Patent ID: 7205746

Claim:
A battery cover assembly, comprising: a current measuring terminal assembly for measuring electrical current to and from a battery post, wherein the current measuring terminal assembly comprises an electrically conductive first collar coupled to a first battery post of a battery; an electrically conductive first terminal for coupling to an electrical load; a resistor having a known resistance, the resistor being connected between the first collar and the first terminal, wherein current flow from the first battery post travels through the resistor in a first direction and current flow to the first battery post travels through the resistor in a second direction; a first lead electrically coupled to a first end of the resistor proximate to the first collar, and a second lead electrically coupled to a second end of the resistor proximate to the first terminal; an electrically conductive second collar coupled to a second battery post of the battery; an electrically conductive second terminal for coupling to the electrical load; a first electrical conductor connected between the second collar and the second terminal; a third lead electrically coupled to the first electrical conductor approximate to the second collar; a current measuring device coupled to the first and second leads; a first voltage measuring device coupled to the first and second leads for measuring voltage drop across the resistor, wherein the voltage drop across the resistor is proportional to the current therethrough; a processor coupled to the first voltage measuring device; a non-volatile memory coupled to the processor and storing the known resistance of the resistor, wherein the processor is programmed to receive the measured voltage from the first voltage measuring device, retrieve the known resistance value from the non-volatile memory, calculate the current flowing through the resistor based upon the measured voltage and the known resistance; a communications interface coupled to the processor; a temperature measuring device coupled to the processor and in thermal communication with the resistor, wherein the temperature measuring device provides the resistor temperature to the processor; and a table of temperature coefficients of resistivity for the resistor stored in the non-volatile memory; wherein the processor calculates a temperature compensated resistance of the resistor based on a known resistance, the temperature coefficient of resistivity, and the measured temperature, and thereby calculates the current through the resistor based upon the measured voltage across the resistor and the temperature compensated resistance.