Nova T5 acting weird...

I have a 48" Nova 4x54 T5. Have had it for over a year with no issues. The other day I was home to see my lights come on in the morning. The fixture went off and on three times and then stayed on. The fixture stays lit all day and goes off at night with no issues. What could be causing it to flicker on and off like that?

Thanks.

 

Well its probably time to replace. But could be a lose connection, or salt build up.

 

^ Jeez, I hope not! I will check for salt build up. Mabey something wrong with the electrical cords?

 

What is it plugged into?

 

It's plugged into two marine land timers and then into a surge protector.

 

I have the 8bulb nova... one of the 2 bulbs in mine did that for a while then went dead. Result was a bad ballast... IT is possible that a ballast is going...

 

Are the ballast easy to replace?

 

Yeah, Usually... Id imagine yours would be easier then mine, Considernig I had 4 ballast interconnected with the other ballasts LOL... (2 lights per ballast)

 

yeah its a ballasts going out..theyre not hard to change if you can match colors of wires..to some people it can be hard if you get what im saying..i used to have a nova and a ballast went out..if you have your reciept and its been a year or less they will replace it for free..i had a ballast on my old nova and they replaced..you have to have the reciept..

 

Aquatraders, get a whole new light system for the price of new ballasts. The bulbs are cheap you will replace the bulbs in a year. But you would do that anyway. They are not very robust, I added a cooling fan from Radio Shack. But IMO they last as long as the expensive hoods.