Patent ID: 8369056

Claim:
A power supply control device for controlling power supply to a pair of terminals to which a load is connected, comprising: a voltage measuring part for measuring a voltage which has a predetermined relationship with the voltage of said pair of terminals; a short circuit detecting part for detecting whether a short circuit exists between said pair of terminals based on the voltage measured by said voltage measuring part and for making power supply to said pair of terminals stop when existence of a short circuit is detected; and a constant current supplying part for supplying a constant current through said pair of terminals, wherein said short circuit detecting part is configured to detect that the previously detected short circuit is eliminated when the voltage measured by said voltage measuring part is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value upon said constant current supplying part supplying the constant current through said pair of terminals, said voltage measuring part is configured to measure the voltage across one resistance part of a voltage-dividing circuit which is connected to said pair of terminals in parallel with said load and which comprises at least two resistance parts, and said constant current supplying part is configured to supply said constant current through a diode which is connected in parallel to another resistance part of said voltage-dividing circuit, on which the power supplied to said pair of terminals is applied in reverse bias and which becomes in forward bias for said constant current.