Patent ID: 8643216

Claim:
An electrical control system for a vehicle having an electrical load defining a load draw, the control system comprising: a plurality of electrical storage elements electrically coupled to each other in parallel, each of the plurality of electrical storage elements defining a total storage capacity and having a state of charge cooperatively defining a total stored charge, each of the plurality of electrical storage elements further subject to an over-current condition and an under-current condition and adapted to be in electrical communication with the load and an alternator defining an alternator power capacity and having an alternator output voltage; a plurality of solid state switch devices electrically coupled to the plurality of electrical storage elements such that each switch device of the plurality of switch devices is associated with a corresponding electrical storage element and operable between a connected state and a disconnected state; and a controller in electrical communication with the plurality of switch devices to selectively vary each of the switch devices discretely between the connected state and the disconnected state to connect and disconnect one or more of the electrical storage elements relative to the load based on the total stored charges and relative to the alternator to regulate the alternator output voltage.