If it's a open ballast unit it might date from WWII.

that predates the house i think! There is a GE lamp (i only know by the endcaps, not the etch) and a philips F40CW lamp though my uncle had switched all the lamps around trying to see if he could get any to work. I think the starters are probably bad. They're all Vicron starters. The two Vicrons that came with my fixture still worked but only when they wanted to so i got rid of them and installed a couple starters i had laying around. I didn't use my FS-40/400 starters since if any lamp goes EOL i can change it. Afterall, ATM i'm maintaining four fluorescent lights, two being RS and the other being the F20T12 undercabinet light so it's not that hard to stick a good lamp in. I'd bet the lamps will still work when i move out and take them with me. I tend to swap fixtures more than lamps lol.

Cool, that GE lamp could even be a Mainlighter, or better yet, a "3" or "3-plus!". Hopefully NOT a Watt-Miser! (Although despite being flikery and dim and having an unfortunate tendency to fry preheat and older rapid start ballasts they are actually pretty good lamps and last for a very long time!)

Yeah I'm hoping its not a /WM lamp. A 3 or 3-plus lamp would be cool since i've never seen one before but i like the mainlighter etch.

I just realized...is that a Norelco endcap? If so you might have a Norelco tube there...or even better yet a Westy with ALUMINUM endcaps! (Made right after the takeover). I have a F20T12/CW Westy with aluminum ends, it's posted on LG.

nope it's a philips from 1988.

Thanks...BTW is it just me or is the wiring in this house an absolute rat's nest? IMO it could be done much more neatly.
Oh and lots of BX cable, not just Romex...is that stuff popular in your area? Here I hardly ever see it.

Well all this wiring was tucked up in the makeshift ceiling before. the basement wiring is pretty messy in this area. the original owner was a true do-it-yourselfer lol. The wiring is even more messy because the electrician had done some work and disconnected some of the wires. The old ones were left in place for some reason... The whole basement is going to be rewired or so i heard...

the flexi conduit has cloth insulation inside and two super thin aluminum wires inside. Probably like 22AWG or 24AWG

The technical name for that stiff is BX cable. WATCH OUT FOR ALUMINUM WIRING!!! In the 1960s and early 70s, aluminum was often used because it was cheaper and you could use a thinner gauge wire for a given load, but IIRC it tends to break down over time a bit and also if you don't use wiring devices (Switches, receptacles, etc.) rated for aluminum wire you can have a major FIRE HAZARD!!! Just google "Aluminum Wiring" and I bet you'll find all sorts of pictures of half-melted outlets. It can supposedly be fixed by "Pigtailing", meaning wirenutting a small piece of copper wire to the aluminum then connecting it to the device but to me that seems cheesy, more connections means more potential problems (And fire hazards). So good thing it's being re-wired. Can you get a pic of the inside of the BX cable for me?

^That looks like some old BX cable to me. (now known as MC or Metal Clad) The really thin aluminium wires are just the bonding conductor and since it's old enough to be cloth the current carrying conductors are most likely copper.

Aluminium wire installed incorrectly is a fire hazard so I either recommend rewiring or pigtailing with either Copalum crimps or Aluminiconn set screw connectors. The first method is the best but the crimpers and crimps are basically unobtainum to non electricians. Aluminiconns are fine too but make sure you clean the corrosion off the wire, apply antioxidant to the wire and then tighten the set screw to the specified torque. CO/ALR devices are really a temporary solution as I've seen pics of those overheating too.

Damn your right! that's scary stuff. i think most of their house has aluminum wiring! the BX cable is out of service though. it was cut and bunched up over here, explaining why it's dangling. i'll see if i can get a pic of the BX for you next time but by then it might be gone.

Aluminium wire also is more resistive so it's common to use the next size up as compared to copper. IE 15A circuits use #12, 20A uses #10.

ahh yeah it could be aluminum dipped copper. i remember the BX being stuffed with some sort of cloth or asbestos of something. i was paying more attention to the fixtures lol.

Ever seen the 1950s-60s cloth-covered Romex? BTW not quite as sweet as these, but I might be getting a bunch of 70s rapid start shoplights sometime, just like these fixtures will likely eventually be yours! Check the off topic topic for more info...

Sounds cool!