reaches 200 watts after reaching such predetermined power level the auxiliary lighting system 140 and auxiliary lamp 160 turn off in accordance with the illustrated embodiment the auxiliary lighting system will continue to operate even if the ballast 120 fails in this maimer the ballast 120 and the auxiliary lighting system 140 interface to a common power supply 110 though disparate connections thus if a fuse in the ballast 120 fails the hid lamp 130 will turn off while the auxiliary lighting system 140 will continue to operate fig2 is a block diagram 200 of an embodiment wherein a power supply 210 is connected to a ballast 220 to provide power to an hid lamp 230 an auxiliary lighting system 240 interfaces to the same power supply 210 to provide power to an auxiliary lamp 260 the hid ballast 220 and the auxiliary lighting system 240 are coupled such that the hid ballast 220 can provide a signal to trigger the auxiliary lighting system to turn on or off as appropriate for example the hid lamp 230 is turned off thereby drawing less current from the auxiliary lighting system 240 such drop in current draw is detected to activate the auxiliary lighting system 240 which provides power to the auxiliary lamp 260 a ballast power sensing component 242.