Adaptive control of a peak current mode controlled (PCM) boost converter supplied by a PEM fuel cell is described in this paper. The adaptive controller with reference model and signal adaptation is developed in order to compensate the deviation of the response during the change of the operating point. The procedure for determining the adaptive algorithm's weighting coefficients, based on a combination of the pole-zero placement method and an optimization method is proposed. After applying the proposed procedure, the optimal adaptive algorithm's weighting coefficients can be determined in just a few iterations, without the use of a computer, thus greatly facilitating the application of the algorithm in real systems. Simulation and experimental results show that the dynamic behavior of a highly nonlinear control system with a fuel cell and a PCM boost converter, can fairly accurately be described by the dynamic behavior of the reference model, i.e., a linear system with constant parameters.