Interesting hardware idea

oxygene · 31 Mar 2014 at 20:11

So ladies and gentlemen I've had a thought...
We have cordless mice. We have mouse pads.
Why dont we have Charge pads built in to the mouse pad, so you never need to dock your mouse again?
Yes I know that current QI charging standards need you to position a device carefully in a small area over the charge points but how about if the pad had a few in key areas around the middle? Most people keep their mice in the centre of the pad right?
Just a thought

thel33ter · 31 Mar 2014 at 22:58

QI works over a tiny distance of generally less than 1mm, having the base of the mouse and then a nicely surfaced mousemat would in my mind be pushing the gap between the two a bit far, plus qi works, in a basic by having two coils, which induce a flow of current in the other, and with that comes magnetic fields and things which could affect tracking as well, not that I have much knowledge of how mice themselves work.

trentlad · 31 Mar 2014 at 23:17

It's a good idea but I'm a stickler for overcharging batteries. Doesn't matter what they say, the more charge cycles you give a battery the faster it dies. So in my mind the constant charge of a battery would severely limit its lifespan.

However, if you could charge a large enough capacitor directly and bypass the need for a battery...

oxygene · 2 Apr 2014 at 11:04

That was my thought. It wouldnt need a large battery because the charge supply would be near constant.

deFiniLoGy · 2 Apr 2014 at 11:08

Nice idea, but there might be some sort of head production problem when you are charging.

Will the heat produced through QI charging damage the coating of the pad?

This might work if the charging pad is at a corner of the pad so that you can charge the mouse when you are not using it (i.e. sleeping)

I wouldn't be surprised if this come out in a couple of years tbh.

thel33ter · 2 Apr 2014 at 11:19

I didnt think of using a capacitor, that could work rather well. I might have a go putting something together like that over the summer holidays just for fun. Only problem is most wireless mice require 5× more charge than a qi pad puts out, and increasing its resistance could mess with the rest of it. Maybe starting with a rechargeable mouse and wiring the qi bits into that would be more effective than trying to find a suitable capacitor that would be able to maintain the correct output for long enough.