I got an allgoods heating coffee mug with wireless charger 12oz mug for Christmas. You plug in the base and if you set the mug on the base it keeps the mug warm. If you put a phone on the base, it charges the phone. The base won’t keep any other mug warm. How does the base know to heat the mug vs charge the phone??
Follow up- what makes this mug special??
In: 5
The mug has a small chip (likely RFID) and a circuit in it. When the pad sense that chip, it emits a magnetic field. The circuit in that mug interacts with the magnetic field (via a process called induction), getting hot, which keeps your drink warm
Same as your phone, your phone has a wireless charging chip that lets the charging pad know it’s there, and a charging chip that has a charge induced by the magnetic field, uses it to charge the battery
Based on the design of the base, it appears to be a simple induction charger. In this instance, induction being when an electromagnetic field generated by one thing forces (or “induces”) a charge to go through a magnetic plate or wire in a second object.
The reason it’s able to seemingly change between keeping its own mug warm (but no others) and charge your phone is probably because there’s a thin plate of steel or iron in the bottom of the mug. If you try placing a decent magnet on the bottom of the mug, it should stick! For food safety and general durability, the plate is completely encased by the porcelain.
This is the exact same principle as induction cooktops, just on a much smaller scale!
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