Abstract: A method and circuit for detecting arc instabilities in a high pressure gas discharge lamp. The method and circuit rectify and low pass filter the lamp voltage to obtain a quasi-rms voltage having recurrent periods with first zones containing spurious noise from switching of inverter switches and broad second zones, between the first zones, which are substantially free of spurious noise. The quasi-rms voltage is sampled only during the second zones, so that the samples have a high information-to-noise ratio. The sample signal may be used in a variety of methods to detect and control arc instabilities in gas discharge lamps.