ELECTRONIC FULL-WAVE STARTER

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic full-wave starter for a fluorescent lamp system. SOLUTION: This starter 10 is provided with an input circuit 12 for supplying a rectified voltage to a charging capacitor 28. A switching circuit 30 is turned on by a voltage of the capacitor 28 in the first condition to supply a current to cathodes 56, 58. When the voltage of the capacitor 28 reaches the breakdown voltage of a diode 46, a latch circuit 50 is brought into an ON-condition to discharge the capacitor 28, and a transistor 32 is turned off thereby. A lamp ignition pulse of high voltage is supplied to a lamp 60 by this operation to start the lamp 60. The latch circuit 50 is kept in a concucted condition by a current flowing in the input circuit 12 to bring a low impedance condition, and the MOSFET transistor 32 is maintained thereby in an OFF-condition to bring the starter 10 into an unoperated condition after the initial pulse.