An arrangement (900) and method (1000) for providing
power line communication from an
AC power source (910) to a circuit (900) for supplying power to a load (960), as well as electronic ballasts (20,30,40,70,80) that operate according to the method (1000). Method (1000) includes the steps of: providing (1010) an
AC power source (910) that includes hot, neutral, and ground wires (10,12,14) and a control
station (914) for generating a power line carrier
control signal; providing (1020) a power supply circuit (920) having an EMI filter (930),
power processing circuitry (940), and a
power line communication (PLC) circuit (950); setting (1030) a
fundamental frequency of the power line carrier
control signal to be about equal to either an effective common-mode resonant frequency of the EMI filter (930) or a
harmonic thereof; injecting (1040) a power line carrier
control signal between the neutral and ground wires (12,14) of the
AC power source (910); detecting (1050) the power line carrier control
signal by monitoring a current flowing from the ground wire (14) to a circuit ground (90); and directing (1060) the
power processing circuitry (940) to control load power in dependence on the detected power line carrier control
signal. Specific preferred embodiments are directed to electronic ballasts (20,30,40,70,80) that include various PLC circuits (300,400,500,700).