Abstract: Central control unit for controlling the charging process of a battery that comprises: a charger circuit coupled to the battery; a circuit for conditionally prohibiting the charging process when predetermined conditions are met, the conditions comprise at least the condition of TB>Tmax, where TB designates the actual temperature of the battery and Tmax designates the highest permissible battery temperature, and the further condition when the change of one of the battery current and voltage dI and dU decreases in a predetermined time period below a predetermined threshold level; and a restart circuit for restarting the conditionally prohibited charging, comprising a plurality of inputs through which respective restart signals can be received, wherein a precondition of any restart is that the temperature of the battery TB being lower than an acceptable predetermined temperature Tok.