Charge status indicator for providing an indication when a battery's charge state falls below a certain limit value, and method of monitoring a voltage produced by an exhaustable power source, and producing an indication when the charge state of the depletable energy source falls below a specified limit value

摘要

A state of charge indicator (10) monitors a voltage produced by a depletable energy source (11) and provides an indication when the state of charge of the depletable energy source (11) falls below a predetermined threshold. The state of charge indicator (10) includes an input circuit (13) for sensing the voltage and producing a plurality of tap voltages. The state of charge indicator (10) further includes a monitor circuit (65) for comparing each tap voltage with a corresponding threshold voltage and producing a result for each tap voltage falling below its corresponding threshold. The state of charge indicator (10) still further includes a storage device (75, 95, 115) for storing each result and producing an accumulated status and an output circuit (152) for producing the indication when the accumulated status exceeds an accumulated status threshold. IMAGE