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Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

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Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#91

It's not even just batteries. Every laptop I've ever owned comes with a AC to DC converter. Every laptop I've ever owned has outlived that AC-to-DC converter. Every converter that has failed has failed in exactly the same way: the plug/cord connection at the laptop end becomes unreliable. And every single one of them, across a range of manufacturers, has had the cord not be detachable from the brick. So what could ha…

Thankfully USB-C charging on my laptops has made that less of an issue. Of course the good chargers are like $80 instead but still.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#92

Sadly, I found many other devices are also designed to become trash. The battery in my Philips Sonicare toothbrush not only can’t be replaced — it’s fixed so firmly inside that the manual says you have to take a hammer to it just to throw it away (because batteries can cause trash fires). “The battery is firmly placed, in a water-resistant handle, to ensure safety, durability, longevity and robust performance,” says…

It's bizarre to me that P&G (Oral-B) seemed to have figured this out where Philips couldn't. Granted the batteries still aren't user-replaceable, but their manual at least doesn't tell you that you have to be a "qualified professional" to safely dispose of a toothbrush, and battery removal is a lot more straightforward than requiring a hammer. If you have to be a qualified professional to ensure that a brush is dispo…

Braun seem to have the charging circuitry and battery sizing perfected now, my toothbrush is approaching 10 years old now and still works like new.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#93

It's not even just batteries. Every laptop I've ever owned comes with a AC to DC converter. Every laptop I've ever owned has outlived that AC-to-DC converter. Every converter that has failed has failed in exactly the same way: the plug/cord connection at the laptop end becomes unreliable. And every single one of them, across a range of manufacturers, has had the cord not be detachable from the brick. So what could ha…

Recent Macs have cords that come in three parts: brick-to-plug, brick, brick-to-laptop. It’s one of my favorite changes in the newer MacBook models.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#94

"Dustbuster" type vacuums, internal unreplaceable batteries that will maybe last two years before they won't hold a charge. Just buy a mini shopvac with an extension cord.

Dyson are the worst, their BMS is terrible and just disables the pack with minimal cell voltage variation.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#95
post #12

At this point, I only buy Apple products because of inertia. Give me an out-of-the-box Linux laptop that's as easy to use and that supports the software I need for my work, and give me a way to port over all of my cloud stuff, and I'm done with Apple forever. They're trading on the reputation they earned decades ago. This said, the problem isn't limited to one company. It's how capitalism works. In order to succeed,…

> They're trading on the reputation they earned decades ago.

This is obviously not true. People love the products Apple makes - it's really that simple.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#96
post #90

It's not even just batteries. Every laptop I've ever owned comes with a AC to DC converter. Every laptop I've ever owned has outlived that AC-to-DC converter. Every converter that has failed has failed in exactly the same way: the plug/cord connection at the laptop end becomes unreliable. And every single one of them, across a range of manufacturers, has had the cord not be detachable from the brick. So what could ha…

> But lo and behold: the brick-to-wall cord is detachable. And funny that, that one never breaks… Yup. But that shows they're willing to pretend to be recyclable...

It’s easier and simpler to supply the country specific brick-to-wall cable (either IEC 60320 or IEC C13 to local) than it is to manufacture county specific power bricks.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#97
How about we mandate user replaceable batteries (with some kind of wording to make it easy enough for normal humans with no glue and connectors that don't snap easily). Once upon a time I had an HTC Evo 4G that I could do this with.

Mandating that they admit the death date seems to be baking in some level of stockholm syndrome.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#98

How about we mandate user replaceable batteries (with some kind of wording to make it easy enough for normal humans with no glue and connectors that don't snap easily). Once upon a time I had an HTC Evo 4G that I could do this with. Mandating that they admit the death date seems to be baking in some level of stockholm syndrome.

id prefer they didn’t

for now society has voted with their dollars to support my preferences

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#99
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was wondering what these random numbers were, I expected a product number from a manufacturer. Instead: > An 18650 Battery is a lithium-ion rechargeable battery. The first 4 digits of the designation “18650” indicate the physical dimensions while the 5 th digit indicates it is a cylinder cell. The standard 18650 battery is 18mm around by 65mm long. (copied from curl because that page crashed the firefox tab, though I…

It’s great, it’s almost a standard. Many different manufactures and the only commonality is usually the voltage. 18650 is so popular it’s used in some teslas, while newer ones use 21700

I’ve also heard they’re going to use 4680 cells for their newer batteries.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#100
post #83
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As people get richer, they can and will afford better food, including from suppliers with better reputation. As people get richer, they also often tend to demand stricter regulation, but that doesn't necessarily mean the regulation is the driving factor. The Chinese market for eg baby formula might be a good example. On average, baby formula consumed in China today is less dodgy than it was in the past. A big part of…

>The Chinese market for eg baby formula might be a good example Um, what? The Chinese government executed people over adulterations of products. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna28... Sorry for the Amp link

It might seem as if regulations did the change because the gov cares about its people, but it might be just the market working. There were alternatives, the economy suffered from people choosing Australian imports and losing trust in local products (and the gov, to a degree). Companies may have realized they shot themselves in the foot and already stopped putting asbestos in baby formula, but someone had to take the fall to restore optics.
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