Patent ID: 8044601

Claim:
A high-voltage discharge lamp lighting device for providing a starting pulse voltage to turn on a high-voltage discharge lamp having terminal wire connections of variable length, the device comprising: a rectangular wave output circuit; a starting pulse generation circuit operable to receive rectangular AC power from the rectangular wave output circuit, the starting pulse generation circuit further comprising a transformer primary winding circuit comprising a series connection of at least a capacitor, a switching element and a primary winding of a transformer, a transformer secondary winding connected on one end to the high-voltage discharge lamp, wherein a first voltage generated in the primary winding of the transformer is stepped up to a starting pulse voltage and applied to the high-voltage discharge lamp, and a reference transformer winding, wherein a reference voltage is generated representative of the starting pulse voltage; a starting pulse equivalent value detection circuit connected to the reference winding, said detection circuit operable to detect a value representative of a peak value of the starting pulse voltage; and a control circuit operable to receive said value from said detection circuit, and further operable to control a frequency of the switching element in association with said value, wherein said frequency is further associated with the peak value of the starting pulse voltage.