Abstract: A system and method for a universal battery charger is presented. An RFID tag on a battery-powered device communicates battery information to the charger to allow the charger to optimally charge the battery. The battery charger has a charging cord with a charge plug at an end of the cord to connect the charging cord to a port on a device. The charging cord contains an RFID antenna near the end of the cord. The RFID antenna has a limited reading range. When the charge plug is inserted into a charging port on a battery-powered device, an RFID reader uses the RFID antenna to read the information stored on the RFID tag. Based on the RFID tag information, a charging selector selects a current and voltage to be output to charge the device through the device port.