this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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Technology

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Look Ma, No Batteries! Hands On With Lenovo's Self-Charging Keyboard (www.pcmag.com)
submitted 2 days ago by 01011@monero.town to c/technology@beehaw.org
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Among the many laptops and desktops that Lenovo announced at CES 2025 is an intriguing peripheral: the Self-Charging Bluetooth Keyboard. This unique productivity keyboard ditches the traditional battery, instead utilizing solar and ambient light to charge and store energy.

The Lenovo Self-Charging Bluetooth Keyboard might seem like your run-of-the-mill keyboard, but it comes with a party trick that might just save you a buck in the long run. Using advanced photovoltaic technology and fast-charging supercapacitors, the keyboard actually harnesses ambient light to store energy, eliminating the need for disposable batteries.

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[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Huh. That's neat I guess.

My initial guess was it would somehow capture the energy from hitting keys. I guess that's implausible? Too little energy without making the key press resistance too high?

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah that was my first thought as well for some reason. Obviously solar calculators/etc have been around for longer so that makes more sense, but I fully clicked on this hoping it was energy from key presses.

[–] strawberry@kbin.earth 3 points 2 days ago

yeah me too, I was curious what sort of mechanism they shoved in the switchea

[–] Anivia@feddit.org 6 points 2 days ago

There already exist wireless doorbells and smart home light switches that harness the energy of clicking the button using a piezo crystal to use for transmitting the signal. But at least the one I have has way too much resistance to use for a computer keyboard