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Lehi teens hope to revolutionize world of wireless charging

Posted at 9:29 PM, Jul 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-23 23:37:52-04

LEHI, Utah - Two 19-year-olds in Lehi are the brains behind the small startup that's making a big difference.

“Our goal is we want you to just walk inside your house and you never have to worry about your power ever again,” said Halston Van Der Sluys, CEO and Founder of WiWaves.

It’s a device that could change how you charge all your electronics.

“I’m up until 5 a.m. every single night working on it,” Van Der Sluys said.

“We've been living and breathing this for three years,” said Cameron Stuart, Business Development and COO of WiWaves.

Halston and Cameron started the adventure in high school.

“Just kind of by accident we ended up thinking, ok, what if we just charge your phone just by walking into a room; that seems like the end goal for wireless charging,” Stuart said.

Three years later, they created the Wiwaves capsule.

“Think about it as wifi essentially, but we're not sending over data or internet to your phone, we're sending over power,” Van Der Sluys said. “It will actually let you charge your devices anywhere that's in the distance of twenty feet.”

No plug, no cord, no charging pad. All you need is the capsule that plugs into the wall and a receiver that's about the size of a credit card that slides behind your phone. But getting here was not easy.

“We created one, knew it didn't work pivoted, pivoted, pivoted, pivoted and we ended up at radio frequencies,” Van Der Sluys said.

The teens finally found they could manipulate radio waves to go long distance.

“Right when we found that out we stopped everything we were doing and started making long distance wireless charges,” Van Der Sluys said.

After years of work, it was just weeks ago that the capsule started working, charging anything within 20 feet.

“That's the only way I can describe it is wow,” Stuart said.

Now they're testing the capsule out at commercial businesses and preorders are flooding in, but charging your phone is just the beginning for these two.

“We want to charge your phones not just your laptops but the lights that are on your house and your refrigerators your tv’s your gaming counsels everything in between,” Van Der Sluys said.

The two teens are now working on their second version of the capsule, which will span 50 feet. For more information visit http://www.wiwaves.com/index.html.