Inductive charging of dive computers

[kelemvor]

Didn't you hear? -- Apple and Samsung deliberately cripple their last year's models to push users to upgrade

I think that's just Apple. On 12/29/2017 Samsung, LG, HTC, and Motorola all issued press releases saying they did not.

while the carriers offer new phone every year absolutely free for only $100/month 24 months minimal contract term. It comes down to a scam. Parting fools from their money, plain and simple.

If dive computer manufacturers tried that we'd all be diving tables.

I don't know how others do it, but I've got that plan from Verizon. It's $32.08/mo ($769.99/24) for my wife's iPhone 7. Once you've paid off 50% of the phone you can send it back and get whatever new phone you want for no additional cost. So every 12 months you get a "free" phone. You can do it early if you pay off the difference to make 50%. Personally, I love the plan. If you decided to keep your old phone, then the payments would go away after 24 months.. but that's not really the point of having the plan in the first place.

This way it's less painful when I do my annual upgrades and I won't continue to add to my drawer full of old cell phones.

 

[RonR]

It's interesting, really - in my opinion. Cell phones cost more than most dive computers and have vastly superior hardware. Still, cell phones get replaced frequently (I do it every year) and dive computers do not. I think it comes down to R&D dollars for improvements. Comparatively, there isn't very much being spent on dive computer R&D. Therefore there's not a big drive to replace your DC for a long time.

I'm sure if dive computer manufacturers could count on their customers replacing their computer every year or two they'd put a little more into R&D.

Anyway, a good reason to compare them to cell phones when it comes to batteries is this. Cell phones have much greater power needs than a dive computer, and cell phone battery technology isn't exactly fast moving. Every cell phone I've seen in the past decade (maybe ever) still uses lithium batteries. Wireless charging features in cell phones are also not new, it came about in 2009. Other commercial electronics products with wireless charging were being sold in the 90's. Android phones got wireless charging in 2012, and Apple in 2017. Also, you can add wireless charging systems to just about any phone that doesn't natively support it as long as the phone has a replaceable battery.

To top it off, wireless charging seems (to me) like it was tailor made to be used in dive computers. A piece of electronics that goes underwater? One of the more common failures involves opening the thing to put batteries in? Wireless downloads already integrated into many products?

I have no doubt at all that eventually some company will produce a DC with wireless charging, it's just too obvious a feature to be left out forever. Even if it isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, it will likely be enough of a selling point that people may turn to whatever model gets it first JUST because of that feature. Especially for divers who have lost a DC because it got wet inside...

The big issue here is market size. A highly successful upper end dive computer might sell a few thousand units per year. Apple reportedly sold over 200 million iPhones in 2016. The economics are not in the same universe.

In many ways a new dive computer is a more difficult design task than a new phone. Phones are built around an OS like Android or iOS, get recharged frequently, and do not need to operate as a real time system, dive computers, trying to be much more power efficient and needing to function as a real time system, typically are much closer to a “bare metal” development. They also need to go underwater. I’m very confident that relative to sales potential much more is invested in a new dive computer development than in a new phone.

It’s not necessary to use inductive charging to keep from opening a battery compartment. The vast majority of Cobalt users will never touch their battery or ever open the computer, charging via the external contacts. Unlike a phone, charging is an infrequent activity. It may well be that wireless charging will make its way into dive computers. There is appeal to having the charging capability built in, not requiring any kind of connector. Right now the downsides of limited efficiency, component cost at very the low volumes of dive computers, heat production and the need for testing make it a lower priority, when simple contact charging using any generic USB source is reliable and inexpensive.

Ron

 

[kelemvor]

As for the above: Heinrichs-Weikamp has had Qi charging in their computers for at least a few months now.

WOW!

I guess it really is not a matter of time as @Hatul postulated. Wireless charging is already here.

 

[tbone1004]

WOW!

I guess it really is not a matter of time as @Hatul postulated. Wireless charging is already here.

that was post #3 lol, but not available in the US and they have no intentions of making it available in North America either

 

[kelemvor]

that was post #3 lol, but not available in the US and they have no intentions of making it available in North America either

I guess I missed it.

 

[tbone1004]

I guess I missed it.

I was just giving you ****. I didn't like to it, just mentioned OSTC. Sadly though it is true that they are not interested in doing anything in the North American market *per their President and reconfirmed around DEMA time when I last asked*, so they're out

 

[dmaziuk]

I don't know how others do it, but I've got that plan from Verizon. It's $32.08/mo ($769.99/24) for my wife's iPhone 7. Once you've paid off 50% of the phone you can send it back and get whatever new phone you want for no additional cost. So every 12 months you get a "free" phone. You can do it early if you pay off the difference to make 50%.

What you're seeing in the US is aritifically inflated bubble aka scam. In the devolved countries where people don't get a credit without collateral (at a mere 0% APR 27.8% interest rate) and don't get to declare personal bankruptcy when they run out of money, it's usually a $10 SIM with access to all services: voice, data, whatever, at some per-minute and per-megabyte rates. And smartphones cost hundreds.

I pay T-Mobile about $100 a year, BTW, and can purchase a day of mobile data if I ever find the need for it in someplace without free WiFi. I'm not upgrading from my $200-from-fleebay Note 4 as it's the last one with easily replaceable battery, so the free with $700 commitment after paying $300 is of little interest to me.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

There is a company in New Zealand called 3i Innovation that produces inuctively powered road lighting. The have developed a technique to communicate both ways with their lights and embedded sensors through the inductive charge lines.

Wouldn't it be neat to be able to both charge and download data from your dive computer using one inductive loop! Perhaps upload new software too!

 

[dmaziuk]

There is a company in New Zealand called 3i Innovation that produces inuctively powered road lighting. The have developed a technique to communicate both ways with their lights and embedded sensors through the inductive charge lines.

I'm sorry but "inductive charge lines" is an oxymoron, and techniques for bi-directional communication, lines or no lines, have been developed quite some time ago. I'm sure what they developed makes sense...

 

[Hatul]

Competition in smart phones is driving technology very quickly and hopefully it will spread to other areas. I recall some time ago Ron (of Atomics Cobalt) thought inductive charging was only practical for application like the electric toothbrush and here we are charging our iPhones on charging pads. And now I'm reading about research into inductive charging of electric cars.