Importance

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Abstract

A vehicle includes a rechargeable battery (A) having positive and negative terminals (18, 20). A wiring system (B) connects the battery with various electrical devices of the automobile including a starter motor (92). An access control circuit (C) selectively controls the passage of electric power from the battery to the wiring system. The access control circuit includes a current limiting circuit (70) for limiting the passage of current to a first current level which is insufficient to operate the starter motor and a high level current passing circuit (60) for passing current at a second level which is sufficiently high to operate the starter motor. A current level selection circuit (80) selectively enables the current limiting circuit and the high level current passing circuit to pass current from the battery to the electrical wiring system at one of the first and second levels. In this manner, when limited current is passed to the wiring system, substantially all vehicular electric devices operate normally. However, because the starter motor receives insufficient current to operate normally, the battery will appear low or dead to one attempting to start the car without causing the current level selection circuit to enable the high level current passing means to pass current to the starting motor. The access control circuit may be disposed within the battery (FIG. 1), be attached to at least one battery terminal (FIGS. 2 and 3), or be otherwise connected between the battery and the starter motor.

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First Claim