think about it... a piezoelectric powered remote control would have a compacitor to store the energy generated by the Piezoelectric buttons and use what it needed to emit the signal from the LED... I am no scientist or electrical technition...

I guess it would all depend on the power needed to emit the proper strength of signal and the power generated by the piezoelectric buttons...

If it worked... it would be an end for remote control batteries.

halfbaked?
-- oxygon, Jun 14 2002

Piezoelectric Wall Switches..! http://www.newscien...%20and%20Inventions
Will be on sale in later 2002 - (no wires or batteries) [oxygon, Jun 14 2002, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Patent WO2004034730 http://tinyurl.com/4dqwx
piezoelectric powered remote control [xaviergisz, Mar 10 2005]

Clone RC 601 http://stuff.tv/New...lasting-remote/343/
Wind-up remote control. Only needs winding up once a week for average use, apparently. [prufrax, Jun 17 2005]

Battery-less remote gets power from button presses http://www.engadget...esses-aims-for-pro/
aims for production in 2011 [xaviergisz, Nov 19 2009]

A piezo crystal under each button? That's a lot of crystals. Anyway, a piezo crystal only delivers its stuff while it's being distorted (ie, while the button is actually moving), whereas a battery-powered unit delivers it as long as the button is in a pressed condition. Not bad, though.
-- angel, Jun 14 2002


The remote only consumes power after a button's been pressed, so it's okay that the piezos only generate power when buttons are pressed.

There are piezoelectric films (the one I know of is polyvinylidene fluoride or PVDF, trade name "Kynar piezo film") which could be used to collect the energy from all the button presses. The film could be used to sense the presses as well; in fact its main use in industry is as a sensor.

The downside is that I don't think a button press has enough energy in it to power the remote for that long. You might end up having to give it really stiff buttons in order to extract enough energy from the user. In which case I'd rather just have to change the batteries now and again.
-- wiml, Jun 14 2002


Could rig it with a small weight that would bash the film when the remote is shaken, and a small capacitor. Everyone, when the remote doesn't work the first time, whaps it against their hand...
-- StarChaser, Jun 14 2002


...thereby totally dislodging the resonator crystal which was previously merely dry-jointed.
-- angel, Jun 14 2002


make the outer shell semi-flexible, with a piezo-electric core -- just squeeze it hard as you're pressing a button

nifty idea
-- quarterbaker, Jun 14 2002


At one time, remotes did have big snap-down buttons on 'em. Push one down, the other pops up, with a very audible sound. I'm talking about the earliest ones.
-- waugsqueke, Jun 14 2002


I'm only about 75% sure of this, but I think that's enough to mention: Piezoelectric materials generate enormous specific voltages when deformed, but the currents they develop are miniscule. I think we're talking about milliamps or even microamps. I believe you need a much much higher current than that to power an IR lamp.
-- beauxeault, Jun 14 2002


Now if only they had a Wind-Up remote control...
-- Amishman35, Jun 14 2002


Awesome.
-- tharsaile, Jun 21 2002


How exactly do those wind-by-walking watches work? You know, the ones that power themselves by shaking them. Would that be enough power?
-- RayfordSteele, Jun 21 2002


Those watches work by having an offset weight, and as you move, it swings and winds a spring.

Waugsqueke, the earliest remotes had ultrasonic chimes in them, as radio units were way too big to be handheld. A lot of the old TVs can have functions changed by pouring a handful of pennies on the floor nearby, or jangling your keys.
-- StarChaser, Jun 21 2002


They already make wind-up radios..why not a wind-up remote?
-- Dently, Oct 05 2003


Or maybe a very tiny reactor with a smoke detector's worth of radioactive material sealed up inside a durn-tootin' rad-proof pack...but would that tiny amount give off enough energy to power the remote?
-- galukalock, Oct 06 2003


Fast forward to 2005, and they do. Have wind-up remote controls, that is...
-- prufrax, Jun 17 2005



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