In a power supply apparatus for performing constant current driving of a
light emitting diode which is a load circuit, a constant current circuit
is disposed on a path for driving the load circuit. A charge pump circuit
which is a voltage generating circuit outputs a driving voltage to the
light emitting diode. A monitoring circuit monitors the voltage across
the two ends of the constant current circuit. This monitoring circuit
includes a voltage source which generates a threshold voltage that
follows the fluctuation of the voltage at which the constant current
circuit can operate stably, compares the voltage across the two ends of
the constant current circuit and the threshold voltage generated by the
voltage source, and outputs a comparison result Vs to a control unit. The
control unit controls the charge pump circuit on the basis of the output
of the monitoring circuit.