Systems, devices, and methods are provided to enable power converters to use two or more sensing elements to reliably detect a short circuit (or soft-short circuit) existing in the power converter and distinguish these conditions from other operating conditions, such as low voltage conditions or normal operating conditions. The disclosed embodiments enable the accurate detection of fault conditions, such as short circuits or soft short conditions, using a number of sensing elements, such as sense resistors and the inherent resistance of switching devices, while preventing the detection of false positives due to other factors such as low input voltage.