Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-01-19)

What’sAll the

Fuss About...

49

You’ll have to wait forSamsung’snew QLED

TVsify ou want aremote with RF charging

into otherportabledevices such as

phonesand tablets

CanIuse thisremote with

my existing TV?

No.You’llneed to wait forone of

Samsung’s newQLED 4Kand8KTVs

(picture dbelow left), duefor releas elater

this year,whichwill in clude theremote.

Canitbecharged any

other way?

Yes, youcan plug in aUSB-Ccable, which

is amuchfasterchargingmetho dthan

usin gRForsolar energy.You’llneed to

buyacable, howeve r, andmakesureyou

know whereitiswhenyou ne ed it.

Char gers ar eeasytol ose, unliketable

lamps andWi-Fi routers.

Canmyrouter chargeother

devices?

Yes, in theory.Technically, arouter could

emit enough powertoc hargeall sortsof

devi ces, butsafetyregulationsplace strict

limits on this.Somecompanies have tried

designingsmartphonecases that turn

wastedmobilesignals into ener gy,

help ingtoc hargephone swirelessly.US

firmNikolaLabshoped to developsucha

product, butthatwas back in 2015 (see

http://www.snipca.com/40564), andnothing

came of it.Morerecentproject sfrom

othe rcompanies have also fallen flat. For

now, RF ener gy looks likely to go no

further than your tellyremote.

waste peryear”.Aside fromitsgreen

cred entials,it’salsoaclever way of using

Wi-Fisignals that aren’t pickedupby

computersand otherdevices.

What wouldhappentot hose

signals otherwise?

Theywould simply be wasted,

turning into heat when th ey hit

metallicsurfaces. RF ener gy is certainly

amorepractica land efficientpower

source than others Samsung ha stested,

such as harnes sing thekinetic ener gy

createdwhenshaking aremote, and

usingthe “vibrationalenergy” created

when th emicrophonedetectssounds

(thoughthese methods mayappearin

future devi ces).Its 40-metre range

also givesitana dvantageoverother

forms of wireless charging,suchas

Qi (pronounced‘Chee’),which

requires youtoplace thedeviceonor

very near achargingmat.

Howdoesits tore theenergy?

The EcoRemoteusesacapacit or,rather

than thelithium-ion batteriesbuilt

It’s acleverwayof

usingwastedWi-Fi

signalsnotpickedup

byyour PC

RF energy

YoumayneveragainneedtobuybatteriesforyourTVremote

Issue623•19 January–1February2022

What is it?

It’s away of turning radio-fr equency(RF)

signal sfromWi-Fi ro utersand phones

into energy that can powerdevices

wirelessly.RFe nergycan travel up to 40

metresifitisn’t obstructed,although it

loses somuch poweronthe way that it

can chargeonlylow-powered devices.

Howeve r, that makesitperfect forone

particular devic ethatmostofusu se

everyday:the TV remote control.

Such asthedevice

pictured right?

Yes, it’s Samsung’s EcoRemote, whichis

made in part from recycled materials.

The companylauncheditl astyearasa

solar -powered devic echarged by lights in

your home -you can seethe solar panel

on theback of theremoteint he rightof

thephoto. NowSamsunghas unveiled a

second versio nwithatinyantenna that

captures 2.4GHzWi-Fisignals from

routers, so it can charge even when the

room is dark. Thismeans youcan turn off

your TV an dgotob ed knowingyour

remoteshould be fullycharged in the

morning -assumin gyou leaveyour

router plugged in,thatis.

So I’dnever ne ed to buy

batteriesagain?

That’sthe idea.WhenSamsunglaunched

itssolar versionin2 021, it claimedthe

devic ecould pr eventthe disposal of 99

million AAAbatteriesoverthe ne xt seven

years,and “reducetons ofplastic