Track lighting

[1][2] This is in contrast to directly routing electrical wiring to individual light positions.

Tracks can either be mounted to ceilings or walls, lengthwise down beams, or across rafters or joists.

Installers will place the tab of the connector on the fixture to one side or the other when attaching it to the track.

Alternatively, more modern systems are available with low voltage (10, 12, or 24 volts) running through the track, which is in itself decorative.

For all low-voltage fixtures or systems a special dimmer (if used) is required, as standard dimmers cause flickering because of the interaction with the transformers' load characteristics: magnetic transformers are inductive, while electronic ones are capacitive.

These fixtures range from the very simple, such as two hinged rods from which a halogen lamp hangs, to the very artful, such as a human silhouette whose feet touch the wires and hands hold the bulb or its socket.

Rather than being hard-wired to a junction box (which requires a feeder device to be snapped into the track, either in the middle or at one end), it can also be end-fed from a standard wall outlet.