Battery monitoring techniques

A method of determining a self-discharge rate of at least one battery cell coupled to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuit, wherein the ADC circuit is configured to receive an analog input signal representing a voltage of the at least one battery cell and generate digital codes representing the analog input signal at corresponding time intervals, the method comprising:

• receiving the digital codes;
• determining a length of time at which corresponding ones of the digital codes remain;
• and
• determining the self-discharge rate of the at least one battery cell using the determined length of time.

A battery management system configured to determine a self-discharge rate of at least one battery cell, the battery management system comprising:

• an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuit coupled to the at least one battery cell and configured to receive an analog input signal representing a voltage of the at least one battery cell and generate digital codes representing the analog input signal at corresponding time intervals;
• a battery management control circuit configured to:
• receive the digital codes;
• determine a length of time at which corresponding ones of the digital codes remain;
• and
• determine the self-discharge rate of the at least one battery cell using the determined length of time;
• and
• a resistor coupled in series with a switching element, the resistor and switching element coupled in parallel across one of the battery cells,
• wherein the processor is configured to control operation of the switching element to increase a rate at which the battery cell discharges.