Patent ID: 7956579

Claim:
A battery charge management system for charging a battery bank, the battery bank including a plurality of batteries connected in series, the battery charge management system comprising: a first power source having a charging port, the first power source capable of providing power individually to each battery in the battery bank; a second power source capable of providing power to the batteries in the battery bank simultaneously in series; a multiplexer connected to the battery bank, the multiplexer capable of connecting the charging port to a single battery at a time and capable of switching the connection of the charging port to each battery in the battery bank; and a microcontroller connected to the multiplexer and operatively coupled to each battery in the battery bank, the microcontroller capable of: receiving discharge data and charge data for each battery in the battery bank; in dependence upon the discharge data and charge data, determining whether to charge the batteries individually using the first power source or to simultaneously charge all of the batteries in series using the second power source; and instructing the multiplexer to switch the connections of the batteries in the battery bank in dependence upon the determination; wherein the microcontroller is capable of determining whether the charge data and discharge data received from each battery in the battery bank satisfies series charging termination criteria, capable of connecting the second power source to the battery bank in series when the charge data and discharge data received from each battery in the battery bank does not satisfy series charging termination criteria, and capable of connecting the plurality of batteries in the battery bank to the first power source when the charge data and discharge data received from each battery in the battery bank satisfies series charging termination criteria.