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Wireless Electricity!

localoid said:
The idea has been kicked around for more than 100 years...

Ever hear of Nikola Tesla?
Click to expand...


+1

this idea is really old. there is actually some skeptics / fanatics that suspect tesla of actually succeeding in this to some degree sending a bolt of electricity 200 miles away or something like that.
 
localoid said:
Ever hear of Nikola Tesla?
Click to expand...


Tesla was not the only example. Old crystal set radios used the radio waves themselves as their only source of power. There was no battery. They were in common use in the early 20th century before vacuum tube technology replaced them.

The radio set used a large antenna and another wire that went to a good ground. The electrical different between the antenna and the ground was enough to power a set of headphones. You can still make one of these radios for about $2 and it will work if you have an AM broadcast station nearby. If you know a kid looking for a science fair project using a radio like this to power something other then headphones would make a winning project. It is not hard, remember we are talking pre 1920's technology.

Until very recently no one bothered with the idea because you could not do anything interesting with a few microwatts of power. But now we have some very low power mobile devices and "stealing" power from all the TV and radio stations now seems like a good idea. The transmitters pump out energy 24x7 and the technology to tap into it is not hard and not expensive. What's changed is that now we have uses for microwatts. Ten years ago we didn't
 
Yep, this is nothing new.
Right now the best they can do, though, are close range wireless pads. You plug the pad into a socket, and place an electronic device with a compatible battery on the pad and it charges.

(Actually I'm not too sure, because I watched a video on this about a year ago and I'm sure they've made some improvements.)
 
localoid said:
The idea has been kicked around for more than 100 years...

Ever hear of Nikola Tesla?
Click to expand...

However it took the Japanese to put the idea into practical use. Hmm, more and more it's the Japanese who are making the technological marvels now a days.
 
Electric toothbrushes charge by electric induction without any contact points.
 
Wouldn't this likely be very wasteful?

I read in an old National Geographic that over 66% of electricity is lost in transmission, in which case the last thing that's needed is losing more in transmission around the home.
 
whooleytoo said:
Wouldn't this likely be very wasteful?

I read in an old National Geographic that over 66% of electricity is lost in transmission, in which case the last thing that's needed is losing more in transmission around the home.
Click to expand...
the automobile internal combustion engine is only 15% from the engine to the wheels, do we not use it for transportation? there are always trade offs...

i'm all for wireless electricity asap - the battery is the single worst component in any electronic device imo.
 
acurafan said:
the automobile internal combustion engine is only 15% from the engine to the wheels, do we not use it for transportation? there are always trade offs...

i'm all for wireless electricity asap - the battery is the single worst component in any electronic device imo.
Click to expand...

I don't mind batteries. I want to get rid of ALL cords/cables.
 
Dan Brown mentioned the technology in Deception Point as means to power some small radio controlled bugs that can fly near someone and recharge next to a TV set or other appliance.

I'm not sure if the actual bugs themselves were simply a fantasy and part of the story, prototypes or what but it did sound like a good use for the technology apart from the obvious misuse of the technology if a government used it on it's people.
 
Medium Skil said:
However it took the Japanese to put the idea into practical use. Hmm, more and more it's the Japanese who are making the technological marvels now a days.
Click to expand...

Ever hear of a crystal radio, a radio receiver which operates without a battery or external power source? Its power is received (wirelessly) from radio waves picked up by an antenna. They've been around for over 100 years and saw much "practical use" during the 1920s and 1930s.
 
we can not be shock by waves. TV and radio stations antenas put out power in the Mega/GigiWatt range of power. That is a crap load of power and we have tons of theses waves going around us at all times. My wireless router puts out few watts of waves at all times.

The crystal idea I though was pretty cool because in the past that was used to power radio by itself and yet again we might be able to use that old school technology in other devices to power them by pulling power out of the air that currently just going to waste.
 
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