place since I simply lack the space to store them all but perhaps I can build some sort of small shelter for my cobraheads that are in the shed right now and then put my fluorescents in the shed (since the cobraheads can survive direct moisture contact but the fluorescents would rust if in direct contact with moisture, but would survive being in my shed for a few years, as I had one fixture out there for a few years and it didn't rust at all and had some chipped paint, exposing raw steel, which didn't rust, surprisingly, as New England has a very humid climate.
Stuff on my radar right now: a couple Sylvania/GTE F40CWs, (One's bad though I think), a GE F40CW like the one from my teacher's woodshop, some (Sylvania?) shatter-proof 34w lamps, a GE that I don't know what it is, and a pair of vaportights that may or may not have working ballasts.
A houseful of F20T12 preheat and rapid start lights, mainly 70s Lithonia 1X and 2X strips and Lampi preheat units, with GE F20T12/CWs from the mid 80s and mid 90s-early 200s, Philips F20T12/WW and F20T12/WW/ALTO lamps, and maybe a few others.
And of course a few cheapy shoplights, always good for replacing something else and even using on my own. Can never have too many of those things.
And another Sears shoplight and six Norelco F40CWs (four of them NOS too) in the city tool shop here. One of the maintenance guys turned me on to their trash shed, at that time full of GE mainlighters and Norelco F40CWs and a few other F40 goodies. (Most of which now live in my attic).
And a couple more vintage shoplights (a Sears I already have the reflector for and another unidentified one) in the woodshop at the former history teacher's house. The unID'd one has a yellow UL tag and a 70s looking avocado green finish on the outside. It's a bright SOB too, and currently has a 90s Sylvania Design 50 and GE Kitchen & bath from after 2003 but before the EcoLux time. He knows his stuff with fluorescents enough that he'll remember me telling me to keep 34 watt lamps out of it since we don't know what the ballast is (Could be pre-'74 easily, before energy saver lamps existed and we all know what they can do to older ballasts).
-I don't own the house. It sold in April of 2014.
-And the trip/likeliehood of them breaking.
And besides, any lighting finds from down there would likely be if I moved back down there again, or would have a long road trip back up here (Possibly in a Deuce) then they WOULD have a certain amount of seatime getting to where I live.
I had a Westy F20T12/CW silverender spend a couple weeks getting thrashed around on the boat though driving back and forth, actually PAST where I live multiple times, before I had an opportunity to make it to the house. But it made it unscathed! However the postal service managed to destroy some nice insulators in the out-of-state move out of that house. (But some did survive and now "live" here).