Low consumption converter directly connectable to the mains and the method for driving it

A converter directly connectable to the mains comprises a rectifier stage of the network voltage, a power factor correction pre-regulating circuit supplied with the rectified network voltage and producing a DC voltage of a certain nominal value, a DC-DC converter supplied with the DC voltage of a certain nominal value and producing a pre-established DC voltage on an output node, sensing means producing a signal representative of the current level of load being supplied by the converter. The power consumption of the converter is lowered by a control circuit fed with the signal representative of the level of load that generates a disabling signal of the power factor corrector pre-regulating circuit as long as the level of load does not exceed a certain pre-established threshold.