A safety
ballast for a
discharge lamp capable of interrupting the supply of the
electric power upon failure of starting the lamp. The
ballast includes a converter providing a DC power
voltage from a
DC voltage source, a booster providing a boosted
DC voltage to a
starter which generates, based upon the boosted
DC voltage, a starting
voltage for starting the lamp, and an
inverter receiving the DC power from the converter to provide an
AC power for operating the lamp. The booster includes a
capacitor which is charged by the DC power and accumulate the boosted
voltage. A controller monitors a load condition of the lamp and issues a disable
signal when a no-load condition continues over a predetermined starting period. The
inverter includes a plurality of switching elements one of which is regulated to be turned on in response to the no-load
signal for establishing a supply path of supplying the boosted voltage from the booster's
capacitor through the switching element to the
starter. The one switching element is also controlled to be turned off in response to the disable
signal for interrupting the supply path. Thus, when the no-load condition continues over the predetermined starting period as indicative of the that the lamp has been removed or the lamp reaching its end of life, the booster's
capacitor bearing the boosted voltage is disconnected from the
starter, applying no voltage to the starter and therefore preventing the starter from being activated to generate unnecessary starting voltage.