RCA Airnergy WiFi USB Charger Pulls Power Out of Thin Air

Let's hope this doesn't fall down a Steorn rabbit hole, but RCA has what could be an exciting addition to every portable device ever made. RCA's Airnergy contains a cellphone class lithium battery, which it claims able to charge itself using Wi-Fi networking signals. Supposedly any Wi-Fi signal will charge the Airnergy's internal battery eventually, the more signals the better. Once charged, the Airnergy can then be used to charge other USB electronics. The concept is similar to the Wildcharge and Powermat which use local induction to charge devices. RCA's spokesman claims the charged battery of the Airnergy was able to charge a blackberry to about 70% capacity in a few hours.

One should be cautiously optimistic about this device as little detail has surfaced to define the amount of time it takes for the internal battery to be charged off Wi-Fi. Their hope is to quickly shrink the size of the components down to the point that they can be built into a battery itself. Users would just have to locate the Airnergy version of the battery for their cellphone / camera / MP3 player. RCA believes the cost will be almost negligible to include in current devices to the extent that those replacement batteries will be on par with simple aftermarket replacement batteries. They plan to sell the Airnergy for $40 to $50 in the near future. Custom batteries will come a few generations after that. This also smartly positions them for induction into the ranks of the Wireless Power Consortium (pun intended). Video demo after the jump.