NO MORE "SMART" APPLIANCES

[SiliconWizard]

I had a car years ago that could be locked without key when you shut the door while (IIRC) pressing the button on the handle. (It was using physical keys and not remote stuff.) While it looked handy, of course one day I had left the car key inside and locked it in this way. Yeah, stupid. 
But hey, this locking feature, as handy as it looked, was also very stupid anyway.

[coppice]

I had a car years ago that could be locked without key when you shut the door while (IIRC) pressing the button on the handle. (It was using physical keys and not remote stuff.) While it looked handy, of course one day I had left the car key inside and locked it in this way. Yeah, stupid. 
But hey, this locking feature, as handy as it looked, was also very stupid anyway.

That used to be the normal behaviour in most makes of car. As you say, only an idiot would use such a feature for day to day driving. Many did, to the extent that a number of people asked why I used the key, and thought they could be clever and show me this special feature. They then had to sheepishly admit to how many times they'd locked themselves out.

[Rick Law]

...
You need the key to lock the doors, so you need to have it in your hands.
...

My post was about some old model car doing auto-locking using a timer unintentionally locking the driver out.  My car auto lock too, not at engine start but only when it reaches 10 to 15mph.  It also auto-locks some time after the keys are pulled out, but I have not figured out how that is triggered.

That said, all the cars I've owned or current own can be locked without keys!

I had a car years ago that could be locked without key when you shut the door while (IIRC) pressing the button on the handle. (It was using physical keys and not remote stuff.) While it looked handy, of course one day I had left the car key inside and locked it in this way. Yeah, stupid. 
But hey, this locking feature, as handy as it looked, was also very stupid anyway.

That used to be the normal behaviour in most makes of car. As you say, only an idiot would use such a feature for day to day driving. Many did, to the extent that a number of people asked why I used the key, and thought they could be clever and show me this special feature. They then had to sheepishly admit to how many times they'd locked themselves out.

That feature however is very useful when your remote has a dead battery.  I had to show my kid how to do that until the battery got changed.

[MrMobodies]

Look what I found:
https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/pv/public_systems/fmyW651718/overview

Enphase Sucks your data and sells it back to you, San Diego, CA
Dear Enphase i'm really disappointed you started charging your customers $250 to get full access to the data from the systems they own! The free monitoring you now offer, MyEnlighten, is really underwhelming! *Where is realtime graph of system output or display of performance on a per panel basis? I'll tell you where Enphase took it away and now makes you pay for it! RIPOFF! I can't believe how useless this MyEnlighten is. System owner has no control over anything , and cant even get the data for the system they paid for! Ohhh but Enphase gets it and SELLS IT BACK TO THE CUSTOMER! Not cool Enphase! Give enlighten manager back to the customers for free!

On the same page:

Smart Solar Design is committed to designing and installing amazing solar for our clients.

*So they took away the real time graph. Well that isn't very "smart" isn't it?
Or do they mean "smart" to mean that they have found a way to manipulate and extort money out their customers to force them into paying more when they feel like it. Customers depends on something important like some readings, they spy on the customers habits, realizes this and starts charging just to view it.

In contrary to what I found some days ago:
https://support.enphase.com/s/question/0D53m00006ySLuRCAW/unimpressed-with-loss-of-local-api-connectivity-to-envoys

Phillips_1325 asked a question. Edited by Gajendra (Moderator) November 19, 2021 at 12:09 PM Unimpressed with loss of local API connectivity to Envoy-S

The recent firmware update to my Envoy S gateway that was pushed by Enphase without my consent has now restricted local API connectivity and broken my home automation setup.

Jeremy Walton (Moderator)
7 months ago
We understand  that certain users want their energy systems connected only locally, and to dispense with our token authentication process. However, our token authentication solution is currently applicable to all locally-connected Envoys , and we stand by this decision which we feel gives an enhanced level of security for such systems, where 1. unauthorized access is largely in the hands of the system-owner. 2. To be clear, we did not move to token-based authentication to obstruct users from obtaining their own data or to somehow profit from that (which we do not).

1: Utter bullshit. It is Enphase doing the unauthorized access not the system owners and they have the cheek to turn around and accuse the owners of it for something that they had access to before.

2: LIAR. So that is exactly what they did.
Please correct me if you think I got the wrong impression?

Surprise surprise:
https://developer.enphase.com/plans

Watt 3. 10 hits per minute, 10,000 hits per month, Enphase attribution required. Free:bullshit:
Kilowatt 50 hits per minute, 25,000 hits per month, Enphase attribution required, Commercial use allowed. $25/mo
Megawatt 100 hits per minute, 300,000 hits per month, Commercial use allowed, $250/mo
Gigawatt, 300 hits per minute, 1,500,000 hits per month, Commercial use allowed, Uptime guarantee .$1,500/mo.

3. 10000/28= 357 hits a day. 357/24= 10 hits an hour (1 hit per every 6 mins)

Interesting, so they also dictate what you can use it for for residential or commercial.
I have got a better uptime guarantee, setup your own datalogger near a system that will allow you to do it.

Reminds me of a post about Google "Cloud" cameras "He buys something and then pays to see it."

[PlainName]

If you've bought something and they've then crippled it, particularly in that way, then the thing is surely not fit for the purpose they sold it for and you should be able to get a refund. Of course, they won't see it like that, but that's why the small claims court exists. For £40 or so they will have no choice but to explain properly why they are not breaking the sale of goods act. (This applies to the vendor that sold it to you, who may not be the manufacturer.)

The downside is that you might then end up ripping it out and having to replace it with something else.

It does look to me very much like they've figured they have a captive market to whom they can dictate whatever the hell they like, because no-one is going to turn off their free power source just because they can't see a nice graph.

[MrMobodies]

I'll be tempted to rip of this "free" power source out and replace it with another "free" power source to get the access I expect without any  interfering/tampering or crippling from the manufacturer.

I never really trusted manufacturers when they make persistent connections especially to things that I know don't need internet and then betray the customers. In the past at least Sony gave (from what I remember) its Playstation owners a choice, No update to preserve "Other os" feature but no access to the Playstation network, or update to keep on using their Playstation network but loose "Other OS". Sonus warned its users that they will brick their controller if they allowed an update to install.

That's sounds like one of the most dumbest things I have ever heard. I would want the datalogging appliance near the inverter connected directly to it not half way around the world through a whole load of finite things.

Alarms bells should be ringing as soon as such a requirement demand is mentioned

[www.MKRD.info]

I hate them all. 

The dishwasher complains if it isn't level enough, or if the water doesn't get hot fast enough, and the stupid soap cup never opens right.  AND WHY DOES IT NEED TO SING TO ME!!!!

The washing machine also complains about water temperature, or a load imbalance.  The motor control wizardry seems to be too weak for the motor it's driving.  AND WHY DOES IT NEED TO SING TO ME!!!

The dryer has hell with the dryness sensor...GAAA!!!  That's it's one flipping job!!!

The refrigerator, oh the refrigerator...I hate it the most!  Two ice makers that never want to make ice, one of which can never decide if crushed or cubed.  The ice makers have heated tubes to keep the water from freezing on its way to the ice maker, and they fail.  IT even spits water from the door sometimes while being told to dispense ice!!  The control system can be deprogrammed down to some fail-safe state with a combination of button presses but can only be restored to full function by replacing the motherboard.  Somebody please tell me why I need a refrigerator with a motherboard???  It annihilates fruits and vegetables in days, I haven't found the setting to stop that.  It always wants its filter changed ($60 each).  It even had to have a door seal changed on the freezer.   Every systems seems to be tied to every other system by an under-powered power supply that is of course part of the motherboard.

I want my appliances dumb.  Real dumb.  Tired of this overpriced, under-performing garbage.

Moved in to wife's apartment. She has clothes washer, dryer, refrigerator, all 20+++ years old. The washer and dryer have those mechanical rotary switch "computer". I have replaced some parts on these machines, and restored them to functional state, as need arose. My wife got upset that I repaired them, because of some SCAM "home protect" warranty she had (now cancelled), allegedly she could get cheapest crap they could find if they could not repair the appliance (referring to the SCAM home protect warranty). I convinced her that if we bought modern HORSECRAP, it would be failing every six months, as I hear all others whine about. So, SOLUTION: buy appliances with mechanical rotary controller. NO MICROCONTROLLER!!!

[Kjelt]

  Bought my Miele washing machine in 2003 with microcontroller still going strong except one issue clothering of the liquid soap pipe lines.
Repairman took 15 minutes just pooring boiling water in the soap box fixed.
Due to that noone washes at 90C programs anymore that is a common cause of malfunction.
Poor boiling water every two months to clean or put your washing liquid in a plastick bowl with the wash.
Most other issues with washing machines, motor, belt, leakage of rubbers.

[AVGresponding]

I always wash towels and bedclothes at 90 anyway.

[jfiresto]

Bought my Miele washing machine in 2003 with microcontroller still going strong except one issue clothering of the liquid soap pipe lines.
Repairman took 15 minutes just pouring boiling water in the soap box fixed.
Due to that no one washes at 90C programs anymore that is a common cause of malfunction.
Poor boiling water every two months to clean or put your washing liquid in a plastic bowl with the wash....

Later Miele machines keep track of your washing and remind you when to run a hot cycle to clean the innards.

[Terry Bites]

Yes. Get of your fat arse and just switch it on. Yes you'll have to remember to buy soap powder. Hang on the fridge has just tweeted me.
WTF
Ooops I need to flush the lav from the otherside of the world.
Of course I do! But I need to be able to sort it when I'm on the plane.
Hive, JFC, I've got a £10 thermostat with a knob and a timer. Its amazing. Trooley 'kin magic!

Not only have people had the wool pulled over their eyes, they expect it to play jingle-bells when they rub up against it.
Bless.

[PlainName]

Having recently changed out dumb immersion heater switch to an IoT smart one, I can say that it's great and I'd do it again. An example of it's usefulness: turn it on to have a bath and, just before I get in, set the timer to turn it off in 30 mins. Sounds stupidly, er, stupid, but prior to this I would either turn it off first, and then suffer the dreaded cold stream if too much water was taken, or intend to turn it off after but usually forget until told off by the missus. And I can decide to have a bath and turn the thing on from downstairs because I forget to do it when I was upstairs.

There are other uses, but something as simple as the above makes a bigger difference than you'd think.

[MrMobodies]

Dunkenemhigh, can yours work off an appliance/controller in house standalone or does it require internet and manufacturer's existence/hosting to function at all times?

[PlainName]

It uses the Tuya SmartLife app, so effectively needs an internet link (might be hackable, but assume not). But should Tuya decide to go tits up we're no worse off since it has a manual control button. Additionally, it has a proper physical switch which is downwind of the smarts, so you can isolate whatever it's controlling without going offline.

https://amzn.eu/d/4xw7m6Z