Driving circuit of a lamp and method for operating the driving circuit of the lamp

A driving circuit of a lamp for preventing an electric shock during installation or removal, the lamp comprising a lighting unit, and a first and a second pair of connection pins for coupling the driving circuit to a power supply unit, the driving circuit comprising:

• a pre-heating detection circuit coupled to the first pair of connection pins, the pre-heating detection circuit comprising an optocoupler and configured to detect a pre-heating voltage between the first pair of connection pins and to output a reference voltage via the optocoupler;
• and
• a protection circuit comprising a switching circuit connected in series with the lighting unit and operably connected to the optocoupler, the protection circuit configured to compare the reference voltage output from the optocoupler with an input voltage of the lamp and turn off the switching circuit thereby turning off the power supply to the lighting unit when the input voltage of the lamp is less than the reference voltage.