Patent ID: 7808211

Claim:
A method of charging a rechargeable battery by way of a high frequency battery charger, the method comprising the steps of: (a) transforming an AC input into a first DC output; (b) transforming the first DC output into a high frequency AC output; (c) transforming the high frequency AC output into a second DC output; (d) sensing the voltage of said second DC output; (e) sensing the voltage of said rechargeable battery; and (f) passing a charging current to said rechargeable battery only when said rechargeable battery is correctly connected to said high frequency battery charger and said voltage of said second DC output and said voltage of said rechargeable battery exceed predetermined thresholds, and after passing said charging current to said rechargeable battery, continuing to monitor the voltage of the rechargeable battery and the voltage of said battery charger; comparing the voltage of the rechargeable battery with the voltage of said battery charger, generating a signal representative of a defective battery condition when a scaled value of said battery charger voltage exceeds a scaled value of the voltage of said rechargeable battery; automatically modifying predetermined charging cycle in response to said defective battery condition representative signal.