Wireless charging dock

[stearic]

Well now that the wireless charging back plate is available, anyone going to get it? $100 may be a bit for wireless charging, but i think it may be worth it myself. Debating now if i want to get it or not.

 

[SoDev]

Too thick and expensive (unless you already have a pad) for me. I'd just go back to the extended battery if I was going to thicken my phone again. Double battery life is a lot more valuable than the "convenience" of not having to plug in when at home. I quote convenience because people will most likely have 1 pad in 1 room which doesn't sound too convenient to me. If they could have packed some extra juice into it then we'd be talking. I don't think I'd use it for more than a day or two even if I got it all free. None of my cases or car dock fit, but I can not need to plug in at home? ...meh. I'm in on this when it's built into the stock phone or can charge wireless from like 20' away.

Edit - Also, the term wireless charging is a bit gimmicky... what is so wireless about it? You need to set it down on a wired pad to charge. So the convenience is literally just not having to manually stick the little plug in. And it's harder to use while charging that a corded one because you can't pick it up.

Sorry for ripping it. Just my opinion. To each his own.

 

[dpham00]

If you don't mind modding (and possibly voiding warranty), you can mod the phone to get it to work with the touchstone. I've seen touchstones going on sale for $5 recently, and backs on sale for around the same price. A guy did it for his Evo, probably similar for the Thunderbolt... How to mod HTC EVO 4G to work with Palm Touchstone wireless charger

 

[dpham00]

Too thick and expensive (unless you already have a pad) for me. I'd just go back to the extended battery if I was going to thicken my phone again. Double battery life is a lot more valuable than the "convenience" of not having to plug in when at home. I quote convenience because people will most likely have 1 pad in 1 room which doesn't sound too convenient to me. If they could have packed some extra juice into it then we'd be talking. I don't think I'd use it for more than a day or two even if I got it all free. None of my cases or car dock fit, but I can not need to plug in at home? ...meh. I'm in on this when it's built into the stock phone or can charge wireless from like 20' away.

Edit - Also, the term wireless charging is a bit gimmicky... what is so wireless about it? You need to set it down on a wired pad to charge. So the convenience is literally just not having to manually stick the little plug in. And it's harder to use while charging that a corded one because you can't pick it up.

Sorry for ripping it. Just my opinion. To each his own.

although it would require some modification, i think the electronics in this backing should be able to be installed on an extended battery setup, from what i can tell, the charging point is the 4 connectors on the battery cover that match with the 4 connectors on the Thunderbolt, right next to the vibrator (see pics below). The question is the thickness of the electronics in the cover, if it isn't too thick, and you are using a case, then you may be able to transfer the electronics on the charger cover to a regular battery cover, with just a slight bulge in the battery cover, or perhaps even hollowing the battery cover partially where the battery is and adhering the charger electronics to the battery itself. also, i think this is a nice option if your micro usb port goes out.

 

[Cyrix2k]

I want to play with this... the touchstone might be a better solution for me since it's cheap & small. My idea is to integrate the wireless charger into the tray I sit the phone on in my car. I stream a lot of music while in the car and this should keep the battery from dying. I agree that wireless charging seems kind of gimicky at the house, but then again, it is nice to be able to put the phone down and have it charge without having to do *anything*.

 

[dpham00]

I want to play with this... the touchstone might be a better solution for me since it's cheap & small. My idea is to integrate the wireless charger into the tray I sit the phone on in my car. I stream a lot of music while in the car and this should keep the battery from dying. I agree that wireless charging seems kind of gimicky at the house, but then again, it is nice to be able to put the phone down and have it charge without having to do *anything*.

someone has used the electronics from the palm battery back to make the thunderbolt work with the touchstone. Wireless charge from palm series.......DONE - xda-developers

 

[stearic]

Has anyone gotten the wireless setup yet? What you think about it?

 

[SoDev]

I'd like to hear some reviews too. Hope I didn't scare anyone off. I won't say anything else negative. I'm just curious at this point.

 

[dpham00]

I just bought mine here:

HTC Thunderbolt Wireless Charging Battery Door

But is was $40 not $100.

Does the mat cost $60? Thats crazy! BTW does anyone know if the powermat works with this door?

you can either buy the one from verizon, or the energizer one. the powermat is very limited. energizer one should work with any qi compatible device.

Amazon.com: Energizer Qi-Enabled 3 Position Inductive Charger (Black): Health & Personal Care

 

[lemieuxfan67]

I'd like to hear some reviews too. Hope I didn't scare anyone off. I won't say anything else negative. I'm just curious at this point.

I just recently got the Thunderbolt wireless battery door and the verizon wireless lg wireless charging mat. I like the way it works, so much better then fishing for a cord in the dark when going to bed. Only one complaint, when you set down the phone, the mat makes a beep to let you know the phone is charging. That wakes up my wife, which does not help the main reason for getting the mat (not having to find the plug in the dark and make noise).

If anyone out there knows a way to turn off the audible beep, that would make this great.

I'm thinking about getting the energizer one anyway, as that has 2 charging spots...perfect for my wife's phone when she upgrades in a couple of months. Does anyone out there have the energizer pad...and does it make a beeping tone when connecting a phone?

Much thanks!

 

[stearic]

Evidently this won't work (as of yet anyways) with cyanogenmod on our TBs. So looks like i'll be holding off on this until(if) it's working in CM.

 

[stearic]

Guess we should be expecting in maybe RC1.5 to have wireless charging now in CM7.

Anyone notice anything Unusual in this Picture? Thanks to @n... on Twitpic

 

[WhoMe]

Just postin to report that I'm really happy with mine. It wasn't very handy at home because I just didn't use it much. Putting it down and using it in the bedroom just seemed so limiting.

So I took it to work, mounted it to my stand up keyboard tray and I use it pretty much all day. Very very useful that way. I can pick it up and go and put it down, no fuss. I don't have to think about it ever.

 

[itsme2]

Cowboom.com has the "Powermat" set for $14.99. It comes with a 3-space base mat and one universal receiver. The universal receiver is large and cumbersome, wholly impractical to use with a cell phone. However, I extracted the guts out of the receiver and attached them to my Samsung Replenish via the secondary solar cell charging electrical contacts. The power receiver still works, but can only recharge my Replenish at 5-6% per hour via the solar cell contacts. I did additional testing and found that the Powermat can recharge via micro-USB jack at 18-20% per hour. So I ordered a right-angle micro-USB plug and will rewire my Powermat receiver to go into the USB on a semi-persistent basis. That is, the micro-USB plug from the Powermat receiver could be unplugged if I need to recharge via normal wired means. I just ordered some more of these cheap Powermat kits so I can place a charging station at the several spots I usually hang out at.

 

[itsme2]

I did some further experimenting with the Powermat receiver. It is a three layer sandwich consisting of the RF coil, inductor/magnet, and PC board. You can desolder the two points that connect the RF coil to the PC board, and then gently pry the PC board away from the inductor (it's glued on). You can then clip off the tip of the PC board that sticks out for the RF connection, flip the PC board around, and resolder. This yields an assembly that is longer, but thinner, and still works in converting the RF energy to DC current. The new length is less than the height of my battery door, so it will still fit (relatively) nicely on the back of my phone. I may even route out a hole in my battery cover to reduce the thickness profile a bit more, which should also provide better mechanical support.