Patent ID: 7468596
Filing Date: 2008-12-23
Classification: H02J

Abstract:
1. A battery charger including: an apparatus for accommodating a plurality of batteries to be recharged; the apparatus including a plurality of charging channels, each charging channel configured to charge at least two batteries of sizes different from one another, and to receive at one time at least one battery of the plurality of batteries; electrical connectors within the channels and positioned for charging the at least one battery in each of the charging channels; a battery size detector for each channel for detecting a size of the at least one battery inserted in each channel; charging electronic circuitry operable for applying, independently to each channel, charging power appropriate to the battery size detected for the channel so as to charge the plurality of batteries; and discharging electronic circuitry operable to fully discharge the plurality of batteries by controlling a duty cycle of each charging channel based on the size of the at least one battery detected in each charging channel, wherein the charging electronic circuitry and the discharging electronic circuitry are each separately user-selectable so that the charging and the discharging are each separately and independently user-selectable.