Patent ID: 7145313

Claim:
A battery protection circuit, comprising: a. at least one rechargeable cell; b. a safety circuit coupled to the at least one rechargeable cell, the safety circuit comprising a voltage monitoring circuit and a current monitoring circuit; c. at least one disconnect element coupled serially with the at least one rechargeable cell; d. a current monitoring circuit; e. a circuit for simulating an overcurrent condition within the safety circuit when the current monitoring circuit determines that the current flowing to or from the at least one rechargeable cell exceeds a predetermined current threshold; f. a transistor coupled serially with the at least one rechargeable cell; and g. a resistor having an impedance less than 100 Ohms coupled in parallel with the transistor; wherein when the current flowing to or from the at least one rechargeable cell exceeds the predetermined current threshold, the current monitoring circuit causes the transistor to enter a high-impedance state.