Development of new charging techniques has not kept pace with the advances in power components and electronics. Such techniques can make it possible to create smart chargers suitable for all size batteries of a given type. This work is aimed atdeveloping such a technique. Several methods, investigated in our laboratory during the course of development of a smart charger, are reported here. The most suitable and safest one involves determination of the minimum number of cells in the battery andusing this value to determine the charge voltage. The battery is charged at a desired charge current until it is limited by the charge voltage. The minimum number of cells is determined again from the new open circuit voltage. This process is repeateduntil the minimum number of cells becomes constant. The advantage of this method is that a single charger can be used to charge any size battery.
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