Patent ID: 8841879

Claim:
A control circuit operable to charge a battery at multiple charge rates, comprising: a power source having a power source voltage; a voltage regulator configured to produce a charging voltage in response to the power source voltage exceeding a predetermined voltage threshold; a digital potentiometer configured to provide a feedback voltage to the voltage regulator such that the digital potentiometer is operable to dynamically adjust the charging voltage and a corresponding charging rate of the charging voltage; a charge enable circuit operable to enable and disable a charging current of the charging voltage from charging a battery; and a microcontroller operable to control the charge enable circuit and the digital potentiometer, wherein the microcontroller is configured to determine a type of power source and a desired charging voltage and corresponding charging rate in response to the type of power source and a voltage of the battery, and wherein the microcontroller is configured to command the digital potentiometer to adjust an instantaneous charging voltage to correspond to the desired charging voltage such that a difference between the instantaneous charging voltage and a voltage of the battery may be varied to alter a charging rate of the battery.