Inspired by this: First Qi2 chargers look to expand MagSafe-like wireless charging beyond Apple (Touchstone mentioned in the comments), I thought I'd start a thread on wireless charging options. I don't know the technical details, but the Qi standard was not compatible with the touchstone. Qi2 I guess combines the original Qi standard with some magnetic positioning standard from Apple. Again, this won't be compatible.
Some early webOS phones shipped without a charge coil and it was an option easily applied by switching the back, but eventually, this was included as standard. When webOS got thrown under the bus, some people removed the phone coils and glued them into other phones along with the positioning magnets for TS compatibility. Around this time the Qi standard came along. This didn't use magnets (Palm patent?), but in theory a Qi coil could be switched into a webOS phone for use with the many Qi pads out there. I think I saw an example on the old forum where someone put BOTH coils over each other, creating dual compatibility, but I can't say for sure that this is a safe option - possibly the coils would interfere or create heat, but maybe it would be fine.
Here's an old article on mounting a TS into a car.
Note that in general, inductive charging is less efficient than using a wire as it creates some waste heat (and magnets are used to reduce this by correctly aligning the coils), but has some convenience.
It seems to me that there are possible options here.
- Modify your legacy device for the Qi2 standard.
- Add a Qi2 coil & magnets to your LuneOS device (if it doesn't have it already).
- Adapt your LuneOS device with an old TS coil & magnets.
Stretch goals?
- Is it possible to adapt the Touchstone itself to Qi2?
- Equip your device with both coils (IF IT IS SAFE TO DO SO).
If you have thoughts or experience with this hardware and modifications, comment below.
