4 ms·

My Makita batteries have an anti-theft feature built-in that offers a way to disable the battery after a certain date or number of hours or days. You have to pl

by moftz 5y ago

My Makita batteries have an anti-theft feature built-in that offers a way to disable the battery after a certain date or number of hours or days. You have to plug the battery back into a special terminal to "recharge" the day or hour timer or to set a new lockout with a PIN. It comes with warning stickers you can put on your batteries. The system is mostly just meant to prevent workers from borrowing equipment for weekend side jobs or keeping batteries after the job is finished. It doesn't actually stop someone from stealing them (or even the tool the battery goes with) but hopefully they read the sticker and realize that it's not worth stealing what will soon be a worthless battery. I've never used this feature but it's a neat system. Sometimes the tools themselves have anti-theft tags inside that will set off sensors but I don't know if anyone actually uses that outside of the store you bought the tool from.

toxik 5y ago
I’m pretty sure you can just open the battery pack up and disconnect whatever circuit lives in there. The batteries are just packs of chemicals.
- snypher 5y ago
  Maybe some time ago. Now the tool+battery has handshakes and all that; https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/power/battery-management/DS2703.html https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/power/battery-ma...
  - nebula8804 5y ago
    I have read about the coming cryptographically signed video cameras to prevent deep fakes. Now we have have signed battery packs. I can't wait to solder in mod-chips into my batteries like the good old days of game consoles. It has become a lot of fun to strip DRM from anything I own. This feeling of freedom that I have that most consumers don't is exhilarating and sad at the same time. We are still in the "good old days" where we can still choose to live most of life without DRM but I know the end will be coming one day. I guess I can prolong it by maintaining my good makita tools, keep my N64 in tip top shape and take good care of whatever else I think will be DRM'ed in the future.
    - toxik 5y ago
      I find this line of reasoning weak for one reason. Things want to be as simple as they can be. DRM adds cost and complexity, it will _always_ be fighting an uphill battle. An electric drill is just an electric motor + chuck, MOSFET + pot, and a battery. Anything added on top of that has to justify itself. Take a look at the printer industry, for example. You can buy the cartridge cartel inkjet printers, but most people already know that a laserjet is way more reliable -- because it's so simple.
      - nebula8804 5y ago
        I think we are in agreement just coming at the argument from different angles. Yes "things want to be as simple as they can be"...so when something dumb like DRM is bolted onto it, you point allows us strip it out that much easier. I believe that one day the design of an item will put DRM first and function second such that the item itself will be secondary to the DRM. I don't know what form this will take but I feel that it is coming. That is why I discussed maintaining my old equipment as long as possible to stall this inevitable day as long as possible. >Take a look at the printer industry, for example. You can buy the cartridge cartel inkjet printers, but most people already know that a laserjet is way more reliable -- because it's so simple. I'd argue that you are conflating two different things: Reliability with freedom(lack of DRM). Laser printers are more reliable not due to the DRM but due to the technology itself. If you wanna look at it from another POV: Laser printers suffer from cartridge lockout chips that count number of pages printed, the yellow dots printed on sheets that allow the government to trace a printed document back to a specific printer and now the encroaching trend of adding spyware to the printer drivers. Does that make Laser printer technology any worse? Nope. But all that DRM is there regardless of how good laser tech is.

by moftz 5y ago

toxik 5y ago

I’m pretty sure you can just open the battery pack up and disconnect whatever circuit lives in there. The batteries are just packs of chemicals.

snypher 5y ago
Maybe some time ago. Now the tool+battery has handshakes and all that; https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/power/battery-management/DS2703.html https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/power/battery-ma...
- nebula8804 5y ago
  I have read about the coming cryptographically signed video cameras to prevent deep fakes. Now we have have signed battery packs. I can't wait to solder in mod-chips into my batteries like the good old days of game consoles. It has become a lot of fun to strip DRM from anything I own. This feeling of freedom that I have that most consumers don't is exhilarating and sad at the same time. We are still in the "good old days" where we can still choose to live most of life without DRM but I know the end will be coming one day. I guess I can prolong it by maintaining my good makita tools, keep my N64 in tip top shape and take good care of whatever else I think will be DRM'ed in the future.
  - toxik 5y ago
    I find this line of reasoning weak for one reason. Things want to be as simple as they can be. DRM adds cost and complexity, it will _always_ be fighting an uphill battle. An electric drill is just an electric motor + chuck, MOSFET + pot, and a battery. Anything added on top of that has to justify itself. Take a look at the printer industry, for example. You can buy the cartridge cartel inkjet printers, but most people already know that a laserjet is way more reliable -- because it's so simple.
    - nebula8804 5y ago
      I think we are in agreement just coming at the argument from different angles. Yes "things want to be as simple as they can be"...so when something dumb like DRM is bolted onto it, you point allows us strip it out that much easier. I believe that one day the design of an item will put DRM first and function second such that the item itself will be secondary to the DRM. I don't know what form this will take but I feel that it is coming. That is why I discussed maintaining my old equipment as long as possible to stall this inevitable day as long as possible. >Take a look at the printer industry, for example. You can buy the cartridge cartel inkjet printers, but most people already know that a laserjet is way more reliable -- because it's so simple. I'd argue that you are conflating two different things: Reliability with freedom(lack of DRM). Laser printers are more reliable not due to the DRM but due to the technology itself. If you wanna look at it from another POV: Laser printers suffer from cartridge lockout chips that count number of pages printed, the yellow dots printed on sheets that allow the government to trace a printed document back to a specific printer and now the encroaching trend of adding spyware to the printer drivers. Does that make Laser printer technology any worse? Nope. But all that DRM is there regardless of how good laser tech is.