Patent ID: 6949914

Claim:
A charging apparatus, comprising: a cooling fan for cooling a battery pack; a battery temperature detecting unit configured to detect a battery temperature of the battery pack; and a control unit configured to determine presence or non-presence of cooling effect, to determine full charge of the battery and to control a charging current based on an output of the battery temperature detecting unit; wherein, when the control unit determines that there is no cooling effect by the cooling fan and the battery temperature reaches a first predetermined value smaller than a maximum value of a temperature range in which the battery is chargeable without making a life time thereof shorter, the control unit changes the charging current to a first charging current value where increase of the battery temperature due to charging is suppressed; and wherein, when the control unit determines that there is cooling effect by the cooling fan and the battery temperature reaches a second predetermined value higher than the first predetermined value, the control unit changes the charging current to a second charging current value larger than the first charging current value.