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0 pointsnickthegreek6y ago0 comments

Kinja posted a deal on a dual powered mat for $35 yesterday. Crazy to think that Apple couldnt crack this to reach some level of product that consumers would find attractive.

0 comments

gumby6y ago

They wanted you to just toss some devices arbitrarily on the mat and have it "just work". The one you discuss requires alignment, like all others -- for a reason! There's a reason the watch has a magnetic alignment setup.

I thought you might be able to use a 2D array of small loops but a little bit of modeling shows that to be a pretty dumb idea.

ghaff6y ago

That’s what you really want to get too. A big charging mat you just toss everything on.

TBH I don’t find wireless charging today a particularly big win. It’s a bit easier than plugging in a cable. Of course, in the watch, it eliminates a port which is a win for other reasons.

covercash6y ago

I find Anker 24w fast charging bricks and 10’ lightening cables are a pretty reasonable way to quickly charge Apple devices while still using them. I bought a cheap 5w wireless charging pad to throw my phone on while I sleep.

2 more replies

randyrand6y ago

In retrospect, I wonder if a motorized device that moves the coils to match the location of your device would have been a better approach.

canthonytucci6y ago

I had the same thought.

I l suspect that Apple has so little in house experience with moving parts these days that they’d have a hard time shipping a good one that worked this way.

konschubert6y ago

I am curious what you discovered during your modelling.

From a first principles point of view it seems to me like it might just work.

gumby6y ago

It's hard (very lossy) to try to couple the B fields when the rings are different sizes.

1 more reply

pwthornton6y ago

That is not remotely related. Having a mat with two or three separated coils for phones is really easy to do. You basically just glue a few of these together.

AirPower was intended to have basically an entire surface of charging pixels. You could place phones, watches, AirPods, and combos of those on the mat in any orientation. There was also no sweetspot.

By attemping to make inductive charging mats work really well, Apple ran into some big tech contraints.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

gumby6y ago

I thought you might be able to use a 2D array of small loops but a little bit of modeling shows that to be a pretty dumb idea.

ghaff6y ago

That’s what you really want to get too. A big charging mat you just toss everything on.

TBH I don’t find wireless charging today a particularly big win. It’s a bit easier than plugging in a cable. Of course, in the watch, it eliminates a port which is a win for other reasons.

covercash6y ago

2 more replies

randyrand6y ago

In retrospect, I wonder if a motorized device that moves the coils to match the location of your device would have been a better approach.

canthonytucci6y ago

I had the same thought.

I l suspect that Apple has so little in house experience with moving parts these days that they’d have a hard time shipping a good one that worked this way.

konschubert6y ago

I am curious what you discovered during your modelling.

From a first principles point of view it seems to me like it might just work.

gumby6y ago

It's hard (very lossy) to try to couple the B fields when the rings are different sizes.

1 more reply

pwthornton6y ago

That is not remotely related. Having a mat with two or three separated coils for phones is really easy to do. You basically just glue a few of these together.

AirPower was intended to have basically an entire surface of charging pixels. You could place phones, watches, AirPods, and combos of those on the mat in any orientation. There was also no sweetspot.

By attemping to make inductive charging mats work really well, Apple ran into some big tech contraints.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse