Two State Fluorescent Light Fixture

[andyopayne]

I'm looking (but struggling to find) a fluorescent light fixture which can operate on two states. What I mean is that a single light fixture might have two banks of fluorescent tubes inside a single fixture. This fixture might have two on/off switches which would allow you to turn on/off each bank of lights. Does something like this exist? I feel like I have seen this before but I don't know the name of such a fixture and how to search for it. Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

 

[broadgage]

Yes, they certainly exist here in the UK and presumably elsewhere.
Becoming rare though.
Until about 20 years ago many multi-lamp fixtures had either a ballast for each lamp, or a ballast for each pair of lamps. It was a simple matter to connect each ballast to its own switch.
Modern fixtures tend to use a single electronic ballast to drive up to 4 lamps, therefore only relatively rare fixtures with 5 or more lamps have multiple ballasts that may be connected to different switches if desired.

 

[andyopayne]

Yes, they certainly exist here in the UK and presumably elsewhere.
Becoming rare though.
Until about 20 years ago many multi-lamp fixtures had either a ballast for each lamp, or a ballast for each pair of lamps. It was a simple matter to connect each ballast to its own switch.
Modern fixtures tend to use a single electronic ballast to drive up to 4 lamps, therefore only relatively rare fixtures with 5 or more lamps have multiple ballasts that may be connected to different switches if desired.

Thank you. That does help. So generally speaking... there's no specific name for this type of fixture? Rather it's just a matter of having multiple ballast and wiring them to different switches?

 

[JustAnOldFashionedLEDGuy]

With everything moving to LED, no one really does it this way any more. If LED tubes, they are often either direct AC wired, and which case you could rewire them to multiple switched lines, and if a purpose built fixture, it almost always will have a dimming capability which is superior for reducing light output without changing the lighting pattern.