Battery charger with automatic voltage detection
First Claim
1. A battery system comprising:
- an automatic voltage detection system for automatically determining a nominal voltage of a battery connected across a pair of terminals by measuring a first voltage of the battery across the pair of terminals and, if the first voltage of the battery is less than a first predetermined value, determining whether the nominal voltage of the battery is 6 volts DC or 12 volts DC by measuring a second voltage across the pair of terminals and comparing the second voltage of the battery to a second predetermined value.
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Abstract
A battery charger is disclosed that is configured to be connected to an external battery by way of external battery cables. In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, the battery charger is configured with automatic voltage detection which automatically determines the nominal voltage of the battery connected to its battery charger terminals and charges the battery as a function of the detected nominal voltage irrespective of the nominal voltage selected by a user. Various safeguards are built into the battery charger to avoid overcharging a battery. For battery chargers with user-selectable nominal battery voltage charging modes, battery charger is configured to over-ride a user-selected battery voltage mode if it detects that the battery connected to the battery charger terminals is different than the user-selected charging mode.
34 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A battery system comprising:
- an automatic voltage detection system for automatically determining a nominal voltage of a battery connected across a pair of terminals by measuring a first voltage of the battery across the pair of terminals and, if the first voltage of the battery is less than a first predetermined value, determining whether the nominal voltage of the battery is 6 volts DC or 12 volts DC by measuring a second voltage across the pair of terminals and comparing the second voltage of the battery to a second predetermined value.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for charging a battery, the method comprising:
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(a) measuring a first voltage of the battery; (b) determining a nominal battery voltage of the battery as a function of the first voltage; (c) automatically determining whether the nominal battery voltage of the battery is 6 volts DC or 12 volts DC as a function of a second voltage if the first voltage is less than a predetermined voltage; and (d) charging the battery in accordance with the nominal battery voltage of the battery, as determined in (b) or (c). - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A battery system comprising:
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an automatic voltage detection system for automatically determining a nominal voltage of a battery connected across a pair of terminals, wherein the automatic voltage detection system; (i) measures a first voltage of the battery; (ii) determines the nominal voltage of the battery as 12 volts DC based upon the first voltage of the battery if the first voltage is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and (iii) determines the nominal voltage of the battery as 6 volts DC based upon a function of a second voltage across the battery if said first voltage is less than said predetermined value. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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Specification