Patent ID: 8350535

Claim:
A battery charging and electrical energy delivery system comprising a first connection for connection to an energy source; a second connection for connection to a battery; a third connection for connection to a first set of consumers of electrical energy; a first path for supplying charging current from the energy source to the battery when connected to the first and second connections respectively; a second path, separate from said first path, for supplying electrical energy from the energy source to the first set of consumers when connected to the first and third connections respectively; a third path for supplying electrical energy from the battery to the first set of consumers when connected to the second and third connections respectively; a control unit for controlling the supply of electrical energy along said first, second and third paths in response to a detected state of the energy source, wherein said control unit is adapted to control the supply of electrical energy along said first, second and third paths such that the battery is charged via the first path and the first set of consumers receives electrical energy via the second path, in response to detecting that the energy source is on; and the first set of consumers receives electrical energy via the third path, in response to detecting that the energy source is off; and wherein said control unit is adapted to switch the supply of electrical energy to the first set of consumers from supply via the third path to supply via the second path in response to detecting a state change of the energy source from off to on and that the on state is maintained for a predetermined first period of time.