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What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

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Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#101

Post by kelnos »

6SixTy wrote: post #91
Etheryte wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric cars are essentially black boxes. When you take it apart, you have largely no idea what any of the chips do, even if you chase down what they're connected to. Is this the infotainment system or is it the infotainment system and a data gathering system that sends all my data off seas? There's no way to know. Old cars don't have that problem. Here's an engine, here's a gearbox, add a radio if you'd like, but b…

Problem with gathering data off cars is that it's really not that effective vs your phone. A car realistically just sits around doing nothing 80% of the time, while a phone is with you 24/7, likely powered 24/7, and already has telemetry mechanisms built in. An old car with someone using a phone probably still collects the same data as you assert. And an EV without smarts is legitimately just a golf cart.

In theory I can disable most if not all of the telemetry coming out of my phone, though. I can also choose to leave my phone at home, knowing that it's likely there's still something on it that's collecting data on my movements, even if I've been careful about disabling and uninstalling things.

But the car is largely a black box when it comes to its electronics, and if I need to drive the car somewhere, I can't leave the black boxes at home; they come with me wherever I go.

> And an EV without smarts is legitimately just a golf cart.

Sounds fine to me.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#102

Post by m3galinux »

Whoever bought my old Honda Fit is asking the same question right now; I installed a button in about the same place. They'll have fun figuring that one out. Honda Fit's AC is designed a lot more for fuel efficiency than effectiveness. So I added a resistor parallel to AC temperature sensor (and the switch inline) which makes the system think it's warmer than it really is, so it cools more. But with the risk of allowing the coil to freeze up. I called it the "AC Boost Switch".

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#103

Post by skinkestek »

rcpt wrote: post #94
salawat wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your e-bike shouldn't be limited. You should get on that.

You're right. Because my e-bike is of negligible danger to others. But cars kill tens of thousands every year. Speed limits and red lights being on the honor system isn't working. Luckily technology, like the little GPS tracker in the article, can fix it.

Most things that transfer power from individuals to future governments is a clear no from me.

I am happy with our current government.

But reading history I have realized that the scariest thing that is is powerful governments.

Honor and trust work extremely well: anyone of us can create enormous caos if we want to but most of us don't so it doesn't happen.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#104

Post by brailsafe »

6SixTy wrote: post #91
Etheryte wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric cars are essentially black boxes. When you take it apart, you have largely no idea what any of the chips do, even if you chase down what they're connected to. Is this the infotainment system or is it the infotainment system and a data gathering system that sends all my data off seas? There's no way to know. Old cars don't have that problem. Here's an engine, here's a gearbox, add a radio if you'd like, but b…

Problem with gathering data off cars is that it's really not that effective vs your phone. A car realistically just sits around doing nothing 80% of the time, while a phone is with you 24/7, likely powered 24/7, and already has telemetry mechanisms built in. An old car with someone using a phone probably still collects the same data as you assert. And an EV without smarts is legitimately just a golf cart.

> A car realistically just sits around doing nothing 80% of the time

A bit besides the point, but isn't it wild how inherently wasteful personal cars are? Every time the thought crosses my mind to get another one, if I don't stop at the cost, I stop at the fact that I'll have this giant chunk of metal sitting idle on the street or somewhere else nearly all the time. It'd be useful in an extreme minority of cases (for me), but I/we pay for it all the time by allocating quite a lot of space and money to them. The tires, the insurance, taxes, fuel, charging stations, driveways, parking garages, natural resources, air quality, ambient noise, senseless deaths, it's crazy. Granted, some aren't a result of idle existence, but c'mon.

Renting an arbitrary car periodically ends up being the most tolerable option. A small temporary expense when it's really needed or desired, and it's enough to remind me of the good and bad bits.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#105

Post by Ductapemaster »

m3galinux wrote: post #102

Whoever bought my old Honda Fit is asking the same question right now; I installed a button in about the same place. They'll have fun figuring that one out. Honda Fit's AC is designed a lot more for fuel efficiency than effectiveness. So I added a resistor parallel to AC temperature sensor (and the switch inline) which makes the system think it's warmer than it really is, so it cools more. But with the risk of allowi…

As a former Fit owner, I wish I had thought of this! The AC was really bad. We did a lot of road trips and it really struggled out on the long desert highway stretches.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#106

Post by bentcorner »

m3galinux wrote: post #102

Whoever bought my old Honda Fit is asking the same question right now; I installed a button in about the same place. They'll have fun figuring that one out. Honda Fit's AC is designed a lot more for fuel efficiency than effectiveness. So I added a resistor parallel to AC temperature sensor (and the switch inline) which makes the system think it's warmer than it really is, so it cools more. But with the risk of allowi…

I'm not doubting your solution but at the same time would turning down the desired temperature in the car achieve the same goal?

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#107

Post by justinclift »

rcpt wrote: post #94
salawat wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your e-bike shouldn't be limited. You should get on that.

You're right. Because my e-bike is of negligible danger to others. But cars kill tens of thousands every year. Speed limits and red lights being on the honor system isn't working. Luckily technology, like the little GPS tracker in the article, can fix it.

Pity about the downsides of the technologies you mention though. :(

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#108

Post by justinclift »

aeturnum wrote: post #96
hoistbypetard wrote: post #10

> “can I get free data from the SIM card embedded in the device that I now technically own?” That seems like the next-most-interesting question now that you've determined what the device is. Possibly followed closely by "can I use that free-to-me data in a fun way that might teach the people who installed the SIM to deactivate their devices when they sell them?" i.e. Could you send and receive enough on the connectio…

I work for a company that uses sensors with some kind of 4G connection. I don't know the details but I did ask our sensor guys what would happen if someone removed the SIM card (or whatever it is) and started using data. My recollection is that locking down those SIM cards is the responsibility of the sensor maker. We have an agreement to pay for all legitimate traffic at a contractual rate, but the device manufactur…

> they could charge you with a crime

Doubt it. You'd be using a device you bought and now own, that didn't come with any kind of agreement/contract/etc to limit your usage. :)

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#109

Post by skinkestek »

madaxe_again wrote: post #92
JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> given them a reasonable amount of time (maybe a couple months) to collect their property Why waste your own time with this? If it's your house, you own everything inside. I would put all the cameras in the trash and forget about it.

Not so. My mother bought a house in France in 1988. The previous owners had a mountain of stuff in the barn that they would come collect “soon”. 25 years passed. My mother started variously selling and disposing of their slowly rotting crap that they evidently were never going to collect, as she wanted to fix the structural issues with the barn, and their stuff was in the way, as it literally filled the entire ground…

> In Europe, it’s also common for you to buy a place, and then when you move in, you find the vendor has taken all of the wiring and plumbing with them.

This is the first time I hwar of this.

At least in Norway the rule is that everything that is built in stays.

So table, chairs, TV, washing machine, dryer etc goes, but built in appliances and built in place furniture stays.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#110

Post by justinclift »

Xenoamorphous wrote: post #24
TomK32 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even though the SIM was part of the car they bought, the SIM's contract is not in their name which means using the contract would be theft.

This can be difficult to grasp. I bought an aparment 3.5 years ago and it had an alarm installed. I called the security company to transfer ownership but that couldn’t be done without authorisation from the previous owner, which probably makes sense. The problem is, they were unreachable, and I was living on a house that I now owned, and which had cameras the previous owner could take pics from at any time . My patie…

> they owned them

Doesn't mean they need to be kept in their current location though. You're entirely within your rights to remove them and leave them in a safe place for them to retrieve at their leisure.

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