Comments on: Fail of the Week: Subscription EV Charger Becomes Standalone, Briefly

By: Russ C.

Russ C. — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 05:11:14 +0000

Cars (E.V. , ICE ) , security cameras, home automation all seem to rely on a server some place to get all the functions to work, some times for a fee sometimes its a free service by the company making the device in question. The problem comes when the company drops the product or changes management or ownership the server that lets me see my security camera on my cell phone and worked for many months or years may operate for a time after it becomes a unsupported or the company puts out a end of service date now my camera is not as functional as what I paid for and there is no way to continue using it! The big case of this was when the old company X10 which sold camera, remote control switches & outlets , motion detectors, computer interfaces and much more went belly up, not only did the servers act as a way to use the devices from your phone or other internet devices but when you installed the software they had an authorization function on the servers as well so if you changed the computer running things or had to reinstall something it was brick city for the stuff!
I think when companies do use servers to make devices work they should be required to make sure the devices can live beyond the company that made them either by keeping the servers active for a reasonable time after the company ends like 10 years for cheap cameras or 25 years for more elaborate or widely used devices like X10. set aside some of the sale price to fund it , or make it possible to let users move to either a server owned and operated by the users on a home based or web server company including software keys. Side note whats this crap about cars coming with one key of the Super Stupid priced security fob that cost hundreds of dollars to replace or get spares for? I have set myself a point I will not ever buy a car that only has 1 key, if the car dealer wants to sell the car, they had best have or get 2 or more working keys and yes I will walk from a deal for the reason the dealer thinks he wont provide more than 1 key! If they have a problem with that they should talk to the mfg. and get this under control because this is not nor will it be a problem for me any car I buy comes with 2 keys! No electronics that depend on a server to function is harder to do but I try.

By: opiniatingly indecisive

opiniatingly indecisive — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 19:27:01 +0000

In reply to DerAxeman.

How do you figure ICE vehicles are better ?
From what I’ve seen they are as bad or worth. With boatloads of comm issues, requiring special diag tools to figure out error codes, undocumented boot up procedures, and making it impossible to swap modules btwn cars bc serial numbers don’t match, blah blah blah.
See the $5000 F150 bumper fix vid on yt…

By: geekabit

geekabit — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 09:33:09 +0000

In reply to geekabit. Haha, I just realized that "I can replace your brain with a 555 timer" is quite an insult :)

By: geekabit

geekabit — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 09:30:54 +0000

In reply to CRJEEA. You are right, the only thing buggered is an eeprom value. All the power circuits are fine. I'm thinking of a "brain transplant" to get the charger up and running again. EV charging is quite simple, really. I think I can replace the brains with a 555 timer :)

By: geekabit

geekabit — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 09:21:30 +0000

In reply to T.. I'm afraid it could be the PIC internal eeprom. But you're right, I haven't used a bright light to see if I can identify components under the layer of potting material. That's worth a try.

By: Derek Tombrello

Derek Tombrello — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 01:50:57 +0000

In reply to Dude.

You do realize that, for decades before this subscription shite became the accepted norm, that is exactly how progress worked? Early adopters paid for that privilege which allowed further development and dropping prices as demand grew. e.g. VHS, BluRay, TVs, tuntables, radios….

The subscription model is nothing but greedy corporations being greedier.

I’ll stick with “stupid” tech that I actually own outright over “smart” tech that requires an ongoing subscription any day.

By: DerAxeman

DerAxeman — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 01:05:49 +0000

In reply to Maxzillian. All the more reason to stick to a gas powered vehicle.