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Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch

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

#81

Post by windowsrookie »

Lammy wrote: post #23
lelandfe wrote: post #4

> For whatever reason (I suspect some sort of storage failure) everyone’s tablets die around the same time. What a fun, completely coincidental quirk that that time appears to fall outside the warranty window, hey?

Very convenient for them and also easy to accomplish by buying the cheapest parts. It's probably eMMC-based and writing a logfile constantly. Source: every Android that has ever died on me in this exact way (four and counting)

I recently had to fix the radio in my car for the same reason. Pioneer installed the firmware onto a cheap SD card that they have hidden inside the radio and requires disassembly to replace. Of course they don't offer the original firmware anywhere, luckily someone online has backed it up and I found the file on reddit.

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

#82

Post by thrtythreeforty »

gstar wrote: post #70

OMFG; I am in Perth, I have the same system, the very same problem and solved it almost the same way and was in the process of writing it up. The system uses RS422, with a base64 encoded AES key in the aaservice binary, and I was contemplating building an esp32 based open source implementation of the controller. That's a crazy weird coincidence.

What the hell, why does a control system need an AES-secured control channel at all? The only possible intention is to make interop more difficult. If they wanted security then they wouldn't use a hard coded AES key.

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

#83

Post by maxerickson »

boardwaalk wrote: post #50
0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #16

Reaffirming my belief that I want nothing “smart” controlling critical infrastructure in my home. What if it were dead of winter, would he have been able to control the heat?

There are thermostats, among other things, that use standard protocols and still work in a “dumb” way if not connected. You just need to do some homework.

The thing in the article is a thermostat-zone controller system, where the tablet is part of the multi-zone controller, and there aren't really separate thermostats.

In the US, it's common that the input to each zone controller is just a open/close contact, so in the worst case you can call for heat by shorting the right wires together.

I have a smart thermostat that I use the provided app to control, but one of the reasons I went with it is that there's also an http server in the device firmware that can be used to control it (so if they totally ruin the app or turn off the server or whatever, there's a way out).

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

#84

Post by bentcorner »

biggc wrote: post #38
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly recommend people who live in hot environments to keep a spare capacitor on hand. Even if you know how to fix it, if the AC dies when your local HVAC supply store is closed (eg not between 7am-7pm Monday through Saturday usually) you’re either stuck paying out the nose to a contractor who has one on hand during emergency hours or you’re sweating it out waiting for the store to open. While they are readily ava…

How big can these capacitors be? Does replacing it require any safety precautions besides turning off the power?

My A/C failed in the same way and with some help from youtube and a multimeter I debugged it to the same problem. Replaced it with this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GSU47TQ

There's a bunch of similar capacitors on Amazon (or your local hardware store). They're about the size of a soda can. I believe the "old" capacitor in your A/C can zap you if you don't ground the lines together when you pull it out, if you watch youtube videos for this repair they'll ground it with a screwdriver or other metal object.

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

#85

Post by userbinator »

nyanpasu64 wrote: post #19

> The original ezone tablet had been running Android 6.0, this Samsung was still on 5.0 but I didnt think that would cause any issues so I got started on doing what was clearly missing: The required apps. All ezone apps are available both on the Advantage Air website and the apkpure site. I only learned of the apkpure site from a post claiming he had been directed to it by a AA tech support person. Redirecting your c…

It's not too dissimilar to Blizzard using BitTorrent for their software updates --- a clever way of avoiding bandwidth costs.

As the sibling comment mentions, they are signed files.

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

#88

Post by gstar »

thrtythreeforty wrote: post #82
gstar wrote: post #70

OMFG; I am in Perth, I have the same system, the very same problem and solved it almost the same way and was in the process of writing it up. The system uses RS422, with a base64 encoded AES key in the aaservice binary, and I was contemplating building an esp32 based open source implementation of the controller. That's a crazy weird coincidence.

What the hell, why does a control system need an AES-secured control channel at all? The only possible intention is to make interop more difficult. If they wanted security then they wouldn't use a hard coded AES key.

It 100% is designed so that you have to use their hardware.

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

#89

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

happyopossum wrote: post #73
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me how, in USA, it’s the only civilized nation I’ve been to where you must have a prescription to purchase contacts and glasses. Everywhere else I’ve been will just sell you whatever magnification you need at the pharmacy. Obviously there is some acceptable line here, but I think the States handles this decently well enough. In Austin where I live you can get what is called a “homeowners permit” in a lot of c…

> Reminds me how, in USA, it’s the only civilized nation I’ve been to where you must have a prescription to purchase contacts and glasses Anecdotally this is far from true. Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and the UK for example require a prescription for anything more complicated than reading glasses. There are plenty of reasons why, mostly summed up by your comment about “whatever magnification you need” - eyegl…

I am not sure about Canadas situation since that is where I used to order my contacts from before I got LASIK several years ago. I don’t recall having to provide a script then. But Mexico and several other European countries I’ve been to (Sweden as an example) it’s absolutely the case you can just walk into the pharmacy and grab the magnification you need with no prescription. I am actually surprised you were able to provide that many counter examples but I’ve never tried to buy contacts in the countries you’ve listed outside of Canada

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

#90

Post by cmcaleer »

Nursie wrote: post #65
bsder wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would probably replace it now while everything is working. You know that tablet is cheap and is going to die. Figure out the procedure to replace it with something that doesn't suck before you've lost your heat/air conditioning.

Right now we're still in warranty but you're right, it's probably a good plan to get the contingency in place before it becomes a problem.

You can also plan it out so it's a neater install if you do the installation now, rather than when it craps out. I know for a fact that if I had to do what this guy is after this quest with no functioning air con, that tablet is dangling out the wall for about 2 years until I bother to look at it again.
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