Patent ID: 8188704
Filing Date: 2012-05-29
Classification: B60L,B60R,H02J,Y02T

Abstract:
1. A method of managing energy consumption, comprising: interfacing with a vehicle's on-board diagnostic system; receiving electrical power from an auxiliary battery system; receiving a characteristic of a vehicle battery from the on board diagnostic system; retrieving a driver-configurable minimum power level of the vehicle battery at which a driver establishes when conservation begins; comparing the electrical power received from the auxiliary battery system to a threshold value; charging the auxiliary battery system with power received from the vehicle battery when the electrical power received from the auxiliary battery system is less than the threshold value; comparing the characteristic of the vehicle battery to the driver-configurable minimum power level; and disabling the charging of the auxiliary battery system when the characteristic of the vehicle battery is less than the driver-configurable minimum power level.