this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2023
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Researcher has developed, at a cost of less than one dollar, a wireless light switch that runs without batteries, can be installed anywhere on a wall and could reduce the cost of wiring a house by ... (www.ualberta.ca)
submitted 11 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Researcher has developed, at a cost of less than one dollar, a wireless light switch that runs without batteries, can be installed anywhere on a wall and could reduce the cost of wiring a house by ...::A U of A engineering researcher has developed a wireless light switch that could reduce the cost of wiring a house by as much as 50 per cent.

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[โ€“] jonne@infosec.pub 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Isn't this ambient RF that's there anyway, like your WiFi network and stuff like that? I don't see any harm in harnessing it for low power applications like those switches, sensors, etc.

[โ€“] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 11 months ago

No. They need a separate rf field generator. Not just picking up on any stray rf or rf from your wifi. It says as much in the article.

As to the technical reasons behind why your routers frequency can't be used, I don't know. I'm guessing the 2.4 and 5ghz range just isn't something that works at a proper enough frequency to oscillate and gather charge. They've been using a lower frequency of around 915 mhz for rf chargers.