Patent ID: 7754361

Claim:
A method of performing maintenance hydration of a fuel cell system serving as an auxiliary power source for an energy-consuming assembly that is disposed in electrical communication with a primary power source, the method comprising: determining a start time for maintenance of the fuel cell system; activating the fuel cell system from an inactive condition according to the start time by initiating delivery of at least fuel to a fuel cell stack of the system; and supplying power from the activated fuel cell system to satisfy at least a portion of an applied load from the energy-consuming assembly, wherein the power from the fuel cell system is supplied at an output voltage that is higher than a voltage at which power from the primary power source is being supplied to the energy-consuming assembly, such that the energy-consuming assembly uses, at least in part, the power from the fuel cell system instead of the power from the primary power source, thereby operating the fuel cell system for power generation and associated hydration while the primary power source is available.