Patent ID: 8571738

Claim:
A battery monitoring system connectable to monitor and control a battery stack comprising a plurality of battery cells, the system comprising: a central battery control unit (BCU) comprising a power supply configured to provide a low voltage electrical supply, a BCU controller, and an address signal source configured to output a reference address signal on an address signaling path; and a plurality of module control units (MCUs) connectable to receive the low voltage electrical supply from the BCU, each MCU connectable to a battery module comprising one or more of the plurality of battery cells, each MCU comprising an address signal input and an address signal output for connecting the module control unit along the address signaling path, an address signal coupler connected between the address signal input and the address signal output, and an MCU controller, wherein the BCU controller is configured to determine a number of the plurality of module control units connected on the address signaling path based at least in part on: a signal detected by the BCU on the address signaling path, a predetermined property of the reference address signal, and a predetermined property of the address signal coupler, and wherein each MCU controller is configured determine a position of an associated MCU along the address signaling path based at least in part on: a signal detected by the associated MCU on the address signaling path, a predetermined property of the reference address signal, and a predetermined property of the address signal coupler.