A Question for the Engineer types... Pspark?

Anyone familiar with inductor coil charging?

If my $20 toothbrush can be recharged via the inductor system, with no exposed terminals to corrode or short out...

Why isn't this technology used to charge marine VHF radios, waterproof cameras, flashlights, and all other consumer products sold for use around water?

Good question. It should work ok. Maybe it's a charging rate thing. My toothbrush takes all day to charge, whereas my VHF and my camera are charged up in an hour or two.

There are other connectors on those things too other than just the charger connector, computer (GPS, headset (radio)...  I suppose they could go all wireless though.  I don't think you can change the batteries in a sonicare toothbrush either...

The current one can put through those things just depends on the size of the inductors involved.  The transformers that power our houses use the same principle.  Probably the toothbrush only needs so much per day so they didn't overdesign it.  It probably also draws current continuously, so it'd waste a lot of energy if it charged at 20W.

I haven't taken one apart, so there may be smurfs on hamster wheels inside for all I know.   

I'm not a consumer-device EE but......

I would think that if you committed your device to inductive charging the entire device would be kaput if the bat failed.

That's a pretty downside for an expensive device.

Judd

another induction charger. We've used them at work to eliminate the pile of power cords in conference rooms for all the different laptops that we use. Not sure how long it takes to fully charge but its kinda cool

http://www.pwrmat.com/

Why couldn't the battery be changed?

It makes sense to be able to pop the case open in that event, but take for instance my Optio waterproof camera...  doesn't make sense to break the waterproof seal constantly just to charge the thing.

That mat is bitchin!  That's what I'm talkin bout... 

This is a great site and cool articles for what the future holds.
http://www.fastcompany.com/node/1128055/print