Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch

blog.hopefullyuseful.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

411–420 of 496 posts

Re: Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch

#411

Post by bityard »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #353
cbanek wrote: post #17

This is when smart gets stupid. I'm a bit worried about this with my nest and other smart devices, but even with normal air conditioners there are a few stupid simple problems that will cost you hundreds of dollars! A couple of weeks ago my AC blower fan stopped working, the compressor would run. I went up and found out that the capacitor was bad, and took a picture of it, buying a replacement. Took about 15 minutes…

Everyone reading this should find out what capacitor they need and buy one off Amazon, they're all I've done this repair myself, it takes maybe <15 minutes and is almost impossible to mess up. Even if you were find spending a couple hundred dollars to have someone come out and do it, you'd still go hours at least without AC. Which depending on the time of year can be miserable.

You have to be careful with Amazon/eBay caps, as they can be cheap chinesium garbage. I look for name-brand caps when I can and try to get them off eBay, Grainger, or Repairclinic.

You don't need the same model number as the original cap, it just has to have the same voltage rating, capacitance, and number of terminals. You might have to get creative with the mounting solution if the new cap is different than the old one in terms of shape or size.

Also, pro-tip: when you replace a the cap in the outside unit, install it upside-down so that water doesn't pool on top of the cap and rust it out from the top.

I have a gas furnace and I also keep a spare ignitor handy. It's not a matter of "if" those go bad, it's "when."

Re: Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch

#412

Post by BizarroLand »

paranoidrobot wrote: post #108

I installed AC in my home in the last year. I specifically went for units that were IR controlled rather than any proprietary smart B.S. For the smarts, I used cheap IR blasters from AliExpress and hooked them up to HomeAssistant. I just mounted cheap Lenovo tablets to the wall to do the room-dashboard thing to allow controlling lights/AC without a phone. These kind of horror stories only serve to reinforce my decisi…

I have a lennox heat pump in my house and the main thermostat controller went out a few months ago.

Lennox uses a proprietary system like this one but the old school controls were visible on the control boards and due to a freak accident when an installer was levelling the floors for new flooring and cut the old wire I had a 5 wire thermostat wire installed instead of the 4 wire it came with.

Perfect.

$50 thermostat, wired it in. Powers on. Fan powers on. A/C condenser? Nada.

Official replacements were $700+, upgrades were $800.

Checked around, found an offerup seller selling the upgraded model for $400. Deal.

Met the guy, he gave strong, "I stole this, don't ask too many questions" vibes at first glance, and I was about to back out of the deal, but something clicked in my gut and I went with it.

Got it home, wired it up. Fan turns on. No AC. @#$@!#$%@#$^

On a hunch, went outside and checked the power for the heat exchanger. I had unplugged it for safety reasons but plugged it back in afterward, but gave it the snuggy test just in case.

Sparks shot out as it re-engaged. It's Alive!

The $50 one might have done the job, but no point in re-rewiring the whole shebang as the money is already spent.

If this system goes down, I'm going mini-split ductless. Forget this noise.

Re: Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch

#413

Post by WhyNotHugo »

zeroflow wrote: post #207
yuye wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems those tablets die not long after the warranty expires. I'm willing to bet money on that it's planned obsolescence, especially considering their "technology keeps moving forward" bullshit.

I'm offering you a different viewpoint: They made the analysis, how long the flash will live and saw, that it will make it out of the warranty period. Thus they did not opt for more durable and expensive flash and/or software change. I've seen this myself before. One process step before release of the control module was a write cycle analysis to make sure the unit will live for at least 10 years (i think) before the…

In other words, _Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity._

This device should not need to write to storage. It has to save settings when the user manually changes them, which can't be more than a few kilobytes per year. Any other writes are likely an oversight on the developer's part.

Re: Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch

#414

Post by rpcope1 »

jdc0589 wrote: post #387
rpcope1 wrote: post #379

Why does an air conditioning system need an Android tablet? Why do people buy this sort of shit?

To start, aircon is an incredible racket in general a lot of the time. Good companies exist, but lots of others, especially in the USA, have been bought up by big holding companies and converted in to profit maximization new-system sales machines. Techs get paid pretty poorly, and helpers get paid worse than mcdonalds/target in a lot of areas. There's not much financial incentive for someone to get really good at und…

This is why I chose to replace my basic forced air gas furnace and basic 16 seer single speed single stage A/C unit with the same thing. Every part on these is relatively simple, largely serviceable and every parts house coming and going will have something that fits. I disagree with others that any of the more fancy stuff is any more reliable (and Dad worked as an HVAC master tech for a long time and also agrees with this) and I can't believe people pay for more complicated stuff when so far as I have ever seen it's 90%+ snake oil and drives the initial price and the cost of repairs up astronomically, and largely cools or heats the house all the same. I am well aware that Bryant, Lennox, Trane, Mitsubishi and everyone else coming and going has got the more complicated garbage that talks something more complicated, I just really don't get why you'd double or more the cost of things when you can get something that just works for less. I also don't understand the obsession with "smart" controls on any residential single family home when a basic programmable thermostat already does basically everything.

I'm sure as everyone piles onto the mini-split hype train, there's going to be even more fleecing of homeowners for maybe middling quality hardware and installs. Someone (either the HVAC company owners or the hardware manufacturers or maybe both) is making an absolute killing on this; maybe it's time for a career change.

Re: Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch

#415

Post by glitcher »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #319
hunter2_ wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an easy hack for the contact lens (and maybe glasses?) situation. There is a consumer protection law meant to ensure eye doctors can't stop you from using any retailer you want (otherwise they'd essentially make themselves your retailer), and it works like this: You place an order with the retailer (online retailers typically allow you to simply type in your prescription values when adding lenses to your onli…

I purchase my glasses from Zenni, and I don't believe I've ever had to give them the name of my doctor. On the other hand, maybe I typed that in when I was first signing up two decades ago, and the optometrist I gave them has long since gone out of business?

I also order from Zenni and have never had to provide my doctor's info. They happily create lenses with whatever prescription I type in, and for me personally it usually takes a couple years for it to change enough to warrant new glasses. (I still get an exam annually)

Re: Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch

#416

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

audunw wrote: post #220
zeroflow wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm offering you a different viewpoint: They made the analysis, how long the flash will live and saw, that it will make it out of the warranty period. Thus they did not opt for more durable and expensive flash and/or software change. I've seen this myself before. One process step before release of the control module was a write cycle analysis to make sure the unit will live for at least 10 years (i think) before the…

You're both missing one of the more likely explanation.. that nobody gave much thought about how long the device would last. "It's solid state electronics, it'll probably outlast the warranty anyway".. I can imagine an aircon company puts a lot of effort into analyzing the air-conditioning unit itself to make sure it lasts at least as long as the warranty, with good margin. But I can totally see them winging it on an…

> I don't think actual malicious planned obsolescence is as prevalent as many believe.

I've been saying this for a while.

Consumers are insanely price-sensitive while also short-sighted. They'll buy a $20 blender that will die in a year rather than the $100 blender that will last a lifetime.

Manufacturers know this and there's a race to the bottom on pricing. To get pricing as low as possible, quality and durability take a hit.

Re: Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch

#417

Post by tracker1 »

raxxorraxor wrote: post #367
Liquix wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so if the company has established they're willing to go that far to lock customers into their ecosystem and milk for $$$... it's not inconceivable that they also engineered (or chose not to fix) the cheap flash + chatty logging hardware failure for the same purpose.

I would switch brands instantly. This is a company that has no customer orientation and I have never seen a company recover from that (they might have financial success, but they will never create good products again). They probably will sell you expensive crap. This time the device was fixable, but the manufacturer worked against the user on that.

So, you'd rather spend $12k+ to replace the entire system just to spite the manufacturer over making a minor patch to support a new tablet yourself?

Re: Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch

#419

Post by tracker1 »

consteval wrote: post #347
yurishimo wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they moved? In my experience, IKEA furniture that isn't solid wood (more and more of it is heading that direction to their credit) tends to not make it more than 1 move. I just got done (mostly) reassembling a wardrobe. It's a bit more wobbly around the edges. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't put the shelves back in the exact spots (wasn't thinking and didn't label them during disassembly) or if it's somet…

This "trend" of furniture being made of composite materials makes no sense to me. They're obviously so much weaker. I've had nightstands that sway like a tree in the summer breeze. Furniture today though doesn't feel much cheaper. Even the "luxury" brands these days, who charge big bucks, sneak in composite.

It depends, a lot of composite materials are actually stronger than just solid wood, while being lighter and easier to move. Sometimes there are too many shortcuts though.

Wood veneer over cheaper materials has been common for over a century at this point though.

Re: Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch

#420

Post by xvector »

quickthrowman wrote: post #364
xvector wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. This is what happens when a market is so small they can overcharge for terrible technology. I figure a couple of SWEs could make a startup that completely disrupts these industries with objectively superior technology.

Technology doesn’t matter, it’s all about relationships between dealers and manufacturers (or dealer/distributor/manufacturer, I am unfamiliar with this particular industry.) That holds true both for HVAC and pool equipment (and fire alarm systems, irrigation, etc etc) If you can’t sell your product to the dealers because there in bed with the incumbents and the incumbent products generate service call work for the d…

You offer direct to consumer sales and cut out the dealer-distributor corruption pipeline - like Tesla, Nest, etc.
Post reply on HN