A lot of product makers snub Right to Repair laws A year after the Right to Repair laws passed in California and Minnesota, many product makers still aren't doing much to help consumers fix the gear they bought. "There are definitely some places where things have gotten a lot better and have totally changed as the result of this legislation, and then there's other kind of …
Some of them appear to have things like preset temperatures, password protection, etc. so I guess they're aimed at small run production where you don't want the operator changing settings (e.g. upping the temperature to speed things up at the expense of quality).
Personally I'll stick with my analogue temperature controlled Antex.
the last few months of the deranged Trumpisstani antics might embolden the rest of the planet to take a hatchet to those US self serving Intellectual Property laws that were foisted on thethe world usually by way of "free" trade agreements. (Those worked out really well didn't they?)
Hell! We might even return to the 50 year copyright term.
"Hell! We might even return to the 50 year copyright term."
IIRC, as far as the EU is concerned, you can blame that on EU bureaucrats not wanting even a single country to "suffer" a reduction in copyright laws when "harmonising" them across the EU and so the whole of the EU had their length raised to match the member with the biggest number, Germany.
Yes, we're already seeing "custom chip"[*] plug-in replacements made from Pi Zeros in the retro computing world so a step up to replacing controller modules sounds eminently doable.
* and more complex replacements such as the PiStorm as well as direct plug-in compatibles such as SID and VICII chips emulated in microcontrollers in 40 -dip packages.
Not just outright failure, like letting out the magic smoke, but being deliberately obsoleted by shutting down servers. The things could obviously still work from local resources - the servers aren't directly controlling motors - but no.
For example, Cricut cutters: carefully made to only function whilst a server is still running somewhere in the US. Answer: cut out the controller board, solder in a Teensy microcontroller and keep on using the 100% functional electromechanical parts.
We're already seeing owners replacing circuit boards in modern (ish) classic cars with an Arduino or similar.
Ferrari HVAC control systems being one example where a replacement board that has sat on a shelf for thirty years costs five figures and will probably demonstrate the same failure mode within a few short years.
Here's a great example - we just bought a Samsung tumble drier in January. In June it threw an error and stopped working. It looks like a fuse somewhere. The part is listed online as costing $4 but I'm not about to take apart my still under warranty appliance. Samsung tried and failed for three weeks to find a technician to come and install the replacement part. They've now agreed to replace the entire unit - presumably because delivery and removal are easier to schedule than repairs. Not that I live in one of the most densely populated parts of the NE US - not in a rural area where there are no repair techs.
So now a 5 month old household appliance will be discarded because the manufacturer doesn't have anyone to replace a simple internal fuse.
Here's a great example - we just bought a Samsung tumble drier in January. In June it threw an error and stopped working....So now a 5 month old household appliance will be discarded because the manufacturer doesn't have anyone to replace a simple internal fuse.
That's normal for Samsung. When their appliances work they're excellent in my experience, but the whole spares and repairs thing is something the company don't have a clue about. Our household vacuum cleaner is a cordless Samsung, about four years old, and you can't buy (at any price) Samsung replacement batteries, and original Samsung micro-filters have extremely patchy availability with supply droughts lasting months. I do have regular access to a Dyson as a comparison, the Samsung Jet series is so much better on every level but sadly I won't be buying any domestic appliance from Samsung in future simply because of the company's "couldn't care less" attitude to spares.
I've worked on units where components have become obsolete and replaced by a newer different component or were on limited production runs and can no longer be sourced. We have then scrambled to revise the design to use new components before supplies of the old ones dried up. This can easily lead to virtually no parts being available to repair that revision, so through no real fault of ours the only way to repair would be a complete replacement.
so through no real fault of ours
No, entirely through your company's fault. Any company designing equipment of any moderate cost and service life needs to think ahead and avoid reliance on third parties who can stop production of critical components on a whim. Most (not all) car makers have incredible spares availability* across the car's reasonable life time. Back in the day I was very tangentially involved in Ford's spare parts operations, and they well understood that it wasn't feasible to rely on third parties goodwill, or to keep production capacity for low and declining spares volumes. Whenever production of a part was going to be stopped, they'd make a very evidence based estimate of the future needs against expected product life, and a final order would be put through for an "ATR" volume, meaning all time requirement. That ATR would then be despatched into the huge warehousing and logistics operation, to either be pulled at need or sit gathering dust for the rest of time.
Increasingly makers are throwing their hands up and sobbing "we can't get the same electronics parts any more", but that's just laziness, tightfistedness and lack of foresight.
* Feel free to insert your own car parts sob story here, it doesn't alter my general point.
Example: 20 some odd year old Asko dishwasher. Drain pump started to leak (still pumped but puddles on the floor). The "we have parts for everything" dealers no longer even had manuals or replacement parts lists for that model. I asked a few repair places if there was a generic pump solution. After all, its just a 5 gallon per minute, low head pump. All the repair places retreated in horror at the thought of using a non spec part (probably due to liability).
I happened to be walking through the local big box hardware store and spied a fountain pump. 5 GPM, 10 foot head. A couple of hose fittings and I stuffed it under the dishwasher. Works great. The advantage of this pump is that it has a sealed rotor and pump impeller. No exposed rotating shafts to leak at a seal. And its designed to open up easily for cleaning.
Won't someone please think of the poor, poor corporations stock prices that will wither without endless churn?
Planned obsolescence is your friend! It creates jobs! Never mind the landfills and global warming, we need new yachts, er, you need the latest precious!
/s in case not obvious.
"The worst scoring products were dishwashers (Beko, Bosch, Frigidaire, GE, and LG)..."
Jeff Geerling has just released a video explaining how his brand new Bosch dishwasher won't work unless he creates a user account on Bosch's website, so that the dishwasher can be connected to the cloud...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAsgjKBkKMA [4 min, 9 sec]
So presumably the best option here to to return the dishwasher to the supplier on the grounds that it doesn’t work, claim you don’t have an internet connection, because, err, well WiFi causes cancer, or permanent erections or uncontrolled growth of a third arm. The supplier gets enough returns, which they have to bear to cost of, they might well not bother to sell Bosch equipment again.
Or, if you like the device in question, then spin up one of those disposable email addresses, create a user account with completely fake, made up details, and then see what happens if you block outbound connections from the device.
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