Having opened an office, 30' * 20', first thing in the morning, where the whole false ceiling had fallen down overnight. I can say that none of the light fittings came down glass tube first,. They all came down sharp edge or even sharper corner first, one was embedded corner first in a desk, and ended up leaning against a CRT monitor. And another had landed on a chair, ripping the cloth covering, before falling to the floor.

Having opened an office, 30' * 20', first thing in the morning, where the whole false ceiling had fallen down overnight. I can say that none of the light fittings came down glass tube first,. They all came down sharp edge or even sharper corner first, one was embedded corner first in a desk, and ended up leaning against a CRT monitor. And another had landed on a chair, ripping the cloth covering, before falling to the floor.

Something would be very wrong if they came glass tube first. Something like the electric supply wasn't attached. And it is such fun when the glass tubes shatter and contaminate the entire office with hazardous toxic heavy metals. Fortunately in my case it was an LED fixture but it still hit a sheet rock wall hard enough to put a hole in the wall.

With things knocking holes in walls it's just as well you were out of range - I trust your coffee was OK

With things knocking holes in walls it's just as well you were out of range - I trust your coffee was OK

Someone has their priorities right.

Having opened an office, 30' * 20', first thing in the morning, where the whole false ceiling had fallen down overnight. I can say that none of the light fittings came down glass tube first,. They all came down sharp edge or even sharper corner first, one was embedded corner first in a desk, and ended up leaning against a CRT monitor. And another had landed on a chair, ripping the cloth covering, before falling to the floor.

I've had two light fittings (4 foot) in my living room come down overnight (parrot's fault). But then they're lightweight LED plastic fittings so damaged nothing. Do people really still use fluorescent?

I have a few seldom used cfls

Glory! My new Asus phone is on its way. Asus has told Belsimpel (where I bought the Asus Zenfone 8) that my old one cannot be repaired, so they're going to send me a brand spanking new one. And because my model isn't available at this time, I am getting a better one: the model with 16GB RAM instead of 8GB. Still 256GB storage , 120Hz OLED display etc.

I just received word that the phone is on its way, so either here tomorrow or Monday.
Then I can move everything over from the phone I have now (Samsung A12) and sign in everywhere again.

But yay!

With things knocking holes in walls it's just as well you were out of range - I trust your coffee was OK

As this was O/T, the last of the coffee was just flushed after being processed. Really just flushed a few seconds before so now you know where the hall leads.

answer to peter
As to being heavy first remember kE = 1/2 * m * V^2
Second remember remember pressure is inversely related to the square of the area so point of 90 degree corner hitting wall.
Third, fact you didn't ask and only assumed, the fixture had been converted from old tubes to LED so it has some considerable mass.
Four, you did not ask how far it fell before the flex conduit arrested it into pendulum motion into the wall.
Five, you did not ask the size of the hole about the same as a hammer's head.
Six, it may not matter but it may, the tiles were not the new fiberglass ones, but the 50+ year old style ones of compressed material so they have mass. It would matter if one hit the fixture on the way down adding its inertia.
Seven, the stuff may have begun falling edge on, thus no applicable drag from the air to decrease gravity's acceleration.
Eight, just general info, building built 1924 unreinforced brick 14 feet between floors.

Could you please omit me from your excessive need to answer everyone in this and other threads? Just ignore my posts from now on, as I do yours. To speak with Eric Woolfson "Don't answer me, stay on your island, don't let me in". Thank you.

Third, fact you didn't ask and only assumed, the fixture had been converted from old tubes to LED so it has some considerable mass.

Ah, I've never seen the point in that. LED lamps often tend to be their own fixture, as they don't need to be designed for easy replacement as they virtually never wear out. The ones I've seen are a complete unit with a connection for 240V. They just clip onto clips you screw into the ceiling and are exceedingly light weight.

You are thinking residential or shop. Originally the recessed fixture held four 48 inch tubes two ballasts and measures 2 foot by 4 foot by 4 inches and had a swinging diffuser cover to access the tubes. The replacement removes most of that and replaces it with led strip lights and their ballast and has a clip on diffuser. Yes I've seen the led tubes that are supposed to replace the fluorescent tubes, but they are more suitable for "shop" lighting type fixtures and not "office" type fixtures.

I believe the electric utility used a kit similar to https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0135/1827/4660/files/LRKSPEC.pdf?56054 to do the retro fit of each unit. (Have no clue if you will need to VPN to a USA IP to see it.) Note the weight of the kit for a 4x8 is 9.9 pounds, the box of the original fixture is used to hold the kit, so maybe 20 pounds total. I'll note each fixture has a safety wire which was secured to a bar to prevent it falling, but if the bar itself comes down ... it was still attached.

You are thinking residential or shop.

I'm in the UK, I don't know what "shop" means. Is that a place of retail or a workshop?

Man cave or workshop.

Originally the recessed fixture held four 48 inch tubes two ballasts and measures 2 foot by 4 foot by 4 inches and had a swinging diffuser cover to access the tubes. The replacement removes most of that and replaces it with led strip lights and their ballast and has a clip on diffuser. Yes I've seen the led tubes that are supposed to replace the fluorescent tubes, but they are more suitable for "shop" lighting type fixtures and not "office" type fixtures.

I wasn't suggesting those tubes, in fact the complete opposite, I was suggesting the whole fixture be removed. The LED strips come ready to take 240V, and support their own 2 grams of weight, you don't need any existing casing or electrics. And I'm pretty sure it's quicker to just remove the whole thing than modify it. Save on manpower.

Then you have a hole in the ceiling 2 foot by 4 foot that has to be filled.

I believe the electric utility

The what? Is this two nations divided by a common language? An electric utility here is the company that generates the power. Did you mean what we would call an electrician?

Nope, people that generate and sell the power. In this case https://www.ladwp.com/ Free conservation program. They hire and pay for the change, no charge to the utility customer. As to the guy on the ladder, likely a journeyman.

I'm sure it is much faster to replace the guts than have a person run to a store and buy a pack of matching drop in panels, punch a hole in each, wire up the new fixture, find a stud to attach the safety wire ... when your program is going to do several thousand buildings.

Microsoft is back at it, watch out. I had 3 separate screens on boot up if I didn't want to install Windows 11, was I sure I didn't and was I really sure I didn't? Hope it doesn't do this on every boot. Damn!

Microsoft is back at it, watch out. I had 3 separate screens on boot up if I didn't want to install Windows 11, was I sure I didn't and was I really sure I didn't? Hope it doesn't do this on every boot. Damn!

Let me guess, Micro$haft is ignoring the Registry settings and or the Local Group Policy settings to disable updates?

If so, no surprise there, Windows does what it wants to do when ever...