An electronic ballast system is disclosed for operating one or more fluorescent lamps with and having a subsystem with universal input from 108V to 305V, a battery, along with a battery charger and associated logic, that provides for emergency lighting, as well as for operating at least one of the fluorescent lamps. The electronic ballast system includes a circuit that allows for a fluorescent lamp to be energized without the preheating of its cathodes, as well as includes a circuit for power factor correction that uses of an average current mode implemented by a pulse-width modulator to derive a power factor for the electronic power circuit that approaches unity. |