iZeee - charge your phone by touch

[matseng]

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/izeee-touch-charger

It's a sticker you put at the back of the phone that will  harness the energy from your taps on the screen.  By some obscure reason it is NFC-enabled as well.

Yea right, give your phone a full charge but touching it every other second for 3 hours... Maybe if I hit it with a hammer for three hours, but I don't think the phone itself would like that. :-)

Q: How much will this device charge my iPhone 6?
A: If your phone will be off, but there will be some mechanic effects under iZeee, with middle frequency about 30-35 touches / per minute (it’s the same frequency when you type a message) your phone will charge your full battery in 3:35 hours.

[suicidaleggroll]

An iPhone 6 has a 7 Wh battery (just as an example), which contains 25.2kJ of energy.  3.5 hours at 35 taps a minute is 7525 taps.  That means they're saying this devices can capture on the order of 3-4 joules per tap?  Seriously?

[Afrotechmods]

"Indiegogo isn't like Amazon or any other online store. When you contribute to iZeee you are funding all of our engineering, software, manufacturing and shipping. Everything that is needed to make a real product. Estimated national and international shipping date is December 2015."

They are asking for $1000 in funding to cover 10 month's worth of engineering, software (?!) and manufacturing for a product that claims to deliver ~2 watts of power out of small vibrations. Riiiight.

"Contributors on this level can receive up to 4 discounts via our referral Thank you Program and get your iZeee for FREE."

It's not just a scam, it's an entire multi-level marketing scheme!

[electr_peter]

100% scam.

Flexible funding, no technical details whatsoever, many variants of specs, CG generated images, etc.

If you want to loose your money, this is your chance.

[PA0PBZ]

By some obscure reason it is NFC-enabled as well.

Q2: I’m not fully understanding your NFC option. Does this mean that iZee will charge the phone wirelessly via an NFC connection with the phone?
A1: Yes

[tom66]

So, ignoring the technical aspects around the amount of energy available from a given tap, how does the NFC version transfer that power? Also, will it give continuous power from an internal cell, or will it just pulse the charger output? My phone wakes up as soon as the charger is plugged in - I think that 10 seconds of lit screen & running CPU will use far more than the tapping provides...

[tszaboo]

By some obscure reason it is NFC-enabled as well.

Q2: I’m not fully understanding your NFC option. Does this mean that iZee will charge the phone wirelessly via an NFC connection with the phone?
A1: Yes

They probably mistake NFC with Qi. Also, probably they also mistake Wonderland where physics don't apply with the real world.

[electr_peter]

The other obvious flaw is that phones require constant power to charge. A random few joules from taps every now and then like they are claiming is not going to turn on the battery charging circuit. At best some energy might go into the battery, but the phone won't tell you it is charging.

Flaw? I call it an advantage in this case. When people start asking why the phone is not charging, they can say that charging is "not visible", but one can "feel" improved battery life. But that is assuming they will deliver anything at all...

[Refrigerator]

Maybe they're using stacked layers on flex to act as a capacitor and a couple piezo layers to generate the electricity ?
But seeing all those "traces" on the back of the unit i can tell this whole thing is BS. 

[tom66]

Seriously wouldn't be surprised if we see a "crowdfunding crash", in much the same way as Atari crashed the 1980s video game market by releasing overhyped but generally rubbish games. Too many pissed off backers being vocal enough... which is  a shame because there are legitimate hardware projects out there, but the scammers seem to outweigh them, at least per $ raised. IGG needs to do something about this before it damages their reputation irreparably.

[Refrigerator]

I guess IGG could hire an EE to sort out all the bullshit.   

[tom66]

I volunteer a regular expression, automatically reject any description matching:

Code: [Select]

(we|our|us|i|myself)\w+(started|began)(with)?\w+(.*)\w+(raspberry\w+pi|arduino)

[bitwelder]

I submitted a complaint, but no response yet. I doubt they will remove it.

I doubt it as well.
The other week I was watching Leo Laporte's talks with one of the IGG founders.
(link here http://twit.tv/show/triangulation/187)
I definitely got the idea that they are just interested in "giving an opportunity to everyone" and that they "don't judge" who's proposing projects there [as far as they get a cut out of the collected money, I'd add].

I admit that shortly after they commented on how great idea it was to make solar fricking roadways I couldn't stand more and passed onto something else.


 

[suicidaleggroll]

I submitted a complaint, but no response yet. I doubt they will remove it.

Yeah...I've submitted claims about numerous projects that were obvious scams, and neither Kickstarter or IGG have ever done anything about them.  They just let the project continue, and several months later lo and behold it turns out to be a scam.  At least they got their cut, right?

[zerorisers]

Thank you for checking in about this campaign. At this time, the campaign, ‘iZeee Touch Charger’, is under review to ensure that it adheres to our Terms of Use (http://www.indiegogo.com/about/terms).

So what happens now? We will include the information you have provided along with all other information at our disposal in our review of the campaign. In some cases, we will contact the campaign owner for more information or have them edit their campaign and it will remain on our platform. If we find the project or campaign owner doesn't follow our rules, we may remove the campaign. We may also restrict the campaign owner's future activities on Indiegogo.

Let's see if they have a basic understanding of physics, or if the people behind this scam can bluff their way out of it.

They might just be able to bluff their way out of a terms of service.

[TheElectronicsBoy]

Hey guys,
I just came upon the iZeee and thought that was an amazing way of technology. Although it is hard to say if it is a scam. The only thing out with NFC technology is a product such as the iQi. Here is an example of a demo of that: http://www.fonesalesman.com/products/iqi-mobile. You do notice that it does need a transmitting base to activate the receiver. So for the iZeee, that seems like a receiver but pushing you finger is considered the transmitter? Unless you can output at your fingertips at least 5volts and .005mA. Just a heads up for your guys of current technology, but if the iZeee does what is states it can, then this can change the charging industry.

[firewalker]

It's a scam.

Alexander.

[suicidaleggroll]

Although it is hard to say if it is a scam.

No it's not.

if the iZeee does what is states it can

It doesn't.

It would be one thing if the math was off by a factor of 2 or so, but this is off by several orders of magnitude.  It's the equivalent of holding a pair of phone books in your hands and then flapping your arms to fly.  It's never, ever going to work.  There isn't NEARLY enough energy in a finger tap to make even the SLIGHTEST difference in the battery energy level.

[amyk]

An iPhone 6 has a 7 Wh battery (just as an example), which contains 25.2kJ of energy.  3.5 hours at 35 taps a minute is 7525 taps.  That means they're saying this devices can capture on the order of 3-4 joules per tap?  Seriously?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule#Practical_examples

In other words, charging the battery fully requires around the same energy as lifting 4 apples through 1 metre of air repeatedly, 35 times a minute, for 3.5 hours.

[suicidaleggroll]

An iPhone 6 has a 7 Wh battery (just as an example), which contains 25.2kJ of energy.  3.5 hours at 35 taps a minute is 7525 taps.  That means they're saying this devices can capture on the order of 3-4 joules per tap?  Seriously?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule#Practical_examples

In other words, charging the battery fully requires around the same energy as lifting 4 apples through 1 metre of air repeatedly, 35 times a minute, for 3.5 hours.

Using nothing but 1-2 fingers...after all, you don't tap your phone's screen with the full force of your arm.

[Richard Crowley]

I just came upon the iZeee and thought that was an amazing way of technology. Although it is hard to say if it is a scam.

Congratulations. You are the kind of victim/"investor" IGG depends on to stay in business.

Suspension of disbelief or willing suspension of disbelief is a term coined in 1817 by the poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who suggested that if a writer could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative. Suspension of disbelief often applies to fictional works of the action, comedy, fantasy, and horror genres. Cognitive estrangement in fiction involves using a person's ignorance or lack of knowledge to promote suspension of disbelief.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief

[wraper]

There is much more viable alternative  .

[EEVblog]

Can't believe I missed this one, I would have done a simple  debunking video.

[edy]

Can't believe I missed this one, I would have done a simple  debunking video.

Dave, it's not even worth the trouble.

Regarding the IndieGogo canned reply:

Thank you for checking in about this campaign. At this time, the campaign, ‘iZeee Touch Charger’, is under review to ensure that it adheres to our Terms of Use (http://www.indiegogo.com/about/terms).

That's the standard auto-response to all complaints. They never do anything. Don't even waste your time. The only way to fight this is to find a way to communicate with backers to convince them to pull out of a campaign before it's too late, and do your best to write reviews that somehow rise above the paid media syndicate.