News RCA announces WiFi-sucking battery

I'll believe it when I see it. And it better not mess up wifi signal either. No point having a wireless charger if it messes with all the other wireless gizmos around it.

 

Tbh I don't think its intended as the main way to charge your product but as an EMERGANCY boost. Its taking signals that are wasted anyway and converting them into charge. while not useful for the extra min of surf time you'll get on a laptop, it would certainly be handy for adding battery life to the crappy smartphone batteries when out and about.

 

But surely buying a second battery would be cheaper, smaller and provide more power?

 

aww man, i was going to post the math. good job ;-)

i would like to point out, though, that you assume the router is a zero point emitter. in actuality the router would emit it radiation along the whole length of the antenna, so the power is already diffused right from the start. ordinarily assuming a zero point emitter is perfectly ok, since the length of the antenna is insubstantial compared to the distance traveled, but when you are talking a broadcast distance of one foot, and an antenna length of 6 inched it become a significant source of diffusion in the equation. . . . of the top of my head i would say reduce you figure by about 50% for perfect physics land, depending on your orientation to the antenna. factor in inefficiencies and your figures could be high by an order of magnitude or more.

then there is the issue that those devices look to be about 4x8 cm (for a total area of only 32cm^2) and you have a device that probably only provide picowats of power at any distance farther away than "taped to the antenna" distance. and that is in the best case scenario of being perpendicular to the emitter. that may or may not be above the self discharge rate for a particular battery, so this may not even be able to keep an *unused* battery topped up. . .

yeah, this tech is nothing but hype marketed to unknowing consumers. it does not even constitute a source of "emergency power" since it provides such a small amount of energy. the only thing it might be able to do, and that only if you leave it next to your router, is keep an already charged batter from self discharging. if you keep it in a handbag and expect it to do anything measurable you are dreaming.

@eddtox

the only signal that should be affected is the signal in the "shadow" of the device. if the device is between your router and your laptop i would expect you would see very little signal strength, since it is being eaten by the charger.

 

Doesn't it work using mystical signals through the 'ether?' Then no problem about actual technical reality.

 

Now, if they produce one that could run an electric car - then I'd be intrested

 

it'll work pretty well here I think, with 20+ wifi signals from my neighbors whizzing trough the air...