Inductive charging of dive computers

[Hatul]

Now that we have wireless charging of smartphones I think it’s just a matter of time for this technology to come to dive computers, where lack of wire contacts or opening waterproof battery compartment is ideal for this application.

 

[victorzamora]

There's one major drawback to inductive charging, including in cellphones, and that is heat. Inductive charging produces a lot more heat than "standard" charging at the same speed.

I hope to see this in dive computers, and they'd better use a "standard" technology for it (like Qi-charging), but the concerns of battery lifetime far outweigh the "hassle" of replaceable batteries imo. My computer now (Petrel) uses standard AA batteries. I never have to worry about my computer not holding a charge. With rechargeable computers, you do. With inductive charging, that speeds up the process.

 

[tbone1004]

what does inductive charging give you over charge pins? adding to what @victorzamora said about heat, there is also speed, inductive charging is comparatively slow and inefficient to direct

not available in the US annoyingly, but a couple of the OSTC computers have inductive charging

 

[victorzamora]

what does inductive charging give you over charge pins?

Charge pins can corrode, expose the computer, battery, electronics, etc to the elements, and usually (on every computer I've seen) require relatively expensive and 100% proprietary cables. Letting me throw something on the Qi charger built into my vehicle, nightstand, or available at any major electronics retailer nationally is a benefit.

 

[fmerkel]

Batteries do die. If it's completely sealed up, it'll be essentially disposable. With the way upper end DC are going now you KNOW it's going to be REALLY expensive.
Small rechargeable batteries of any type simply don't have the life-span of larger batteries of the same chemistry. Primaries (non-rechargeable) do not self-discharge nearly as badly as rechargeable.
They aren't going to last all that long. Lithium does not like to be kept fully charged > internal resistance goes up, capacity goes down. The don't like heat either so, if inductive charging makes more heat, that may factor into the longevity equation.
They also don't like to be over discharged. That can destroy them quickly.

So....the 'average' diver with only a few dives/year, and not necessarily well versed in maintaining this kind of chemistry will either tend to charge it and store it, or ignore it, allowing it to self discharge to an early death.
Customers will not be happy when their expensive DC becomes electronic trash. Just read about all the DC that do have rechargeable batteries that are found dead when people got to use them after long term storage.

There is no easy answer to this problem.
It would help HUGELY, if the manufacturer would make some semblance of effort to standardize batteries AND download cables. I hate that proprietary crap and will go out of my way to avoid products that use it. I know, that is WAY too much to ask.

 

[tbone1004]

Charge pins can corrode, expose the computer, battery, electronics, etc to the elements, and usually (on every computer I've seen) require relatively expensive and 100% proprietary cables. Letting me throw something on the Qi charger built into my vehicle, nightstand, or available at any major electronics retailer nationally is a benefit.

the exposure is dependent on how it's , but agreed on the proprietary cables being annoying. I am not a fan of the charge clip on the Nerd2, especially the price when you lose it...

 

[victorzamora]

Batteries do die. If it's completely sealed up, it'll be essentially disposable.

Anybody with old Liquivision X1 computers can attest to this. The battery there was potted in and even the Mfg couldn't do anything about dead batteries. I think that was a major reason for their discontinuance.

 

[dmaziuk]

It would help HUGELY, if the manufacturer would make some semblance of effort to standardize batteries AND download cables. I hate that proprietary crap and will go out of my way to avoid products that use it. I know, that is WAY too much to ask.

My guess is nobody really wants to do wet contacts if they can get away with completely sealed case (IR, BT, NFC, NextShiny!)

 

[fmerkel]

I agree about avoiding cables if possible.
I use a UWATEC that transfers with standard off the shelf infrared. I see Bluetooth replacing that across the board soon, or something similar should anyway.

That said, Scubapro sells the same IR adapter for $60 you can get on eBay for under $20. It was no fun when Microsoft dropped IR support when they rolled out Windows 10. They didn't fix that for ages, in spite of the fact that it worked just fine in beta. They dropped it deliberately and likely only succumbed to a lot of consumer pressure.

 

[dmaziuk]

Bluetooth is soo 2016. It's all BTLE now. Oh, wait, was that last year? -- maybe it's NFC now.

Cf. wired connectors: USB's been in use since 2000 and all my servers still come with ps/2 keyboard and mouse ports.