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Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

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Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#241

Post by stavros »

Epskampie wrote: post #227
meindnoch wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you look inside the old battery? It may well be just a bunch of 18650 cells with some electronics in a plastic case. Just desolder the old cells and solder on new ones. I did the same for my wife's cordless vacuum, and it works better than new, because the new cells are about 2x the capacity of the originals.

This is only good advice if you're good at soldering and know details about cells like which ones have in-built protection. Otherwise you're just creating a fire hazard.

Luckily, I do happen to know that stuff, so I used the existing board with brand new 18650 cells. Unfortunately, the board seemed to brick itself when it lost power, so the vacuum kept complaining the battery wasn't kosher.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#242

Post by AlecSchueler »

mlrtime wrote: post #204
aurareturn wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is complacency or is China just accelerating? It's not surprising that China wins in these things. Just go to Shenzhen. Hardware designers, parts, machines that make the parts, factories, etc. are all within driving distance. You can't compete unless you also have offices there, hire Chinese workers, compete in China. American companies need to start designing in China, not just made in China. Ford themselves said…

And then the Chinese end up stealing any actual IP that may get the US company ahead by being there. Also, is it still difficult to bring profits back to the US? Damn'd if you do, dam'd if you don't.

Why do American companies have to rely on artificial protections like IP in order to compete? Don't forget it's only "stealing" if you're culturally inclined to see IP as actual property, whereas in China the idea has long been that ideas are common good, even predating Marxism.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#243

Post by chairmanwow1 »

tim333 wrote: post #239
aurareturn wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is complacency or is China just accelerating? It's not surprising that China wins in these things. Just go to Shenzhen. Hardware designers, parts, machines that make the parts, factories, etc. are all within driving distance. You can't compete unless you also have offices there, hire Chinese workers, compete in China. American companies need to start designing in China, not just made in China. Ford themselves said…

China's definitely much more advanced that it was twenty years ago. The science, design etc. was much worse than the west, now it's on par or sometimes ahead.

New Chinese phones and cars are incredible.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#244

Post by gloriadolly305 »

chairmanwow1 wrote: post #243
tim333 wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China's definitely much more advanced that it was twenty years ago. The science, design etc. was much worse than the west, now it's on par or sometimes ahead.

New Chinese phones and cars are incredible.

[dead]

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#245

Post by goodpoint »

embedding-shape wrote: post #216
goodpoint wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

valetudo is just a hack, not a firmware replacement, and could be blocked by a firmware update from the OEM plus it can void your warranty

> plus it can void your warranty Unless you happen to live in a jurisdiction that care more about users than companies, like the EU. The manufacturer would have to prove that the new custom firmware is actually the cause of the damage, otherwise they need to fulfill the warranty guarantee regardless of what firmware you run.

Good luck proving that changing the firmware is not voiding a warranty.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#246

Post by [deleted] »

mlrtime wrote: post #204
aurareturn wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is complacency or is China just accelerating? It's not surprising that China wins in these things. Just go to Shenzhen. Hardware designers, parts, machines that make the parts, factories, etc. are all within driving distance. You can't compete unless you also have offices there, hire Chinese workers, compete in China. American companies need to start designing in China, not just made in China. Ford themselves said…

And then the Chinese end up stealing any actual IP that may get the US company ahead by being there. Also, is it still difficult to bring profits back to the US? Damn'd if you do, dam'd if you don't.

[deleted]

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#247

Post by embedding-shape »

goodpoint wrote: post #245
embedding-shape wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> plus it can void your warranty Unless you happen to live in a jurisdiction that care more about users than companies, like the EU. The manufacturer would have to prove that the new custom firmware is actually the cause of the damage, otherwise they need to fulfill the warranty guarantee regardless of what firmware you run.

Good luck proving that changing the firmware is not voiding a warranty.

> Good luck proving that changing the firmware is not voiding a warranty.

You're thinking about it the wrong way around. The manufacturer has to prove that the custom firmware is the reason it broke, you don't have to prove anything. Username not accurate.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#248

Post by Bayart »

Epskampie wrote: post #227
meindnoch wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you look inside the old battery? It may well be just a bunch of 18650 cells with some electronics in a plastic case. Just desolder the old cells and solder on new ones. I did the same for my wife's cordless vacuum, and it works better than new, because the new cells are about 2x the capacity of the originals.

This is only good advice if you're good at soldering and know details about cells like which ones have in-built protection. Otherwise you're just creating a fire hazard.

I don't think you'll ever find a battery pack using cells with integrated low-voltage protection, if that's what you're referring to. All that stuff is managed by the BMS. What you should be on the look-out for is the cell's operating range, continuous and max power. Personally I use buy VT6's in bulk and never think about any of that.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#249

Post by cogman10 »

miniwark wrote: post #217
meindnoch wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you look inside the old battery? It may well be just a bunch of 18650 cells with some electronics in a plastic case. Just desolder the old cells and solder on new ones. I did the same for my wife's cordless vacuum, and it works better than new, because the new cells are about 2x the capacity of the originals.

Lets go with the usual reminder: de-soldering / soldering Li-ion cells can be super dangerous. With a bit too much of heat it can fire or even explode...

It doesn't quite explode. Instead it shoots out a super hot flame that is nearly impossible to put out.

Imagine having a blowtouch that you can't extinguish or touch which is likely rolling around.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#250

Post by raxxorraxor »

haritha-j wrote: post #207
closewith wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most techies under estimate how little normal folks care about privacy, cybersecurity and stuff like that. Most techies vastly overestimate how much money most people have available for nice-to-haves like privacy, cybersecurity and stuff like that.

this. Thank goodness i'm a broke phd student.

Maybe I should buy some broke phd students for vacuuming then. Perhaps take their phones while they work, so that they aren't connected to the cloud.
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