Comments on: Airnergy Charges Your Gadgets With Wi-Fi Signals

By: Is Wi-Fi Making Trees Sick? | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Is Wi-Fi Making Trees Sick? | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:52:47 +0000

[...] Wi-fi networks blanket urban areas around the world, keeping us constantly connected to the internet wherever we may be — however a new European study finds that these networks may have harmful side-effects on the environment. According to a report by Wageningen University, the constant humming of internet data centers and wi-fi networks could have an adverse effect on nearby trees. The article states that the background radiation produced by these beacons of tech could be making trees sick. [...]

By: Quora

Quora — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 08:12:16 +0000

What’s the catch with Airnergy’s wifi battery charger?…

This seems absolutely revolutionary…and only $40. What’s the catch? “The Airnergy’s recharging time depends on the quality and number of Wi-Fi signals nearby, but an RCA spokesman at CES said that it was possible to fully charge a Blackberry at 30…

By: Psi

Psi — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:53:37 +0000

how does it defy the second law of thermodynamics?! We’re talking about converting one form of energy into another. I do think however that there is some exaggeration going on here. If there was enough energy in those signals to power devices we would all be walking around with tumors

By: Altzone

Altzone — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:34:52 +0000

This device simply will not work as intended, and is not as effective as people are lead to believe.
I do the calculations to debunk it in my latest EEVblog video here:
http://www.eevblog.com/2010/01/17/eevblog-55-rca-airnergy-wifi-hotspot-energy-harvesting-marketing-bs/

Short story – under ideal conditions @ 1m from a typical WiFi router you can expect it to take in the order of 8 *years* (70,000 hours) to charge the internal battery enough to in-turn fully recharge a flat 5.6Wh smartphone battery.

Don’t be suckered into buying this sham product!

By: WBrooke

WBrooke — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:11:26 +0000

Great idea, but it looks like this one was shot with a pellet gun.

By: lisame

lisame — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:57:30 +0000

This sounds so great. But, how can I really understand the viability of this technology?

I think readers should also go the the source article at Popular Science, read the article and comments below. They are a bit wondering, confusing and contradicting, but also enlightening about the technology.

Time to ask more questions to before jumping!

By: Sway

Sway — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:51:11 +0000

Take a look at the comments regarding this device over at OhGizmo. I believe the WiFi energy harvesting is BS. There just isn’t enough energy in the signal.

By: David Estlund

David Estlund — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:18:43 +0000

Amazing! I’ll put it right next to my cold fusion jar! (Seriously, folks, this thing will not, cannot work as advertised. It defies the second law of thermodynamics.)

By: theGattaca

theGattaca — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:05:46 +0000

So does this mean that wifi cards and cellular could soon be self powered? Could significantly extend the battery life of portables …