Electronically dimmed power limited lighting system

Claim 1

A lighting system comprising: (a) an electrical power source; (b) at least one power supply connected to the electrical power source, said power supply containing a parallel connected power distributing means which provides electrical power to at least two separate independently operable power outputs; (c) power limiting means connected within said power supply to individually limit the electrical power to at least two separate power output to a specific fire and/or shock hazard free predetermined value regardless of the electrical power available from the electrical power source; (d) plural non-armored flexible cable means, each with plug and receptacle disconnect means, one end of each being connected to a power output of the power supply and a second end being connected to a gaseous discharge lighting means; (e) the gaseous discharge lighting means operable from the limited power available from one power output of the power supply; and (f) an electronic controller connected to the gaseous discharge lighting means and operating to control the level of its light output based upon the setting of a manual setting means connected to the electronic controller; said controller comprises; (1) a photo sensor located to be affected by available light, including light from lamps being controlled by the lamp controller, and generating an electrical signal related to the quantity of light to which it is subjected; (2) a manual setting means generating an electrical voltage related to the setting of a manual control; (3) a signal comparator electrically connected to the photo sensor and to the manual setting means, receiving electrical signals from both, and generating an output of a command signal which varies with the relationship between the signals received from the photo sensor and the manual setting means; (4) an electronic up-down counter electrically connected to the output of the signal comparator, receiving the command signal from the signal comparator, counting up or down in its register depending upon the command signal received, and generating an output signal varying with the level of the count on its register; (5) a clock means electrically connected to the up-down counter and generating and feeding to the up-down counter a signal which repeats at a frequency determined by the clock means, the repeating signal acting upon the up-down counter to determine the rate at which the up-down counter changes the level of its count; and (6) lamp control means; receiving electrical signals from the up-down counter and varying the electrical power applied to at least one lamp according to the level of the count of the up-down counter.