Ok, i'm from the old school electronics where you had to deal with individual components, not so much the micro chip stuff and troubleshoot down to a component, so when I have friends whom have questions like why their inductive charger isn't working and I find them setting it on top of a metal desk, I can explain to i'm blue in the face, but what they are really looking for is an answer to the problem.
I knew the equations but never really had to deal with capacitive or inductive tuning / coupling circuits. So, in knowing how conductors are used to 'steer' radio waves or dampen them, even to use a faraday cage as an example, I was hoping someone knew what could stop the dampening effect of the metal desktop or even redirect the inductive field upward. I haven't dealt with inductive charging pads, therefore I"m not sure if they are assigned a certain frequency in the bandwidth spectrum. I saw one that said it operated at 1.67 Mhz but I don't know if this is a stardard. IF product developers shared the exact frequency I'd imagine it would be as easy as finding the wave length but no such information was given. Any ideas past good ole trial and error based on best guestimation ?

 

That's what happens when you don't have incoming paper baskets on desks anymore.

Try some stilts and see if it helps.

 

I don't think there's anything fancy about it: A conductor such as a metal desktop near the field of the induction charger is going to drain away some of the field and thus some or all of the power. That shouldn't be hard for your friends to understand! The possibility that a copper or aluminum desk might not be as bad is really not useful information and I doubt they care. Just put the damn charger somewhere else.

 

Inductive chargers have a price for convenience and I'm from the old school hard wired charging station.

Unless you're working at a fire department where the time to unplug and go is so crucial that someone's life is at stake, then a plug in charger is the best way to go.

 

I thought this was a electronics forum. The question clearly states the dilemma and asked for an electronic / electrical solution. The desk is a computer desk, the wireless charger is for the mouse. I think i'd rather had received no answer at all then the 3 above as it show's how the swap-tronics generation know's little to nothing about old school electronics. As for the intelligence of my friend, as i'm sure with most non-electronics oriented people, they know nothing about Faraday's law, Lenz's law, ohms law or capacitive / inductive coupling , right and left hand rules for motors and generators and I don't know alot about his particular field so I don't judge. But I would have expected more from here.

 

So you will only except an electronic solution? Put your mouse charger pad on stilts. Just to confirm the real problem......if nothing else. It takes no time and no cost. Use a couple of empty toilet paper rolls.

 

But I would have expected more from here.

Read your post. You asked just one question, and it was ambiguous. Better questions get better answers.

 

Well, for the sake of discussion, let's use the frequency number you cited -- 1.67 MHz -- and assume that this charger uses that frequency. In free air the wavelength is about 180 meters, or the next best thing to two football fields. Assuming that that's the frequency, what would you do?