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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

#271

Post by lmns »

hanche wrote: post #187
catmanjan wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience all usb c chargers are less reliable than barrel connectors, probably because of the microprocessors required for the handshake

I have a food thermometer with a builtin rechargeable battery. It charges via usb-c, but so far I have not managed to charge it from a usb-c charger. It will only charge with the supplied usb-a to usb-c cable. I would love to understand why. But at least, they had the good sense to not supply their own charger.

Have you tried a different USB-A charger? Some smaller devices have problems with USB-C to USB-C. I don't know why this is the case, though. It's just something I have observed with different devices.

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

#272

Post by yetanotherloser »

wccrawford wrote: post #266
yetanotherloser wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised so many people's experience of LED bulbs is short lifetime. Most of the LED bulbs I ever bought have lasted many, many years. I only had one type ever fail and those looked clearly inferior in build to all the other types. ("free" with some light fittings, not my choice). Took one of those apart, no capacitors in the design any more but dodgy wire connections that creep with the hot-cold on-off cycle in…

I've got a lot of different brands of LED light bulbs and I think maybe one has "burned out" over the years. I have to wonder if maybe the power in their house is less "clean" than it should be, or if their area has a lot of power spikes or brownouts and they just don't realize it.

That's an interesting possibility I hadn't considered. I don't really have a handle on how robust these things innately are but I'm sure there is no room in the average bulb's bill of materials for any special handling for rough power.

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

#273

Post by sokoloff »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #249
vladvasiliu wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We would, since I'd argue most people (hence, "the market") find having sealed batteries "acceptable", or, at least, not reason enough to not buy the product. Most of the people I know replace their phones often enough that it doesn't seem to be a problem, and usually the battery isn't the issue. They mostly break them / get stolen / they just want the new shiny.

Thep problem with Market Extremists, is they they are so high on their own supply, they do not notice when they make statements that outright contradict the real world we live in. They live in a separate fantasy land, just like communists do. Fist falsifiable statement about e-waste policies - if it is so easy to read a company's e-waste policy, could you tell me which companies had policies that said "we will ship t…

Flashlights with replaceable batteries are readily available (and almost surely dominate the flashlight market). If that’s true, anyone buying a flashlight with a non-replaceable battery has genuinely determined it’s acceptable (to include irrelevant) for their use case.

Every smartphone I’m aware of has had a replaceable battery and I’ve personally done replacements on about 2/3 of them. (I tend to buy 2 year old phones at a significant discount to original cost, meaning I replace more batteries than someone who buys new and upgrades every one to two years.)

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

#274

Post by nine_k »

gsich wrote: post #258
intothemild wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't get this. USB-C can on do the following on the same cable at the same time 1. Charge 2. Data 3. Video Your power cable can 1. Charge How is that "orders of magnitude" worse?

You lose on port if you only charge.

If you badly run out of ports, USB hubs with power pass-through are very much a thing.

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

#275

Post by totetsu »

intothemild wrote: post #222
causality0 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I hate the trend of only charging over type-c. It's an order of magnitude less robust and far more prone to falling out than, say, a ThinkPad connector. Having the option is nice but I despise having to babysit my $100 Asus charger lest I stomp it flat by accident.

I really don't get this. USB-C can on do the following on the same cable at the same time 1. Charge 2. Data 3. Video Your power cable can 1. Charge How is that "orders of magnitude" worse?

If your usbc power cable shorts it's more likely to kill your precious external hard drive plugged in nextdoor.

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

#276

Post by Twisell »

fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #93
deathanatos wrote: post #87

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.

That is actually not so new if I remember correctly this model begun with the 2016 USB-C models. Glad they kept it this way while reintroducing the magsafe connector for "brick-to-laptop".

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

#277

Post by theshrike79 »

guerby wrote: post #115
deathanatos wrote: post #87

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…

Same experience here. That's why my current laptop is a https://frame.work - USB-C to USB-C adapters means that the part that will fail is changeable - All four USB-C are able to charge the laptop. And the power brick also has detachable USB-C AND power cord cable. (And just for fun I ordered an upgrade to the motherboard, will use the old motherboard as always on PC in my home)

I'm seriously thinking about getting a Framework as my next laptop.

...if they would sell me one.

The tipping point was an LTT vid where he changed the motherboard on his laptop to a 12th gen one AND used the old motherboard with a 3D printed case to make a tiny desktop computer.

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

#278

Post by MichaelZuo »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #218
clumsysmurf wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but some "known brands" like Vapcell just re-wrap something else (and they can change the underlying cell at any time, without you knowing where it actually came from). For example, the Vapcell G50 I purchased a year ago is actually ... a Sumsung SDI 50G. Whether that still holds today is unknown. Some people have had more recessed terminals, which would hint at Samsung 50E. Why do they do this? Because many…

> Why do they do this? Because many high quality manufacturers (Samsung, LG) don't approve their cells for usage in vaping devices Interesting. In France, there's a vape shop that advertises batteries as Samsung, Sony, etc. For instance: https://www.lepetitvapoteur.com/en/batteries/5185-samsung-30... Although, I do have a pair of these in front of me right now, bought a few years ago, and I can't find any mention of…

Seems like a shady vape shop then if they still advertise it.

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

#279

Post by nine_k »

wodenokoto wrote: post #265
deathanatos wrote: post #87

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…

I’ve read that LED light bulbs have the same problem. The LED will easily last 25 years, as written on the box, but the electronics that power the LED won’t. I haven’t owned an LED bulb long enough to see this myself, so take it with a grain of salt.

Buying a higher-price bulb with an adequate radiator helps.

I've lost 75% (3 out of 4) cheap LED bulbs to electronics overheating issues, withing a year.

I've lost 16% (2 out of 12) expensive LED lamps to overheating, within 3 years. I'll use the extracted LEDs somewhere.

I've lost 0% of LED lamps in my fridge to overheating in nearly 7 years :)

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

#280

Post by cmeacham98 »

gsich wrote: post #258
intothemild wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't get this. USB-C can on do the following on the same cable at the same time 1. Charge 2. Data 3. Video Your power cable can 1. Charge How is that "orders of magnitude" worse?

You lose on port if you only charge.

Let me provide an alternative way of thinking about it: you _gain_ one port when you're not charging.

If we replaced the usb-c charging port with a normal charging port you would permanently lose it.

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