Abstract: A discharge lamp operating electronic device is provided with a booster circuit for converting the direct-current power provided by a direct-current power supply to a predetermined operating voltage, a self-excitatory inverter for converting the operating voltage provided by the booster circuit to predetermined high frequency, a lamp operating circuit for converting the high-frequency output from the self-excitatory inverter into sine waves to light a discharge lamp, an overload protective circuit for stopping an operation of the self-excitatory inverter circuit when an overload occurs in the lamp operating circuit. The operating efficiency of the filament of a hot-cathode discharge lamp is improved by alternately heating a thermionic discharge path from four points of the filament, and the voltage at the filament can be easily adjusted.