Patent ID: 8332078

Claim:
A system for use in supplying current from an electric power source to a plurality of power storage devices, said system comprising: a first charging device of a plurality of charging devices configured to supply current to a first power storage device of the plurality of power storage devices; and a second charging device of said plurality of charging devices coupled to said first charging device to form a network, said second charging device configured to supply current to a second power storage device of the plurality of power storage devices; said first charging device comprising a first processor programmed to: determine an amount of current to be at least one of received from the electric power source and supplied to the first power storage device as a function of a number of said plurality of charging devices, and enable the determined amount of current to be at least one of received by said first charging device and supplied to the first power storage device; said second charging device comprising a second processor programmed to: determine an amount of current to be at least one of received from the electric power source and supplied to the second power storage device as a function of the number of said plurality of charging devices, and enable the determined amount of current to be at least one of received by said second charging device and supplied to the second power storage device; wherein said first processor is further programmed to transmit a first request to said second charging device to determine an amount of current that said second charging device is at least one of supplying, receiving, expecting to receive, and expecting to supply; and wherein said second processor of said second charging device is further programmed to transmit a second request to said first charging device, and wherein said first processor of said first charging device is further programmed to detect an interference that occurs when said first charging device receives the second request while waiting for data to be received in response to the first request.