Every Wireless Keyboard is a Liar… but the Fix Costs $2

[Raidzor]

Just now, MAD HAVEN said:

Why not make a hard desk pad that's not flexible but has built-in chargers in it so you can charge your phone mouse and keyboard all on it

You could theoretically even make it flexible, main issue is the fact that you would still have a wire on your desk, which is sort of defeating the purpose of eliminating wires from it. Now don't get me wrong, I think there would be still plenty of demand for a product like that, especially if well made, but I'm rooting for taking this one step further and having a desk with all of that built in.

[MAD HAVEN]

4 minutes ago, Raidzor said:

You could theoretically even make it flexible, main issue is the fact that you would still have a wire on your desk, which is sort of defeating the purpose of eliminating wires from it. Now don't get me wrong, I think there would be still plenty of demand for a product like that, especially if well made, but I'm rooting for taking this one step further and having a desk with all of that built in.

I'm talking about cost effective and consumer friendly one wire is better than three

[CurryMantou]

All these Qi Charging Pads lying around using 5v and 1A huh... How about a Qi powered gaming console?

[GoodBytes]

On my old setup, I had a Dell monitor with its square stand. I did add a wireless charger under (had to disassemble the base plate to bring the charger closest to the plastic top part, of course). And I could put my phone on the stand, and it would wirelessly charge it. Was neat. I don't have it anymore, as I have new screens and not only did those have a V shape stand (so nowhere to put the wireless charger), but I switched to a monitor arm solution.

 

Anyway, this is how it looked without the cover. LED's are used to know the charging status. (White is nothing, green charging). They are held with some hot glue on the stand... (so due to the lack of bottom or top... I had to make a mess... a better way to do this... but once the top is on, nothing showed, so all good). The switch (on the back of the monitor stand) is to turn off the LEDs, in case they start to bug me.

 

 

I can't find a picture showing the completed version, but I can assure you it looked like nothing was done to the monitor stand, beside the small soft glow it did on the side (which I disabled via the switch as the result, made it look inconsistent).

 

[The_Hawk]

I have both the Logitech G815 and G915, the G915 was an upgrade I got cheap enough to live the truley wireless lifestyle... except that it ends up plugged in most of the time to the point I keep considering selling it and going back to the G815.  While I'm sure the battery life is good enough to last the week (with the LED's on their lowest setting which is my preference anyway) and I know the keyboard can be used while charging this shouldn't be an issue, but it's a pain the arse to remember to do since it's so infrequent.

 

My mouse is a Logitech G502 Hero Lightspeed and since I have a large deskmat I don't really have a need/space for the powerplay mat (although it would be cool).  Instead I have one of these:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Soarking-Charging-Superlight-Lightspeed-Powerplay/dp/B08JFXFSJ2

 

You can tuck it up under the monitor and dropping the mouse onto the charger occassionally is just fine. Really, just throwing it on there at the end of each day is so easy and even if I forget for a few days it's battery life is so long that it doesn't matter.  A magnetic dock is a quality of life improvement and definately beats plugging it in.

 

Going back to the keyboard, I keep thinking about those magnetic charging adaptors like this one, at least it would make it easier to plug in and put less wear/stree on the connector, but still a thing I have to do.  The bonus would be that I could attach the different ends to different devices and share the cable I suppose.

https://www.amazon.com.au/BIG-Magnetic-Charging-4-Pack-containing/dp/B086DW93D3

 

This idea of putting in a wireless reciever into the keyboard is something I am comfortable (or stupid) enough to do, but the charger side is a bit of a wlid card for space under the desk or lumpyness under the deskmat... I do like the idea though and it would be awesome if (like was suggested in the video) is someone made a large format desk pad that had provision for a few charging spots, but I just don't see enough demand to support anything more than a spot to charge your phone since wireless charging keyboards and mice mostly don't exist.

[Ripred]

Wires are da wae

 

[MasKeyCustoms]

11 hours ago, TannerMcCoolman said:

I have an Angry Maio Cyberboard. I've looked around for options for wireless charging pads. I'm going to be building a wireless charging pad for my desk soon and shall share my experience.

 

Wireless keyboards are SUPPOSED to be wireless. So why do we need to keep a wire around to plug them in? We don’t, and for just $2 we will show you how to add Qi-compatible charging to nearly any wireless keyboard.

 

 

 

 

 

[TheLastMillennial]

I did something like this to my TI-84 Plus CE graphing calculator a while ago because it charges from mini-USB, yuck! I just happened to use the same coil as LTT. It's legitimately extremely useful now that the USB port is broken and can't be used for charging.

 

 

 

[Velerio]

I have a revolutionary new idea: you take a Keyboard, a low powered one and instead of a cord you have a Battery that is REPLACEABLE. This replaceable batteries come in different sizes, let's call them Size A, AA and AAA because... it's the first letter. You can put these Power Cells inside the Keyboard with a closing mechanism. Then, when they get empty, you put the empty ones out and new ones in. In the best case you can then rechage these empty ones with a charger that can be plugged in into every standard power plug and recharge them for several hours. Then, after you recharged them, you can put them to the side until your keyboard is empty again.

 

But Sarcasm aside.. really, your video shows a problem that does not exist and replace it with a bigger problem: desks where power coils should be worked in (until they break, then you can replace your whole desk); always talking about the environment and then want to promote keyboards with non replaceable batterys to charge themself on desks where you need to align the keyboard perfectly just to charge them... that's nonsensical in an utterly idiotic way: if you want RGB, you use a cord, if not, get replaceable batterys, they last for MONTHS! Or you simply use a perfectly fine keyboard even without rgb with a cord. But there is a reason nobody makes stuff like this, because it is stupid. And i think that logitech&co thought about it. And there is a reason why the Keyboard that does it is so extremely expensive.

[Poinkachu]

11 minutes ago, Velerio said:

desks where power coils should be worked in (until they break, then you can replace your whole desk); always talking about the environment and then want to promote keyboards with non replaceable batterys to charge themself on desks where you need to align the keyboard perfectly just to charge them... that's nonsensical in an utterly idiotic way: if you want RGB, you use a cord, if not, get replaceable batterys, they last for MONTHS! Or you simply use a perfectly fine keyboard even without rgb with a cord. But there is a reason nobody makes stuff like this, because it is stupid. And i think that logitech&co thought about it. And there is a reason why the Keyboard that does it is so extremely expensive.

If its me, I'd just tape the coils on the surface of the table, beneath the desk mat, using kapton tape.

Or slap a 2mm sheet of acrylic on top of the coils, or those silicone baking mat if acrylic seems to thick. The latter option will make the desk mat more secure in place too.

 

But yeah, I also thought of "why not changing the battery to a standard size battery. Slap a battery holder underdeath the keyboard, then use a rechargeable AA batteries." If I were to mod a wireless keyboard, I'd probably pick this route, sounds cheaper, and not having to rely on keyboard placement, nor having to lug around a special desk pad for the wireless charging when I bring the keyboard somewhere else.

[pApA^LeGBa]

@Poinkachu That´s what it used to be, at least some years ago. I had a period where i had wireless keyboards they all used standard batteries.And they lasted quite long.

 

I feel a bit that this video idea is forced, even with RGB i can´t imagine that batteries don´t last longer than a month. Wich really shouldn´t trigger anyone tbh.

 

If the batteries of a modern keayboard need to be recharged every other day or week, the problem isn´t the cable but a crappy battery.

[Bramimond]

After having read this, I am now on a quest to get rid of wireless solutions.

[Srius1]

2 hours ago, Bramimond said:

After having read this, I am now on a quest to get rid of wireless solutions.

Bunch of nonsense. Don’t believe everything you read…this last pandemic debacle should be proof of that as almost everything they told us by “the experts” was bs 

[Srius1]

Also for people deciding this…don’t bother. Those qi receivers break after a few weeks/months . Check the reviews for them in Amazon and I had same experience when I was using it with my iPad to charge. 

[kumicota]

14 hours ago, Raidzor said:

50% power loss over a year of charging a wireless keyboard is about 120Wh. That is the same as most computer power supplies lose over a day, the same as an electric stove loses in a couple of minutes and the same a regular gas car loses in a few seconds.

 

That same way of thinking is how we waste more than 100MW a year in things like bad smoke alarms. Saying that it's just 120wh is easy but in the scale of a entire country or group of people is a lot of power wasted

 

[m4nc1n1]

Is the UTS-1 the best one to buy? Not just he most expensive.

[Bramimond]

1 hour ago, Srius1 said:

Bunch of nonsense. Don’t believe everything you read…this last pandemic debacle should be proof of that as almost everything they told us by “the experts” was bs

What is written in the article makes sense and is consistent with my experience.

Furthermore, avoiding wireless solutions isn't much of an inconvenience.

 

If I'm wrong I lose nothing of importance, if I am right in this call I'm getting rid of a health hazard.

[05032-Mendicant-Bias]

So, you made a keyboard wireless that you can't move from that one spot of your custom desk.

  

22 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

I have health concerns about wireless charging.  Is this going to microwave my crotch?

Probably not. It's non ionizing radiation, the best it can do is to heat up tissues by a tiny amount. If there is a long term health effect, it's too small to be detected from the background noise of other health hazards.

[GoodBytes]

7 minutes ago, 05032-Mendicant-Bias said:

So, you made a keyboard wireless that you can't move from that one spot of your custom desk.

 

I think the idea is that, having still the battery, you  an move it all around. And just need to position the keyboard exactly at the right spot to have it charged.

 

All you are doing, is moving the cable from the top of the desk that you need to momentary have (say overnight, once a month or so), to an always there cable under your desk (charging pad power).

 

At the end of the day, it is fun content. And if you do it, some hobby project to have fun.

[ToboRobot]

32 minutes ago, 05032-Mendicant-Bias said:

So, you made a keyboard wireless that you can't move from that one spot of your custom desk.

  

Probably not. It's non ionizing radiation, the best it can do is to heat up tissues by a tiny amount. If there is a long term health effect, it's too small to be detected from the background noise of other health hazards.

"Therefore, thermoregulatory failure leading to heat stress can compromise sperm quality and increase the risk of infertility."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25456164/

Heating your testicles is not advisable.

[GoodBytes]

1 minute ago, ToboRobot said:

"Therefore, thermoregulatory failure leading to heat stress can compromise sperm quality and increase the risk of infertility."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25456164/

Heating your testicles is not advisable.

Yea... not hot enough heat. You have more heat from your shower.

[Raidzor]

5 hours ago, kumicota said:

 

That same way of thinking is how we waste more than 100MW a year in things like bad smoke alarms. Saying that it's just 120wh is easy but in the scale of a entire country or group of people is a lot of power wasted

 

I totally agree, but I'm talking priorities. Rooting for not using wireless charging isn't really as productive as for example taking active actions in other, much more effective areas. 120Wh is wasted every few seconds in a regular gas car, and in just a couple of minutes in an electric stove. Now, importantly, I'm not saying that we shouldn't at all try to improve efficiency of wireless charging or perhaps even try to limit its use, but in that case we should be starting from phones, which are way more power hungry compared to keyboards. All I'm saying it makes a very weak impact and a very weak point against using it for a keyboard, since you can offset it very easily by, say, having manufacturers sacrifice 50% of backlight brightness and no additional screens or RGB on these wireless charging keyboards. That would more than make up for the power losses and for many people, wireless charging would be more valuable than RGB.

Great video, thanks for bringing it to my attention by the way.

[Raidzor]

4 hours ago, Bramimond said:

What is written in the article makes sense and is consistent with my experience.

Furthermore, avoiding wireless solutions isn't much of an inconvenience.

 

If I'm wrong I lose nothing of importance, if I am right in this call I'm getting rid of a health hazard.

Well it's the same as covering your eyes with hands and saying that it's dark. If you live in an apartment building, you will have dozens of wifi networks and bluetooth devices all around you. Unless you enclose yourself in a Faraday cage until the end of your life, even if you completely reject wireless**, you would be looking at at most 10% less exposure to EMF. Now you do you, just wanted to give you an additional perspective on things.

 

**(beware, even wired headphones and appliances emit very strong EMF radiation, and if we're talking you being near an electric stove/oven/microwave, you probably are receiving years worth of wireless headphones use in just seconds)

[Raidzor]

4 hours ago, Bramimond said:

What is written in the article makes sense and is consistent with my experience.

Furthermore, avoiding wireless solutions isn't much of an inconvenience.

 

If I'm wrong I lose nothing of importance, if I am right in this call I'm getting rid of a health hazard.

[Middcore]

17 minutes ago, Raidzor said:

Well it's the same as covering your eyes with hands and saying that it's dark. If you live in an apartment building, you will have dozens of wifi networks and bluetooth devices all around you. Unless you enclose yourself in a Faraday cage until the end of your life, even if you completely reject wireless**, you would be looking at at most 10% less exposure to EMF. Now you do you, just wanted to give you an additional perspective on things.

 

**(beware, even wired headphones and appliances emit very strong EMF radiation, and if we're talking you being near an electric stove/oven/microwave, you probably are receiving years worth of wireless headphones use in just seconds)

 

I would recommend glancing at a few of the other articles on the site he linked and carefully considering whether it's worth your time to debate a person who goes to such a source.