Driver device and driving method for driving a load, in particular a LED unit comprising one or more LEDs

The present invention relates to a driver device (60) for driving a load (12), in particular an LED unit comprising one or more LEDs, said driver device comprising input terminals (28, 30) for receiving an input voltage (V12) from an external power supply (16), output terminals for providing an output voltage to the load (12) for driving the load (12), a converter unit (34) for converting the input voltage (VI 2) to a converted voltage (VI 4) and for providing the converted voltage (VI 4) to internal connection elements (63, 64) of the driver device (60), a signal control device (62) for applying an electrical signal (I) to at least one of the connection elements (63, 64), and a detection circuit for detecting a phase angle of the input voltage (VI 2) by measuring a voltage drop of the converted voltage (VI 4) caused by the electrical signal (I).