Battery Charger with Automatic Voltage Detection

摘要

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.

主权项

1. A method of supplying current to a battery in a battery system having an automatic voltage detection system to determine a nominal voltage of the battery, the method comprising:
measuring a first voltage of the battery across a pair of battery cables; comparing the first voltage to a first predetermined value to determine whether the nominal voltage of the battery is a first nominal voltage; determining, via the automatic voltage detection system, the nominal voltage of the battery to be the first nominal voltage if the first voltage is greater than the first predetermined value; measuring a second voltage across the pair of battery cables if said first voltage is not greater than the first predetermined value; comparing the second voltage to a second predetermined value to determine, via the automatic voltage detection system, whether the nominal voltage of the battery is the first nominal voltage or a second nominal voltage, wherein the first nominal voltage is greater than the second nominal voltage; and supplying a current to the battery as a function of the first nominal voltage or the second nominal voltage as determined by the automatic voltage detection system.