Patent ID: 7859196

Claim:
A lighting apparatus, comprising: a solid state lamp including a plurality of solid state lighting elements that each require a voltage drop to light, the solid state lamp turning ON only when a voltage across it equals or exceeds a total required voltage drop that is about the sum of the voltage drops required by each of the plurality of solid state lighting elements; and a power circuit including a power converter that is configured for converting AC power to pulsed DC power, and an active current limiting control circuit that is electrically connected in series with the solid state lamp, the active current limiting control circuit and the solid state lamp receiving the pulsed DC power, the active current limiting control circuit configured to impose a constant level on the current delivered to the solid state lighting elements of the solid state lamp during a fractional portion of each power cycle when the voltage across the active current limiting control circuit and solid state lighting elements of the solid state lamp equals or exceeds the total required voltage drop such that the solid state lamp turns ON, wherein the active current limiting control circuit functions as essentially a constant current source while the solid state lamp is ON.