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Rant Thread - What really grinds your gears?

Anything with the words 'Made in China' emblazoned on it. Especially the two most commonly-failed items in my line of work. Since 2010 I've been a golf car mechanic and work for a place here called Tony's Golf Carts and Parts. Since a few years ago, an electric golf cart charger went from being repairable and reliable, and made in USA to a pile of chinesium that weighs nothing. There's a mountain of dead PowerWise QE chargers, among others, that look like this:

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It's supposed to be a 48V DC battery charger, only it's only got a single flashing LED and is not repairable, only disposable. Worse yet, all the other OEMs have come up with their own garbage similar to this. Some even having Bluetooth for a crazy reason.

Then there's the golf car I hate the most. It came out in 2008 and sadly is not only the most popular, but also the most failure prone. It's a drive-by-wire system that requires a college electrical engineering degree to work on. It's called the EZGO RXV.

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Whoever thought making a simple vehicle designed to do a simple thing so needlessly complicated needs to have their head examined. Just last week three came in with the same problem, and one that's the most common. The infamous failed Motor Brake. I'm serious. this golf car has all of its braking done with this pile of garbage.

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I don't want to live in this era anymore....
 
If they didn't break, would you still have employment? What grinds my gears is how poorly parts are designed nowadays. I don't like but understand the engineered failure point of the part, but why is the design such that it's near impossible to remove and replace?
 
Actually we used to be able to repair those older chargers before the modern crap came out. Now we have to sell folks another charger entirely that is guaranteed to fail in another year or two. In fact, the fact that it is designed to fail is hurting our business. It's going from replacing $10 relays and resistors to now $500 for a new charger and after a few times people get quite miffed.

Apparently small businesses are still negatively impacted by selling junk like all of 'em used to be if they sold junk in the '60s. Sadly there ain't nothing we can do as that's the direction everything is going towards and no way back to the good times.

The reason a PowerWise QE can't be repaired is because inside it's all epoxied internally. The Yamahas use a design with two large capacitors next to a heat sink and FETs that get hot and swell, and those particular capacitors can't be sourced (intentionally? you decide). Club Cars use a charger called an ERIC that is entirely sealed, as in no access door or removable panel. It's one large heat sink with three LEDs on it.

A battery charger isn't even supposed to be so complicated. It's design is simple--a transformer, ammeter, overload fuse and a bridge rectifier. Why make it so complicated anyway? It's not like the design wasn't already minimalist, now they overengineer it to do things it shouldn't do and make it non-repairable to boot. Post Pandemic everyone got super cheap as well and that's not helping. Try to explain to the many who fall in love with the RXV only to have them come back with $1200 repairs after the warranty expires? I'd love to be able to sell golf cars with resistors and a few batteries. They just don't make 'em that way anymore.
 
Well a small grind my gears, how come cupcakes do have an extra sticky to their paper and meanwhile the world just tosses them away, I have spend years learning to devour that paper with the cupcake left over remains, and I am not kidding,, it has to be those thin paper ones instead of tin foil ones, call me insane but still why does the cook have to have them inside each cupcake wrapper and leave you about that edge in each cupcake and other things like that, when you feel like you are not done devouring it though.. Honestly someone worked hard on it.
 
When the heat pump system first came out many were hybrids, relays, contactors, and a small circuit board. They progressed to a main circuit board inside and a small circuit board outside. They are self diagnosing as well with no user serviceable parts and no technician serviceable parts !

I went to a call one day and the lady had a top of the line Lennox condensing unit that had a self diagnostic board. One flash of the led means this, two flashes means that, yada yada yada.

If the led is constant on and not flashing replaced the main board !

So, I go in and tell the customer I can not fix it, it needs a new circuit board.

Customer : well what is wrong with it ?

me : I don't know

Customer : well how do you know it needs a new board ?

me : cause it told me so.

Customer : well can't you fix the board ?

me : No, I can only replace it

Customer : I paid alot of money for that thing.

me : Yup !

Customer is not only mad but hot cause the a/c don't work and while possessing a dozen a/c certifications, including a heat pump technician cert, I look like a dumb azz ....


facepalm1
 
^^this^^ is exactly the kind of discussion we have with customers over those Powerwise QE and other non-repairable chargers. It's really starting to frustrate me as well.
 
Samsung!

OK, let's be more specific: I've been considering joining the rest of the world and getting some Bluetooth headphones. And doing my research I discovered that, unlike say Google or Sony, Samsung don't support the widely-used high-end codecs (aptx-hd, aptx-adaptive) but do include their own proprietary "hi-fi" codec that only works with Samsung headphones.

Honestly Samsung, if I wanted that sort of weapons-grade BS I'd have bought an Apple phone...
 
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So when plugging in my Moto edge plus, in windows,and inside the DNLA sever too shows up on the tree:

Trash around six thousand photos, how can I clear out that massive trash bin?
 
Hadron said:
Samsung!

OK, let's be more specific: I've been considering joining the rest of the world and getting some Bluetooth headphones. And doing my research I discovered that, unlike say Google or Sony, Samsung don't support the widely-used high-end codecs (aptx-hd, aptx-adaptive) but do include their own proprietary "hi-fi" codec that only works with Samsung headphones.

Honestly Samsung, if I wanted that sort of weapons-grade BS I'd have bought an Apple phone...
Click to expand...

I thought Samsung did support the aptX. Mainly because I've got a pair of Sony BT headphones, and my Note20 Ultra does suppport Sony's own LDAC "high-end" codec, my Samsung phone also supports aptX when used with these Sony headphones.

I believe iPhones only support SBC and AAC for BT codecs.

For the past two years I've only been using Bluetooth headphones and speakers with my Note20, mainly because it lacks a headphone jack. Usually when I'm out and about, I'm just using my Huawei Freebuds 4e, which are AAC or SBC only, unless used with a Huawei or Honor phone, then they support Huawei's own proprietary "high-end" codec, L2HC.
 
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Someone hacked into my fb.
I spend hours just reading and researching on how to get it back,
but I am able to download everything through IG as it is connected with that profile..
call me crazy.. But seem like I have a slight upper hand.
 
Hadron said:
Basic aptX, yes, but not the higher-performance versions (aptX HD and aptX Adaptive)
Click to expand...

Going by Qualcomm's website, apparently there's only a select few phones that actually do support aptX HD. A couple of Kyoceras and Sharps, which are probably only available in Japan, one Motorola, two Sonys, and a Vivo that's only available in China.

Qualcomm® aptX™ HD | High Resolution Audio Technology

Discover how Qualcomm® aptX™ HD audio enables Bluetooth wireless devices to deliver high-resolution audio with no compromise on quality or sound distortion.
www.aptx.com www.aptx.com

Presumably Qualcomm have kept their aptX HD codec proprietary, and is only available to manufacturers who cough up the $$$. Anything else can only have the basic aptX.
 
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That list is out of date, e.g. I know Pixels support them. And for sure Qualcomm charge, but if Samsung claim to be leaders but don't support codecs used by many mid to high end headphones then they aren't serious.

However my real complaint is that they do include proprietary codecs that only work with their own sets. That "ecosystem" BS, where a manufacturer doesn't support widely-used standards but do things that only work with their own products, is something I always find objectionable.
 
When you know what is the time of center, when you really flow right through, ending up inside a pot of whip cream..
And you sniff it on your fingertips, thinking "Oh did I eat chocolate moose?" :O
 
I wasn't sure if I should post this in the last purchase thread or here?? How ever the more I thought about it the angry I got:maddroid::maskeddroid:.
So my wife last year finally paid off our 2014 chevy equinox. We got it 2018. About four months after we paid it off we had to drop $900-$1,000 to get the motor mounts replaced. A few months later two repairs ran us $2,500, followed by an A/C that ran a $1,000+.
So on my home time some mcu, emc, ecm??? Some electronic software thing went out (it had something to do with the key and ignition)] to replace and repair the problem $1,200:maddroid:.
The next day we get a call from the mechanic. The timing belt has slipped a tooth. I am not a car guy however I know that the timing belt is very important. (I spoke with a friend later on and was informed that the slipped tooth on the timing belt can cause serious problems and more repair cost.
We were looking at close to $1,900 for that repair so nearly $3,000 in repairs. The $1,200 repair we were good on. The $1,900 meant dipping into savings. We calculated what we had spent so far in repairs compared with the current value of the car and determined that we were reaching the point were we where we are going to be spending more money than the car is worth.
So we went to Carmax and our daughter finally got what she's been wanting. A SUV with the third row of seating
 
Milo Williamson said:
Someone hacked into my fb.
I spend hours just reading and researching on how to get it back,
but I am able to download everything through IG as it is connected with that profile..
call me crazy.. But seem like I have a slight upper hand.
Click to expand...
I left Facebook back in 2015/2016;when they went on the sensitive warpath, censorship thing suspended people because some snowflake got their feelings hurt.
 
So tbh, some person is helping me out with unhacking my fb account, so they said a few seconds ago "Send me xxx amount of money" twice, so I send them that amount of money and said "Are you ripping me off?" I just did not check my inbox for a few hours or so, because I knew something what was up, through paypal it was a horrid thing, I will deactivated my account on it, having a girlfriend it is expensive.. :O
Yeah.. So ontop of that my ex brother in law swing in the store to help us all out today.
I just kept my mouth shut for a bit and just nodded, he was my store manager a few years ago..
 
When you know what is never to sleep on and knowing, even the slightest tricks of double crossed, then you faded throughout that time again,maybe I am being paranoid.. Where is my tin foil hats?!?!!
 
ocnbrze said:
you pay taxes in China?
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Absolutely. If one is earning salary, tax has to be paid. The China system is very similar to the UK's PAYE(Pay As You Earn), where income tax is directly taken from your salary. I was in the tax office, to get an official printed statement for how much tax I'd paid this financial year. I've kept all my tax statements. Mainly because I haven't paid taxes in the UK for 15 years now, and the UK His Majesty's Revenue & Customs may determine I'm a tax exile.

The UK is not like the US, where they must file 1040 taxes to the IRS every year. I know this from the many Americans I've spoken and have worked with in China.
 
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My UI camera is not functioning at all today, from my moto edge plus, .. I did photograph some sun around like this morning, but nothing I recently download did take out the camera's UI..
 
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