Battery charger with battery state detection
AssigneeSchumacher Electric Corporation
InventorsPatrick J. Clarke, John S. Whiting
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A battery charger and method is disclosed for detecting when a battery has a low state of health while simultaneously charging or maintaining the battery. A battery charger includes a processor; a non-transitory memory device; a power management device to receive an input power and to output a charging current; a pair of electrical conductors to electrically couple with a battery, and a display electrically coupled to the processor. The display being configured to indicate a bad battery indicator when the battery has a low state of health and whether the battery is good to start.
Claims20
A method of identifying a bad battery condition for a lead acid battery connected to a battery charger, the method comprising:
- measuring, via a voltage sensor, a first battery voltage of the lead acid battery connected across a pair of electrical conductors;
- supplying, via the pair of electrical conductors, a charging current to the lead acid battery during a charging process for a first period of time;
- measuring, via the voltage sensor, a second battery voltage of the lead acid battery connected across the pair of electrical conductors after the first period of time;
- determining a rate of change of voltage (dv/dt) for the first period of time;
- and
- displaying a bad battery indicator via a display device if the rate of change of voltage (dv/dt) is less than a first rate of change of voltage value.
A method of identifying a bad battery condition for a lead acid battery connected to a battery charger during a charging process, the method comprising:
- measuring, via a voltage sensor, a first battery voltage of the lead acid battery connected across a pair of electrical conductors;
- supplying, via the pair of electrical conductors, a charging current to the lead acid battery for a first period of time;
- measuring, via the voltage sensor, a second battery voltage of the lead acid battery connected across the pair of electrical conductors after the first period of time;
- determining whether the second battery voltage is less than a voltage value;
- and
- displaying a bad battery indicator via a display device if the second battery voltage is less than the voltage value.
A method of identifying a bad battery condition for a lead acid battery connected to a battery charger, the method comprising:
- measuring, via a sensor, a first battery charge current delivered to the lead acid battery connected across a pair of electrical conductors;
- supplying, via the pair of electrical conductors, a charging current to the lead acid battery for a first period of time;
- measuring, via the sensor, a second battery charge current delivered to the lead acid battery connected across the pair of electrical conductors after the first period of time;
- determining whether the second battery charge current is less than a current value;
- and
- displaying a bad battery indicator via a display device if the second battery charge current is greater than the current value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.