Wireless Charger - A Time Invention of the Year

[Bones]

Imagine coming home late at night and simply tossing all your power-hungry gadgets on top of a chest of drawers equipped with an embedded WildCharge wireless charger and only one wall-wart.

Better yet, imagine if GreenPlug licensed this technology, and manufacturers then agreed to not only support the green plug concept, but also make chargers an option for all your new gadgets.

Best of all, imagine if a gazillion chargers didn't hit the landfills because the gadgets they powered died or became obsolete.

From the WildCharge website:

How it Works

The WildCharger pad is flat and thin with a conductive surface. Once a cell phone or other electronic device that is enabled with WildCharge technology is placed on the pad - anywhere on the pad and at any orientation - it will instantaneously receive power from the pad.

It is that simple. And charging speed is the same as if the device is plugged to the wall!

 

[Flashlight Aficionado]

Its not wireless. The device requires contact by two metal points from the phone to touch the surface of the charger. The picture shows four metal contact points to guarantee at least two making contact.

It is not the holy grail of chargers. The way flashlights are designed(cylindrical and different diameters along the length) it would never work. Unless there is an adapter. But then there wouldn't be a point to buying it.

Bones - Thanks for the link. I knew something was screwy with the way they described it, but never ran across how it works.

P.S. I don't hate the charger in fact I find it intriguing , I just don't like the way they say "wireless"

 

[sirahren]

Anything that eliminates wires can be said to be wireless I believe. So even though it requires a plug to the wall, and even contact points, it elminates wires from the devices themselves, which does make "wireless." It sure would be neat if one of those becomes a standard! I HATE ALL MY CORDS... =(

 

[darkzero]

Wireless charger? :thinking:

That reminds me when someone at my work recommended that we buy wireless ESD straps. :laughing:

 

[Dr Jekell]

Using induction charging would be a better idea.

They already use it in electric toothbrushes, so it shouldn't be too difficult to incorporate into other items. And as the technology gets moving then the size will get smaller & smaller.

 

[HoopleHead]

my watch uses an electromagnetic induction charger (MTM Special Ops Black Hawk Ti)

 

[Illum]

Using induction charging would be a better idea.

They already use it in electric toothbrushes, so it shouldn't be too difficult to incorporate into other items. And as the technology gets moving then the size will get smaller & smaller.

efficient induction charging requires one coil of wire being brought into another coil of wire, so there will always be some sort of cavity on the charging pad and not a flat planar surface.
If there will be wireless charger equipped electronics, at best I think they will be charged in fixtures mimicking egg cartons

 

[shadowjk]

A gazillion chargers wouldn't become obsolete if they all could agree on a single plug and pick a universal voltage and polarity... Atleast in some areas, USB is becoming the standard plug, and I heard the phone manufacturers tried to agree on a standard for charging, though I have my doubts...

 

[Illum]

I really hope USB becomes mainstream
heck, I'm working on charging my car's jumpstarter [or any 12V device] using USB


Imagine the possibilities

 

[KuoH]

I can imagine the tech support calls now. "Help! My laptop has been acting funny ever since I jumpstarted the wife's car with it this morning!"

KuoH

I really hope USB becomes mainstream
heck, I'm working on charging my car's jumpstarter [or any 12V device] using USB...Imagine the possibilities

 

[Illum]

LOL

seriously though, my jumpstarter included a wall wort that outputs 12V 400ma:green:
If I could get it to work I think I can use my 8 port USB hub for all sorts of applications...but then again I'm not an engineer or an engineering designer so I wouldn't know whether there are technical or logistical reasons not to do something like this

 

[KuoH]

Just be careful you don't suck too much current out those USB ports. Best case, you trip the overload protection, worst case, you kill the port. Most USB ports can only provide 500mA max, and some motherboards are marginal at that limit. That gives you 2.5W to work with, unless you double or triple up on the ports.

KuoH

seriously though, my jumpstarter included a wall wort that outputs 12V 400ma:green:

 

[gadget_lover]

By this definition my cell phone charger, palm pilot charger and laptop charger are already wireless. I put each of them into a charging cradle and they magically charge themselves. This device is just a fancy charging cradle.

With the cell phones changing to ever smaller charge + data ports, adding large protruding pins is not likely to be popular. My newest cellphone uses a MICRO usb jack (not mini) to minimize the size of the jack.

Daniel

 

[KuoH]

I shudder to think what sorts of applications one can use an 8 porn USB hub for.

KuoH

I think I can use my 8 porn USB hub for all sorts of applications...

 

[Illum]

edited

 

[KuoH]

Too late. :nana:

But back to the subject of using USB power, you do realize that the 8 port hub needs to be externally powered to be able to provide 500mA on each port, right? If you just plug it into the PC's usb port, you're still limited to 500mA total on all 8 ports combined. This begs the question, if you're going to need an adapter to provide power to the USB hub, why not just have the power adapter for the device in question? I suppose the universality of the USB port is one reason, but I think you're still going to be limited to low power applications.

KuoH

edited

 

[shadowjk]

Technically you're limited to 400mA on a unpowered hub, the hub itself consumes 100mA. The specs also say that each port must be able to provide atleast 100mA, so that puts the max limits of ports on unpowered hub to 4. Though there are of course manufacturers that don't care about specs and will just blame your computer if the hub fries the motherboard