Abstract: A battery discharge control circuit is provided with a timer for timing the decision of the state of a battery loaded into a battery discharger between a discharged state and a nondischarged state so that the state of the battery is decided a predetermined time after the battery has been loaded into the battery discharger. The control circuit prevents the battery discharger from discharging an undischarged battery due to noise generated by chattering contact between the battery and the battery discharger in loading the battery into the battery discharger or due to the variation of the detected value of the terminal voltage of the battery caused by the influence of the self-healing characteristic and temperature characteristic of the battery. The control circuit also prevents the battery discharger from again discharging a discharged battery.

Abstract: A charging equipment for charging a secondary battery in a constant-current and constant-voltage mode, including a switching device for interrupting a charging current from flowing into the secondary battery at a predetermined period, a charging control device for controlling the operation of the switching device to control the charging, and a voltage detection device for detecting a voltage at a position near to the switching device (e.g., at the input or output side of the switching device) before the charging current is interrupted and a voltage between the switching device and the secondary battery after the charging current is interrupted, thereby calculating a voltage difference between the voltages, the charging control device controlling the operation of the switching device on the basis of the voltage difference of the voltage detection device.