Patent ID: 7352079

Claim:
An electronic ballast for a lamp having a DC voltage connection ( 14 ), at which a DC voltage can be made available; a switching unit ( 10 ) which has a supply voltage connection ( 12 ), the DC voltage connection ( 14 ) being coupled to the supply voltage connection ( 12 ) of the switching unit ( 10 ), and a first capacitor (C 1 ) being coupled between the supply voltage connection ( 12 ) and a reference potential; an AC voltage connection ( 16 ), at which a voltage can be made available which has at least one AC component, a series circuit comprising a first nonreactive resistor (R 1 ) and a first diode (D 1 ) being coupled between the AC voltage connection ( 16 ) and the supply voltage connection ( 12 ), characterized in that a second nonreactive resistor (R 2 ) is coupled between the series circuit comprising the first nonreactive resistor (R 1 ) and the first diode (D 1 ), a connection point being defined between the first diode (D 1 ) and the second nonreactive resistor (R 2 ), and a second capacitor (C 2 ) being coupled between said connection point and the reference potential, and the first capacitor (C 1 ) and the second nonreactive resistor (R 2 ) being dimensioned such that the average voltage drop across the second nonreactive resistor (R 2 ) is greater than or equal to the average voltage drop across the first capacitor (C 1 ).