Aussie240 said …
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I've seen plenty of examples where the whole fluoro fitting is held up with nothing more than the wiring to it because the fixing hardware has failed. A good example here is self tappers straight into Gyprock or the wrong size Rawl plugs/screws/hole size for brick/concrete installations. With a twin 40W fitting there's just too much weight to get away with such bodges.

Interesting that you should mention such fittings hanging by the wires only. It reminded me of a dramatic incident many years ago; I am sat at my desk at work on the phone to my soon-to-be father-in-law discussing some of the finer details of my forthcoming marriage to his daughter.

The crash was unbelievable as the whole two tube, 48” fitting hit my desk from a height of about 4 metres. Metal, plastic and pieces of fluorescent tube shot everywhere, and my immediate choice of inappropriate expletives – calling upon divine entities and their offspring – following this huge explosion required some explanation to the church-going man at the other end of the telephone. It wasn’t helped by the room going dark at the same time!

It turned out that in this case, the whole fitting instead of being secured to the concrete ceiling had merely been ‘attached’ using self-tapping screws to the two M5 brass, threaded sockets in the plastic ceiling box – normal design load significantly less than one 2 x 48” fitting. The attached wiring never stood a chance in arresting the decent of this beast. [Linked Image]

Needless to say, its replacement involved the use of a masonry bit and suitable plugs and after extensive repair the original found its way into my garage where having secured it properly to the joists many years ago, I suspect it continues to provide sterling service. [Linked Image]