WildCharger charges your gadgetry sans wires

While it's taken Wireless USB quite awhile to gain its footing, we're hoping wireless charging will follow suit – and soon. While we've seen snippets of charging solutions using wind, bicycles, sunlight, and other oddities, charge-by-contact pads have a real shot at practicality. Aside from Splashpower's often overlooked offerings, and DoCoMo's "contactless" recharger, we haven't seen too much action on the wire-free charging front in quite some time. Thankfully, WildCharge is apparently stepping to the plate, and hopes to show off its WildCharger pad at CES; the device requires a single AC power cord, and then can reportedly recharge any device you lay atop its surface, be it cellphones, PDAs, or awkwardly-shaped headphones. While we presume a special module will need to be installed on each battery that hopes to receive its share of electromagnetic induction, we're still down with the idea. With "initial reports" suggesting that pricing will be somewhere in the $40 to $100 range, this may not be too bad a deal if it'll rejuvinate our Dell M2010 as well.

[Via Textually]

[Dan @ Dec 8th 2006 2:34PM]

Seems like this would actually be easier to incorporate into existing products - if all you need to do is get a "special battery" vs. redesigning the product to have external contact points (like Slashpower would need)

[William @ Jun 24th 2007 7:32PM]

actually the splashpad wouldn't need devies to be redesigned, it has a coating over it that makes it impossable to have contact pads, it will work much like this

[frf @ Dec 8th 2006 3:42PM]

Will it recharge my credit cards?

[Robert @ Dec 8th 2006 4:00PM]

only if you run them dry!

[CaptCaveman @ Dec 8th 2006 4:21PM]

I saw this a couple of years ago when I was setting up a laptop for someone. I thought it was a cool idea then and still think it's a cool idea. I expected to see it used more however I've not seen a device using this technology since. I would much rather have one or two of these in my house so I can just lay whatever battery operated device I have on it and walk away instead of having to deal with a dozen cradles, wall warts, and other wires sticking out of every wall socket I have.

[one1082 @ Dec 8th 2006 4:27PM]

make one big enough to fit under my house and power everything. then i'm down.

[L3 @ Dec 8th 2006 5:02PM]

A little frightening, no? Created to make it easier for machines to recharge themselves? No longer needing humans for cumbersome & invasive plug-in, the rechargeables can rise up and take power of the world!

And: How does the child safety cover work? Now my boy simply is to wave a fork in the general area to receive a dose of 110v?

Seriously, this could allow more flexibility in phone design if there is no need for plugs!

[SGH-X820 please @ Dec 11th 2006 1:34AM]

Actually, the inductor technology is very safe. There must be a reciever which is able to collect the energy properly for any sort of electricity to pass. The electricity, using transformers, is converted to magnetic energy, which then flows to the other part (also containing a transformer). Electricity is not flying through the air or anything...

A fork, simply, would not recieve what the device is putting out. A real world example is the use of this technology in electric toothbrushes and shavers; these products are often exposed to water, and other conductive materials, yet you don't hear of problems.

On the other side though, there are electronics out there that wouldn't take too well to this, such as items containing transformers. Certainly this kind of product is designed with such saftey issues in mind, and is likely of a fairly low power output.

[Lt_Ladle @ Dec 8th 2006 5:04PM]

Thats really cool, and useful. my guess is that you have to put a thin receiver in with your battery, touching the contacts. or, even cooler, you wouldn't need anything. imagine if they figure out how to do this without contact, a la wifi

[diulei @ Dec 8th 2006 5:59PM]

I don't myself buying add-ons to what I have now, but I could see companies like these getting into partnerships with other electronic companies to have modules pre-installed at factories.

I also believe this is similar to the technology that my toothbrush uses, no? No metal on the exterior of it whatsoever - I've been wondering how is charges through the plastic.

[JK @ Dec 8th 2006 7:21PM]

Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't this result in a whole lot of wasted energy when idle and a flux of harmful high-energy electromagnetic wave?

[Tom @ Dec 8th 2006 7:36PM]

From the website:
"The unique WildCharge technology does not interfere with the operation of electronic equipment, has no impact on reception quality, and emits no harmful radiation.

Our solution is also efficient - power is delivered as if the devices were plugged directly into the wall."

It charges via induction - not radiation or other means.

[Doug @ Dec 8th 2006 8:40PM]

What contacts? The article says it delivers the charge via induction. This is by no means new technology; I had an electric toothbrush in 1997 that worked the same way. The ability to charge 'any rechargeable device', though, is nice. I want one.

[dirty dixie @ Dec 8th 2006 11:13PM]

this would be perfect for recharging my xbox 360's wireless controllers. cell phone and mp3 recharging would just be a plus.

even better if it can recharge nimh batteries.

[Dave @ Dec 9th 2006 7:13AM]

This technology is making the transition from science fiction (Star Trek) to science fact, Scary really.

[Steven F.Palter, MD @ Dec 12th 2006 1:09AM]

While the surgeon can;t use a cell-phone in the O this charger tedchnology could be very important to allow many devices to "cut the cord" and step towards wireless tools.

more on this at
http://docinthemachine.com/2006/12/12/ortoolcharger

[Chris Schulz @ Jun 17th 2007 10:39PM]

If I have to plug in a battery adapter then why dont I just plug in the charger?

Will be good when all devices support it unaltered.

[Sterling @ Jun 17th 2007 10:41PM]

At last one one charger to rule them all! I've been waiting for this for quite a while. In the States you're blessed with small sockets but in Hong Kong we've got ginormous UK plugs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BS_1363) They take up a huge amount of real estate and when you consider all the stuff that you need to charge you either have to have a two foot long power strip devoted to everyone's charger or you need to swap out the chargers and hope that the octopus that you've created doesn't get tangled up and start collecting dust bunnies.

This device makes sense to me because I have to charge about 5 devices on any given day (my phone, my wife's phone, DSlite or my PSP, wife's PSP and Cowon X5L MP3 player) Each one needs a dedicated socket and each one is spinning my power meter whether it's working or not.

Further down the road I could see this as being a great technology for recharging medical implants or recharging cars while they're parked. There just seems to be a lot that you could do with this.

[Joe Soap @ Jul 12th 2007 7:47AM]

Medical implants and other hermetic non invasive applications is where induction charging has an application, this could not be done by the wildcharge approach