More Wireless Phone Charging BULLSHIT! - AirVolt

[EEVblog]

Dave calls bullshit on the AirVolt,  9m wireless phone charger on Indiegogo
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/airvolt-charging-smartphones-from-radio-waves-charger--3#/

[Marco]

What they haven't considered is the real possibility of RF burn due to the RF energy radiated all over the place, as required for this to work at such a long distance. I do not see any dishes on any of the pieces to direct the energy across.

The more realistic suggestions, like that Disney ones, just use huge emitters in a closed system (the system as a whole is not a RF emitter). Lots of energy sloshing around in a room, most of it just bringing efficiency down to single digits, but at semi-acceptable field strength.

[coppice]

Its nice to see their development timescale allow plenty of time for RF approvals work. You wouldn't miss out that step on a product actually claiming to push out multiple watts of RF, would you? Would you? 

[EEVblog]

Its nice to see their development timescale allow plenty of time for RF approvals work. You wouldn't miss out that step on a product actually claiming to push out multiple watts of RF, would you? Would you? 

They couldn't afford EMI testing anyway with their $2k target 

[CeD]

I can't believe Farnell/Element14 did waste some precious blog space ON THEIR OFFICIAL BLOG to tell people about that crap

https://www.element14.com/community/groups/power-management/blog/2017/06/12/airvolt-boasts-first-wireless-smartphone-charger-w-9-meter-distance

So many REAL hobbyist projects would deserve such a blog post... yet they decide to go for the complete BS "concept".

Oh by the way, i've got a nice Space-Time continuum distortion propulsion concept, I shall open an indiegogo.

[strangersound]

This seems like a good place for this...



I reckon it's more viable than the Airvolt thing. My buddy and I were working on a house rewire and on the way right before we got to the house (out in the country), we'd pass under a set of high power transmission lines. One day my buddy said, "Hey man, when we get about a block away from those power lines, get your AC voltage detector and turn it on." Sure enough, a block away from them, they set of my AC detector. So I saw this video I posted above a few days before you posted this video and it was the first thing I thought of when I saw your video link.

[Dajgoro]

I happen to be in the same are as this thing is, I'll see if I can find out more info about this.

[Fungus]

This seems like a good place for this...



I reckon it's more viable than the Airvolt thing.

You can actually light your house for free if you live right under a power line. Just put lots of fluorescent tubes around the place. 

(free as in "electricity bill", not as in "thermodynamics", obviously)


Will it work for charging phones? Sure! All you need to do is persuade them to put a pylon in your garden and you're golden!

[f4eru]

Wow, that good old Kreosan has good knowledge !
Using a spark plug as an high voltage "oscillator" for a DC-DC converter is a gorgeous idea !
It unfortunately makes it a very wide band transmitter also -> not practical.

If filtered properly on the input, and the whole DC-DC put in a shielded box, that could even pass certification.
But wideband filters with high voltage capability, that's not an easy beast to build.
He also forgot to put a diode bridge on the transformer output .....

[EEVblog]

I can't believe Farnell/Element14 did waste some precious blog space ON THEIR OFFICIAL BLOG to tell people about that crap
https://www.element14.com/community/groups/power-management/blog/2017/06/12/airvolt-boasts-first-wireless-smartphone-charger-w-9-meter-distance
So many REAL hobbyist projects would deserve such a blog post... yet they decide to go for the complete BS "concept".

 

[ElektronikLabor]

On the image below one can clearly see, that the device doesn't turn on when plugged into the wall but when the guy press the button on the top.

[Brumby]

On the image below one can clearly see, that the device doesn't turn on when plugged into the wall but when the guy press the button on the top.

Of course!

There isn't a product at the moment - it's only at the concept stage.  That would simply be a mock-up to illustrate to the average punter how the thing is intended to work.

We need to stop criticising the mock ups ... it just makes us appear like an unruly crowd at best - and a lynch mob at worst.


Let's stick to the fundamental physics that are offered as the principle of operation.  That's enough to write it off as a pipe dream.

[ElektronikLabor]

We need to stop criticising the mock ups ... it just makes us appear like an unruly crowd at best - and a lynch mob at worst.

I work in R&D department and sometimes we also make mock-ups to demonstrate products or to test things. But our mock-ups never pretend to do something what they actually can't.
I'm pretty sure, that the most backers don't know that the video shows just a concept. If AirVolt will ever be able to deliver a product, I think it will be much more bulky; especially the receiver will be much bigger and it will only be able to charge the phone at small distances.
So the purpose of that mock-up is not to show the potential backers the concept, but to delude them. A lot of mock-ups at indiegogo are misleading.

[EEVblog]

Newark/Element 14 just dug themselves a nice hole by comparing the AirVolt to the Disney cavity resonance system 

[Dajgoro]

They do not seem to appear anywhere in the local Zagreb startup scene, which is rather small, and nobody seems to had heard of them.
I think its just a bunch of guys doing the operation in secret.

[Fungus]

So the purpose of that mock-up is not to show the potential backers the concept, but to delude them.

This. Everything in that video makes it look like a working product.

[nctnico]

Its nice to see their development timescale allow plenty of time for RF approvals work. You wouldn't miss out that step on a product actually claiming to push out multiple watts of RF, would you? Would you? 

It is a magnetic field and not an electric field. Still regulations and emission limits apply so there is a limit to how much energy you can transfer.

[Fungus]

Its nice to see their development timescale allow plenty of time for RF approvals work. You wouldn't miss out that step on a product actually claiming to push out multiple watts of RF, would you? Would you? 

It is a magnetic field and not an electric field.

Ummm... no it isn't.

[Fungus]

The campaign goal is stupidly low ($2000)

I bet their real plan is for a particularly stupid VC investor to notice them thanks to this campaign.

After that they can go all uBeam.

[Dajgoro]

The campaign goal is stupidly low ($2000)

I think they just were trying to do a money grab.
2000$ is not such a small sum here, making such an scam might even be worth it. 

[cj]

This video has a lot of AirVolt

It's capable of transferring appreciable power over a few meters there’s only the small problem of shrinking the device so it will fit that small box.

CJ

[Fungus]

This video has a lot of AirVolt
It's capable of transferring appreciable power over a few meters

Charge your phone in seconds instead of hours!

[nctnico]

Its nice to see their development timescale allow plenty of time for RF approvals work. You wouldn't miss out that step on a product actually claiming to push out multiple watts of RF, would you? Would you? 

It is a magnetic field and not an electric field.

Ummm... no it isn't.

And you believe all marketing crap? 

[mikerj]

Its nice to see their development timescale allow plenty of time for RF approvals work. You wouldn't miss out that step on a product actually claiming to push out multiple watts of RF, would you? Would you? 

It is a magnetic field and not an electric field.

Ummm... no it isn't.

And you believe all marketing crap? 

How can their marketing department be lying about about the operating principle of a device that doesn't exist and almost certainly never will exist?