55 ms·

A 10-Year Battery for AirTag

709 points by dmd 2y ago

bufferoverflow 2y ago
I don't see how this huge tracker would help with the stolen camera gear. At least an airtag is small enough, you can probably glue it to the bottom of the camera, paint it black.
- bee_rider 2y ago
  It is huge compared to an AirTag, but as somebody who doesn’t know much about cameras, if I stole a photographer’s stuff and something like that was in there, I’d probably not think too much about it. It is a black rectangle. Professionals have countless black rectangles that I don’t understand. If they wanted to be really clever, they could easily find space to disguise it as a usb hard drive or something (I mean they could literally stick a USB hard drive in the thing, they are so tiny nowadays).
janandonly 2y ago
That is not how batteries work. Batteries drain even under minimal usage. My bet is that in 2/3 years this device will stop working already. Just change the batteries if you AirTag once a year. Especially if you are using an AirTag to keep watch over 10.000 dollar equipment.
- Kirby64 2y ago
  Lithium batteries (like the 1.5V energizer suggested) have extremely low self discharge. The reason why lithium batteries are used for long life is because you can actually reliably count on them to not self discharge after 20 years. As long as the mAh is 10x the coin cells they use, I’d totally believe the 10 year statement.
- alnwlsn 2y ago
  Here [0] is the datasheet for the batteries used. 25 year shelf life is spec'd. I have personally run these cells buried underground, and gotten 4.5 years out of 4 of them, though my application is just for fun and likely not as power conservative as an AirTag. [0] https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf
  - michaelmior 2y ago
    Okay, now I'm really curious what application you have for a device buried underground.
  - 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
    Ooh what's the application underground?
    - alnwlsn 2y ago
      So I attend this local annual event that has a time capsule. Each year, we bury one and dig up the one from 5 years ago. This has gone on for several decades, and people are always thinking of interesting things to put in there. I made a little electronics project that is somewhere between "what happens inside a time capsule while it's buried?" and "what if you could wind a watch once and have it still be ticking in 5 years?" I nearly forgot that I made a project page for it: https://hackaday.io/project/160740-low-power-environment-monitor-logger https://hackaday.io/project/160740-low-power-environment-mon... I dug up the first one last year and it had made it to 4.5 years, and I'm actually due to dig up the second one next week.
- m463 2y ago
  Lots of smoke alarms now have 10 year batteries.
  - jerlam 2y ago
    Now mandated in California. No more waking up in the middle of the night and crawling up a ladder to find out which of your smoke alarms decided it was too cold and decided to sing its low battery chirp.
    - michaelmior 2y ago
      Also in New York. Personally I'm all for this even though I think it does make detectors a bit more expensive. Not only because it avoids the need to change batteries, but because it's more likely that smoke detectors actually get replaced at their end of life.
    - _yb2s 2y ago
      Does that fix it or make it worse? If you have 10 smoke detectors and they end up randomly staggered so this happens once a year, and you can't replace the batteries anymore... that seems worse than the old system which completely eliminated this issue if you just replaced them all every year or two on a schedule.
      - jo909 2y ago
        Remember that you are supposed to replace the entire thing because the other components like the sensor or simply capacitors also age. It is a very cheap safety device and simply not worth taking any risks by stretching it to say 15 years instead. The proper way would be to replace them while they were all still fine by making a note in the calendar. There are two cases: Your products are faulty and at least one has not made their intended 10 year lifespan. I'd change them all for better ones. Or They have reached their lifespan and you only noticed because the first one failed. I'd replace them all.
        _yb2s 2y ago
taylodl 2y ago
This solution makes the AirTag bigger. Might be okay for a photo bag, it's quite cumbersome for car keys and dogs. Besides, your phone will warn you when the battery is getting low. I always keep a couple of 2032 batteries on hand and soon as I get the low battery warning I just pop a new one in.
- moojacob 2y ago
  They talked about this in the article. It is for bigger items like RVs and camera bags that you also don't interact a lot on a daily basis.
- grouchomarx 2y ago
  >Might be okay for a photo bag Yes that's what its for
jerlam 2y ago
Not a bad price, but it does require an existing Airtag. Ten years is a very long time in tech. I wouldn't be confident that the Airtag protocol will be functioning in 2035, and there are already rumors of a new Airtag and possibly a newer protocol coming up.
- spiderfarmer 2y ago
  If Apple kills existing Airtags any time soon they effectively kill the product line. So they won’t.
  - minton 2y ago
    This might underestimate Apple consumerism (I include myself in that).
  - tpetry 2y ago
    Its really easy for them, and this also in line how they would operate: Add a new Airtag v2 protocol to the next iPhone and sell new Airtags only using that protocol. Why should you buy them? They could have different improvements you would like. Start deprecating Airtag v1 in 3-4 years - and only sell new ones. There are now 3-4 iPhone generations that can handle the new version. The next iPhone in 6-7 years doesn't support Airtags v1 anymore as it is obsolete now for many years. Voila, they killed Airtags v1 in less than 10 years without killing the entire product line by switching to a new version. Is that unrealistic? No, thats their normal way how they deprecate stuff. It still works but only with old hardware or by not getting new updates anymore (iOS, macOS).
    - BudaDude 2y ago
      I would agree with you if this was a main line product (iPad, Macs, iPhone). You could argue the Apple Watch is a main line product as well. But this is an accessory line. Apple is pretty good at keeping accessories working for as long as possible. AirPods v1 still work. A Magic Mouse bought 10 years ago still works as long as the battery isn't dead.
jakedata 2y ago
Brilliant, I just ordered a couple. But I bet that case muffles the sound when the AirTag decides to sing you the song of its people. This might be a boon to AirTag stalkers who are too lazy or unskilled to disable the sound and upgrade the battery life.
- kylebenzle 2y ago
  > This might be a boon to AirTag stalkers who are too lazy or unskilled to disable the sound and upgrade the battery life. What a nonsensical fear to have.
  - jakedata 2y ago
    Why is that nonsensical? Airtags are very nice little bits of technology, a marvel really. But examples of abuse are not theoretical. Increasing the battery life by years and placing the airtag in a waterproof case are totally valid things a legitimate user might wish to do, but it also enhances their nefarious or unethical use potential. That is not nonsense.
    - fragmede 2y ago
      that's not the part that seems nonsensical. it's the idea that a stalker wouldn't just pull out the speaker.
      - wlesieutre 2y ago
        Or for the comment's theoretical "too lazy or unskilled to disable the sound" stalker, wrap the airtag in a sock and stick it in a tupperware container. "Put the airtag in a box" is not really an exclusive invention here.
      - Zababa 2y ago
        Most criminals are dumb. Anything that makes their job easier can increase the crime rate/efficiency of their criminal activities. I'm pretty sure stalking with devices increased after the Airtag was released.
15155 2y ago
I was hoping to see a betavoltaic battery here.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
Titan2189 2y ago
[flagged]
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  It’s good marketing for fasteners they would likely spec by default due to tolerances dictated by product size and smaller production runs.
- e40 2y ago
  Needed to be waterproof?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
LeafItAlone 2y ago
Really neat idea and at that price I’ll probably get some for luggage and my backpacks, where I have AirTags that stay there the whole time. One thing I’m curious about battery leakage. Many of the batteries of my remotes and similar devices seem to leak after a while (including one I heard pop and got very warm). These are devices that do get frequent usage, so they aren’t just sitting without any discharge (but also the drain for a remote would be very minimal). Would this device experience the same, given how little power the AirTag needs?
- ssl-3 2y ago
  This appears to be intended to be used with lithium primary cells. Lithium primary cells tend not to get all leaky with age like alkalines do. (They'll keep your remote working approximately forever, too.)
  - sss111 2y ago
    Project Farm did a test for the best battery and lithium batteries smoked all the alkalines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efDTP5SEdlo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efDTP5SEdlo
  - buescher 2y ago
    IIRC the packaging pretty much says, should they leak, Energizer really wants to hear about it. For what that's worth.
zeagle 2y ago
Does anyone know what camera bag that is on that website. Peak design? Looks perfect for my usual load out.
- m463 2y ago
  Looks like any number of generic camera bags. Camera bag design seems to have moved on from that, and a sling design seems to be more popular. The sling lets you swing the bag from your back under your arm to in front of you. There is a zipper towards the side that lets you securely access the camera and accessories. So pretty easily you can get your camera out, or later put it back without removing the backpack.
  - zeagle 2y ago
    That’s fair. And thanks for the thoughtful reply! I was thinking more for travel / safe storage. I’m often flying on small planes and to throw it in my duffle. My solution is I have a PD 30L as with dslr, 200-400, macro, 24-74 lens two straps are nice to have purely due to weight vs sling. The side access is clutch.
- 542354234235 2y ago
  I'm pretty sure it is the DSLR Pro Pack by Incase. https://www.incase.com/products/dslr-pro-pack?srsltid=AfmBOop26nsMBASu710ib6Y-kvPX48Km1I0TslGR7Qlh6cY5aeQfuBWa https://www.incase.com/products/dslr-pro-pack?srsltid=AfmBOo...
  - neilv 2y ago
    It's a good design, IME. Lowepro makes a variety of similar ones. (I had a one similar to the photo, fitting 2 bodies, wide L, long L, f/1.4 prime, strobes and triggers, and boxes of strobe batteries.) Lowepro also has day/overnight/carryon backpacks, so you can carry some DSLR gear, laptop, change of clothes, and toiletries, all in one bag. I still have one LowePro day backpack that I repurposed as engineer/startup briefcase. It fits a huge laptop and misc. stuff for working late hours, and has a DSLR door in the side, so you can slide one shoulder strap off off long enough swing it forward like a sling bag, for quick access to a good camera for serendipitous shots. Regarding real sling bags, I personally wouldn't use for lengthy carrying of heavy stuff, since it's asymmetric left/right. I even got rid of my grocery canvas tote bags, and use an old backpack for carrying home groceries.
dcdc123 2y ago
Cool idea for a product but you either have to be a serious airhead or just lazy to miss or ignore all the low battery notifications. Also, that case should have a spot to store the back plate. > Just discard the AirTag's back plate
- avree 2y ago
  It's a cool hack, but a terrible idea for a product. There are more components than the battery that will fail over a 10 year period (both in hardware and in software) - which is why ignoring notifications, and assuming that this product solves your problem is a big issue.
  - jrmg 2y ago
    This seems incredibly pessimistic to me. Do you really not expect things to last for over ten years? In my experience most electronic things - and especially things that are simple and solid with no wear and tear like an AirTag - easily last 10 years. I’d expect an AirTag to work for, at least, decades.
    - dmd 2y ago
      My amplifier and speakers date from the 70s.
      - avree 2y ago
        Do they run a proprietary Apple software, and have NFC and UWB inside them?
        Spivak 2y ago
        When the software is fixed we're back to thinking of the object as a single piece of hardware. My Gamecube and Xbox 360 have been working for (nearly) 20 years now. Unless there's a known failure mode in these devices that gets worn down over time you should probably expect them to outlive you. The worst you'll probably get is corrosion from the AA batteries in the pack.
saturn8601 2y ago
Any chance that the AirTag could have a software memory leak that would normally be masked by cutting power once a year? Its possible right? The code must be written in something low level like C. Would be kinda funny if 10 years from now the author gets his stuff stolen again and then discovers said memory leak crashed the Airtag 9 years ago. As Elon Musk likes to say: "The most ironic outcome is the most likely" . (OP I hope your stuff does not get stolen again, its just a joke)
- smileybarry 2y ago
  AirTags get updates regularly, so they'd probably get power-cycled sooner than that.
  - kube-system 2y ago
    They're not being updated any more frequently than they are already reporting their battery status, are they?
    - unsnap_biceps 2y ago
      I would presume the battery status is sent as part of the beacon, firmware is updated only when the phone is locked and charging in range of the tag.
      - kube-system 2y ago
        I believe that's correct. I get low battery notifications when I am out of range of mine, I think.
- buescher 2y ago
  I would also imagine someone with a fleet of these would be pretty cheesed if Apple rolled out an update that drained some fair fraction of users' batteries, no matter how fast they fixed it.
- fiatpandas 2y ago
randyrand 2y ago
double the battery & double the size would be the sweet spot for me. this is a bit big and heavy.
Brajeshwar 2y ago
I'm OK with the One-Year-ish battery life and happy to change them yearly. I try to do them in batches (the fours usually die together within about a month). The irritating ones are in the bags/check-ins I stashed/stored snugly, and now I have to take them out to replace the battery. Of course, the bearable thing is that the battery lasts for about a month after the warning, so there is that. I think I'm complaining about something which is not a big deal. I’m not sure if this much bigger device is any benefit just to make it last 10-years and forget about it.
- MisterTea 2y ago
  Well look at in in terms of batteries deposited per year in the landfill: 0.1 or 1.
  - conductr 2y ago
    GAAP requires you to accrue your batteries deposited in landfill, so back to 0.1 per year (/s if not obvious)
  - ianferrel 2y ago
    Two AA batteries is about 16 cm^3 of waste. 10 CR2032s is about 10 cm^3. "Number of batteries" is not the right thing to measure. Maybe volume isn't either, but it's got to be closer.
    - lobsterthief 2y ago
      Probably volume and type of toxic materials are the best metrics
duxup 2y ago
At 10 years I kinda wonder what the odds your AA batteries become problem occasionally (leaking, etc) long before the Airtag... although they are Lithium batteries.
- riffic 2y ago
  are lithium batteries known to expand or catch fire in the AA form factor?
  - kube-system 2y ago
    I believe that is primarily an issue for damaged or rechargeable lithium batteries, so not really a concern here.
  - homebrewer 2y ago
    I think you misunderstood GP. Lithium AA batteries are very reliable and keep charge for at least ten years (the standard metric is losing approximately 1% per year), that's what he's saying. They won't burn because they contain metallic lithium (and not lithium salts like rechargeable cells) and don't contain easily flammable organic solvents (yep, like rechargeable cells). There are videos on YouTube of people disassembling them with no problems (for example, to extract metallic lithium for chemistry experiments).
    - riffic 2y ago
      it's a sincere and earnest question - I didn't know. I appreciate the additional info.
- IshKebab 2y ago
  I think leaking is relatively rare, but based on my experience of "10 year" smoke detector batteries they usually don't last anywhere near that. Also there's stupid legislation in the UK at least around making smoke detectors with replaceable batteries. Took me quite a while to find some.
roger_ 2y ago
This solves one of my biggest issues with AirTags and I'd be tempted to buy one if AirTag 2s weren't right around the corner...
- SSchick 2y ago
  Pretty much this, I hope they retain the form factor, I would very much buy 3-4 of these for my luggage, I previously duct-taped airtags inside of the case but they died within a year, this would help a lot.
renewiltord 2y ago
Replacing batteries is a pretty big annoyance for me. But if I’m honest, the $19.99+Li Cell Cost is too steep for me. I’ll just replace these every year.
drdaeman 2y ago
Are AirTags actually useful for anti-theft purposes? I threw one in the trunk of my car (just in case - I ordered a 4-pack and I had a spare one), and every single time I drive somewhere it chirps loudly when I'm exiting my driveway, making its presence immediately obvious without any delays, and despite my phone being with me in the car.
- dmajor2 2y ago
  No, they have been rendered useless for that purpose through software updates because of the almost 100% overlap of the use cases of 1) stalking someone 2) and tracking a thief.
  - ronsor 2y ago
    Wait until they realize the almost 100% overlap between the camera's use cases of 1) spying on people and 2) recording nature
    - post-it 2y ago
      Nature cameras are relatively hard to conceal (from humans), whereas AirTags are very easy to conceal.
      - theshrike79 2y ago
        They are also very bad for tracking compared to what you can get on Aliexpress/eBay/Amazon (which are the same tbh). For about the same price you can get a device with a SIM card and GPS/GLONASS and _zero_ ways to detect it.
        post-it 2y ago
        What's the battery life on that though? The appeal of AirTags is that they last a year and work anywhere that has an iPhone nearby.
mdawwg 2y ago
Cool idea. I actually just recently changed my air tag battery for the first time. The FindMy app notified me when the battery was at 30%. Personally I'm able to risk the battery dying since the tag is on an inexpensive item I lose frequently, but I understand the annoyance of replacing the battery often.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
johnklos 2y ago
I wonder if they really don't know that Apple already has a product named Time Capsule.
- chili6426 2y ago
  The product you're referring to is called "AirPort Time Capsule" and time capsule can't be copyrighted.
  - mjlee 2y ago
    https://www.apple.com/legal/intellectual-property/trademark/appletmlist.html https://www.apple.com/legal/intellectual-property/trademark/... It is a registered trademark. As I understand it, common words or phrases can be protected within the same area. Colours too - https://secureyourtrademark.com/blog/t-mobile-magenta/ https://secureyourtrademark.com/blog/t-mobile-magenta/
humanpotato 2y ago
What is the point of CNC machined screws? I have only seen that type of thing on specialized military applications and the like. I'm sure standard rolled screws would be just fine...
- alamortsubite 2y ago
  Not technical razzle-dazzle but the sheer aesthetic superiority of its elegant parabolic design make the GFX-100 a marketing breakthrough!
- kube-system 2y ago
  Well, it is ambiguous enough of a statement that it could be both. Maybe rolled threads and CNC lathe finish on the head... to make it look nice? Rolled threads are stronger anyway. Zooming in, it does look like there's turning marks on the head of the screws.
- jonhohle 2y ago
  I had the exact same thought. The screws are recessed, so knurling is unimportant. I love the idea and will buy some for the cars but give me a stainless m5, hex cap head screw, I don’t care about the process.
- to11mtm 2y ago
  If I had to guess, they had easier access to a CNC or someone with CNC skills vs a shop that could get them rolled screws in the right size within their timeframe. The 'nice' thing about CNC screws is that it's cheaper to do short runs. (which, on the military side, can help on some 'security by obscurity' lengths for revers engineering). That said Rolled screws are almost always gonna be better unless the die is fucked.
- myself248 2y ago
  Marketing wankery. It's _extremely_ valuable among a certain market, and when you look at the pricing here, oh yeah, that's their market.
jmull 2y ago
I know this is useful (for something), but I'm stuck on the plot holes in the motivating story... Why didn't they replace the battery when the app complained? How long would a thief really keep the AirTag anyway? If the thief did keep the AirTag and you tracked them down, then what? A confrontation has a fairly high chance to have a worse result than losing some equipment. You could try to get the police to do it, but that's going to take more time, during which the thief is even more likely to ditch the AirTag. Anyway, you're really swimming upstream trying to think of aigtags as an antitheft device. They're really for something lost, not stolen. Generally, they are specifically designed to not work well in adversarial situations.
- cute_boi 2y ago
  i wish police do honey trap more often like put expensive equipment. That will definitely reduce lot of crimes.
  - roland35 2y ago
    Didn't that work well with car theft? I believe reading something like that
    - colechristensen 2y ago
      https://mndaily.com/190563/uncategorized/minneapolis-police-catch-thieves-bait-vehicle-program/ https://mndaily.com/190563/uncategorized/minneapolis-police-... It's a thing in Minneapolis, though the Kia Boys thing was still very real here, I don't know how much they've kept it up.
      - throwaway48476 2y ago
        Well they're blaming the cars for being too easy to steal and not the thieves, so it's not going well
        mrguyorama 2y ago
buescher 2y ago
The third time someone calls to complain that the alkaline batteries they put in this leaked, they'll wish they used a soldered-in 3V lithium primary cell. Even though that goes against a certain ethos.
- tivert 2y ago
  > The third time someone calls to complain that the alkaline batteries they put in this leaked, they'll wish they used a soldered-in 3V lithium primary cell. Even though that goes against a certain ethos. Those aren't alkaline batteries. Energizer makes AA/AAA-size lithium primary batteries, which is what they are using. They wont leak and have a 25 year shelf life. https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf And I don't think they'd get complaints about alkaline batteries leaking. I think pretty much anyone (even those who don't understand batteries), would tend to blame the batteries themselves, not the device they're in.
  - buescher 2y ago
    I saw that they recommended Energizer lithiums. So would I. Recommendations won't change that behavior, which I am very familiar with. It's ok that you aren't if you're willing to learn something today.
  - wyager 2y ago
    He means that idiot customers will use the wrong batteries and get mad, and they absolutely will. The modal customer doesn't understand anything about battery chemistry and will unconditionally buy the cheapest battery at the store.
    - buescher 2y ago
      No amount of intelligence or understanding of battery chemistry will make batteries any less dismal and disappointing to the consumer. Ironically, the very cheapest carbon-zinc batteries probably would be kind of OK in this application.
    - to11mtm 2y ago
Grazester 2y ago
Who leaves 10K worth of anything in their car? I get antsy leaving my $200 laptop hidden under my seat! This person is crazy. There is also no guarantee they person who stole the bag wouldn't dump the bag(with the hidden AirTag) and just keep the gear or that the police would help recover it even if you gave them the location(many times the don't).
- xattt 2y ago
  Usually, cars are worth more than 10K and they are often left out in the street!
  - Grazester 2y ago
    Yeah but someone can't pick up my car and walk away with it on their back, can they now, genius?
    - withinboredom 2y ago
      hulk has entered the chat
  - nine_k 2y ago
    Cars are impractical to carry by hand, while a lot of expensive computer / photo / audio gear can easily be carried in a tote bag.
- qazxcvbnmlp 2y ago
  The amount of things you leave in your car varies strong by local. In many parts of the country you can leave the car unlocked w/ laptop inside no problem.
- npretto 2y ago
  Surely going to lunch with 10k of equipment is safer, especially when you'll need to go to the toilet.
  - 2y ago
chili6426 2y ago
I have a AirTag in my car so I can find it when I park in an unfamiliar city or an airport parking lot. I'm imagining a rechargeable version I could plug into the cigarette lighter and it would theoretically last as long as my car does.
- unsnap_biceps 2y ago
  I plan on getting one of these TimeCapsules (what a silly name) and modify it to be rechargeable.
- kstrauser 2y ago
  When I get out of my car, my iPhone remembers that this was the last place it was connected to the car's Bluetooth. I don't have an special devices or tracker apps or anything else, just "Find My" automatically pinning my car's location on the map. That's such a neat and helpful feature!
tonymet 2y ago
this is a great idea and I'd love to see v2 with a 20 year flat-pack cell with usb-c charging. It would be 40% smaller and you could call it "lifetime charge"
amluto 2y ago
ISTM that this use case would be better served by building a nice piece of openhaystack hardware.
- goryramsy 2y ago
  I do wish openhaystack would be updated for MacOS 15, currently using a fork from a PR because of changes in MacOS 15’s mail app.
rdtsc 2y ago
> My camera bag with $10k of gear was stolen from my car. When I saw the broken glass and empty backseat, I immediately pulled up FindMy to track the thief ... Aha, but that's not what AirTags are for, according to Apple at least. On https://www.apple.com/airtag https://www.apple.com/airtag Not a single mention of "theft" or "stolen". It will even politely inform the thief you have a tracker in your stuff: > AirTag is designed to discourage unwanted tracking. If someone else’s AirTag finds its way into your stuff, the network will notice it’s traveling with you and send your iPhone an alert I wouldn't be surprised if Apple will come down on them with their legal team for promoting usage of the AirTag that's not according to their intended use.
- theshrike79 2y ago
  Just as a thought experiment, what do you think would happen if Apple specifically advertised them as theft prevention tools?
  - lxgr 2y ago
    Presumably people would start complaining that they're really bad at that, since they loudly make themselves known to any thief.
  - rdtsc 2y ago
    > what do you think would happen if Apple specifically advertised them as theft prevention tools? I don't know, I am not Apple, and I don't even have AirTags. What do you think would happen, it seems you already have an idea?
sllabres 2y ago
I have once used a airtag to track a parcel. This is now 3 years ago and despite several low batt warnings since about a year ago its still running. So even wit the tiny cell battery the runtime can be quite long.
esaym 2y ago
> we recommend Energizer Ultimate Lithium The advantage of "lithium" is high rate discharge, not longevity right?
- Diti 2y ago
  Yep. That recommendation is weird. They should recommend NiMH batteries like the Eneloop series from Panasonic.
- cr3ative 2y ago
  I think in this case it’s shelf life. Very little discharge for a very long time.
  - esaym 2y ago
    Doing some math, looks like a CR2032 is roughly 200mah while AA is 2000mah. So if CR2032 lasts one year, then the AA will be 10 years, two AA would be 20 years. I guess in that case lithium would be the way to go. I just know for your typical wall clock that takes a single AA, whether it is lithium or alkaline, both won't make it much further than a year.
    - ascorbic 2y ago
      These have 3500mAh capacity: https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf
- phil21 2y ago
  They don't leak would be why I would choose these over an alkaline battery. The draw of an airtag is so low that the shelf life becomes very material. I also put lithium AA/AAA batteries in remotes these days - anything that might get stuck in a drawer for years at a time and needed again for a random task. My A/V receiver remote is rarely touched, but when I need it I really need it. Too many times have I went to grab some device like that only to find the batteries have leaked and corroded a critical component on the PCB.
- ascorbic 2y ago
lxgr 2y ago
Nice! Definitely somewhat of a niche use case, but I don't doubt that it exists. I do wonder though: Do AA batteries actually have a shelf life of 10 years even without supplying any current?
- jackvalentine 2y ago
  Yes - some quality batteries claim 25 years shelf life.
- Slartie 2y ago
  The Lithium ones that they suggest to use do have a decade or more of shelf life, and they also don't leak! I've got an old pinball machine. Those use AA batteries to store highscores and settings in a battery-powered RAM chip. Typically the batteries must be replaced once a year or at least every two years, largely because of self-drain, and it's a common occurrence of them leaking, which can quickly destroy the 30 year old circuit board they're on. That's why most pinball collectors suggest to use Lithium AA batteries: you get 5-10 year lifetime, no danger of leakage.
  - throwaway2037 2y ago
    Do you know why alkaline batteries leak, but lithium do not?
daniel_iversen 2y ago
I wonder if the signal strength is worse or not now that the AirTag is enclosed in another case? I have my AirTag in the car hidden, which already seems to reduce the strength.
TuringNYC 2y ago
Nice solution, but the bigger problem is how AirTags can basically be turned off, which makes it poor for many use cases. Of course, I get it from Apple's perspective, they dont want AirTags to be used to tail others. However, that precludes it from being used for theft tracking. For example, I use an AirTag on my bicycle. If someone steals the bicycle, they are literally informed "an air tag is following you" https://support.apple.com/en-us/119874 https://support.apple.com/en-us/119874 There are a lot of things I'd love to put long-term AirTags on (luggage, snow-blower, childrens' backpacks) but if theft isnt really deterred, then the case for a bulkier AirTag is quite reduced.
- unsupp0rted 2y ago
  Theft-tracking is sort of an "off-label" use for AirTags, from Apple's perspective. They'd rather make AirTags less generally useful than make them both more generally useful + open to stalking occurrences and lawsuits.
  - TuringNYC 2y ago
    Agreed on the trade-off. And there are some absolutely 1000% winning use cases (lost cats, lost dogs, lost luggage). However, lets look at the constraints and outcomes: - Me or other people need to be around (since airtags jump off others' devices) This removes use cases like tracking lost marine goods, tracking lost drones, etc. - Item being tracked has to be big enough to be worth the extra size/weight of the long life battery wrapper This removes most common use cases like wallets, remotes, etc. - Item being tracked has to be something you actually lose w/o wrongdoing. Makes sense for backpacks, purses, parked cars. But, most capital equipment wouldnt be "lost" it would be stolen, so that is out. https://ios.gadgethacks.com/how-to/20-surprisingly-practical-uses-for-apple-airtags-0384571/ https://ios.gadgethacks.com/how-to/20-surprisingly-practical...
    - theultdev 2y ago
      > This removes most common use cases like wallets, remotes, etc. I use an airtag for my wallet and apple remote. https://ridge.com/products/carbon-case-for-airtag https://ridge.com/products/carbon-case-for-airtag https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09G4PT3NJ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09G4PT3NJ
running101 2y ago
Maybe just set a reminder in your phone annually to replace all AirTag batteries
jaykoronivo 2y ago
what a joke.
jaykoronivo 2y ago
AirLuggages!
amelius 2y ago
Why can't the AirTag simply report its battery status and warn the user e.g. through a nearby iPhone? This is another case of bad UX by a company praised for its great "product design skills".
- devmor 2y ago
  It does do that already. The author likely ignored the notifications repeatedly until it died.
- lp251 2y ago
  it does
- joefitzgerald 2y ago
  > Why can't the AirTag simply report its battery status and warn the user e.g. through a nearby iPhone? This is precisely how an AirTag works. It reports its battery status[1] via a notification to the user on an iPhone. [1]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102600 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102600
jcrawfordor 2y ago
The size and cost of this unit and the AirTag to put in it get close, but not quite to, the size and cost of a cellular asset tracker. Roughly $30 more to get into a reputable brand asset tracker. The promised ten-year life is better than the e.g. 4-year life you can get out of a GPS/LTE NB-IOT with lithium primary cell and deep sleep, and with fewer compromises around tesponsiveness to commands (primary-battery asset trackers are usually waking up like once every 6 hours). Still, standalone asset trackers have a number of features that make them more suitable for theft scenarios than airtags, not least of which is the absence of the anti-stalking feature of airtags which means they're never really a concealable option. The major difference left is consumer-friendliness... Most asset trackers are provided by vendors with pretty hefty ongoing fees, and more oriented towards commercial customers like fleet operators and construction. Big difference in ease of purchase and use. It does make you wonder about the market for a really consumer-friendly solution, though.
- myself248 2y ago
  What's the cheapest monthly fee I can get on an asset tracker with some confidence that it'll still be operating in 4 years when the batteries run out?
nycdatasci 2y ago
Get all perils insurance and make sure your typical use is covered. Often, commercial use will not be covered so it's important to double-check!
- cheema33 2y ago
  Insurance requires making constant regular payments to a third party for life. I self-insure most things. Also, have you ever made an insurance claim? I have. A claim is really bad for your insurance rates with most insurance companies.
EugeneOZ 2y ago
The last line could be a real link :)
enigma101 2y ago
the battery will erode on the contact springs way before 10 years tho. just sayin. Sorry to hear about your stolen gear
samanthasu 2y ago
If the battery can work so long, I'd love to use it for my quartz watch!!
- fauria 2y ago
  It is not a new cell battery, is an enclosure with 2 AA lithium batteries that replaces the standard CR2032.
elintknower 2y ago
Incredibly cool and stupid simple. Just purchased 10 of them!
noja 2y ago
I think this is a sleeper ad for the new AirTag, and that it will have a ten year battery life.
varenc 2y ago
If you could disable the public key rotation on the AirTag, presumably you could greatly extend its battery life at the cost of your own privacy. When your battery gets low, Apple warns that "privacy protection is temporarily adjusted, AirTag may be traceable over Bluetooth". Wish I could enable this behavior in certain situations to extend the life. (Or hook up an oversized external battery like this one, but tune the voltage to ~2V so it always looks like a nearly depleted CR2032 battery!)
- fellerts 2y ago
  I doubt that key rotation is a significant contributor to energy use. Energy spent doing RF (transmitting) plus energy spent sleeping will account for over 90 % of the energy use. Source: I'm in a similar industry
  - generalizations 2y ago
    I think the airtag just wakes up less frequently on low power, so it has fewer opportunities to rotate the key.
gcanyon 2y ago
I know the concept here is set it and forget it, but still: wouldn't it make more sense to have a smaller (but still probably larger than the current setup) rechargeable battery? I admit I haven't done any research on this, but the Magic Mouse/Keyboard seem to prove the concept of a rechargeable battery lasting months at least, and the Apple Watch proves the idea of wireless charging in a compact form factor, so it seems likely you could produce something that 1. Still roughly fits the AirTag physical profile (i.e. could be used as a dog tag, which this certainly could not) and lasts for months at least and is easily rechargeable. And again, I get that I'm making it require more maintenance rather than (effectively) zero maintenance with this product, but the wireless recharging makes that maintenance much less of a burden than sourcing and swapping a watch battery.
- brookst 2y ago
  Months would be painful. I have six airtags, so at two years life I’m replacing a battery every 4 months. If the lifespan was 3 months, I would be recharging one every two weeks. That means pulling them out of (relatively) hidden spots on a car and scooter, a laptop bag that I don’t even use most months, etc. For me, it would mean most of them were dead most of the time.
  - gcanyon 2y ago
    Oh, 100% if you're burying one in an obscure place on your car, you want to set it and forget it, and you have the space, so the 10-year battery makes sense. I'm thinking of the more portable use cases.
- nevi-me 2y ago
  I imagine that keeping the cost down might have been important when designing this. You don't need a rechargeable battery and the charging circuitry. 10 years is also long enough that perhaps the tracker might stop being supported before its battery runs out.
radres 2y ago
Good god. Do you see how good things happen when you let people change their fucking batteries?
undebuggable 2y ago
I'm genuinely surprised that Apple product has a replaceable battery at all.
- nielsbot 2y ago
  Do you mean “user-replaceable”? You can get new batteries for most Apple products (I think). Exception is AirPods (Pro).
  - undebuggable 2y ago
    I just watched a video with the battery replacement in Macbook Air. There is no way the laptop will switch on after I do it by myself for the first time.
simonjgreen 2y ago
A browse through this companies product selection is interesting. They make some really well thought through options for mounting and attaching AirTags that I’ve not seen elsewhere. In particular the pin, bike tube, and fabric mount ones. The CNC screws mentioned in other thread appear to be part of their design language btw.
- spike021 2y ago
  They've been around quite a while now and have always seemed to have sturdy looking designs.
- AkashKaStudio 2y ago
  Yeah, I wanted to see all the products at a glance without having to click & open each one of them.
- asynchronous 2y ago
  I have several of their fabric mounts, one for a backpack and another for a dog collar, they’re more expensive than the cheap knockoffs but the quality is top notch and they’re worth every penny.
satonakamoto 2y ago
My $2 version: https://img.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3/278427340/O1CN01LBluOG245m3ehp24r_!!278427340.jpg https://img.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3/278427340/O1CN01LBluO... https://img.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3/278427340/O1CN01qLKoYT245m3kStyuT_!!278427340.jpg https://img.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3/278427340/O1CN01qLKoY... https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i4/4611686018427384736/O1CN01f6qDO41fQ3GtgTM0h_!!4611686018427384736-0-rate.jpg https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i4/4611686018427384736/O1CN0... https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i1/4611686018427381970/O1CN01UBnkM81CwuqTj89Pa_!!4611686018427381970-0-tbbala.jpg https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i1/4611686018427381970/O1CN0...
- mati365 2y ago
  That white clock looks cool. What's the name?
  - madchinchilla 2y ago
    Looks like Xiaomi Mi Temperature and Humidity Monitor Pro.
  - tecleandor 2y ago
    Just in case you're looking for the exact model, it's: LYWSD02MMC
  - jjeaff 2y ago
    I have a dozen of those style temperature gauges all over my house. Mine are actually a slightly smaller, square version. You can use Home Assistant to read the Bluetooth temperature and humidity readings from them. They ended up costing maybe $3 each when buying several at a time. Battery tends to last a bit over a year.
- ra120271 2y ago
  is that a purchasable product? link? Thank you in advance!
- rahimnathwani 2y ago
  The airtag case doesn't have a gap large enough to allow a regular wire to pass through. I guess you'd need to drill the cover, or just discard the cover and use tape. Then you could use one of these dummy batteries: https://www.aliexpress.us/w/wholesale-cr2032-dummy.html https://www.aliexpress.us/w/wholesale-cr2032-dummy.html
piyuv 2y ago
If you’re the type of person who forgets to change a battery every year, in spite of Find My app warning you a couple of times, most likely you’ll forget to change it in a decade too
- adamm255 2y ago
  Yeah I've not forgotten yet, the warnings were pretty impressive. Key is to have a few replacements on hand so you dont have to remember to buy them.
- phoronixrly 2y ago
  Don't worry, the AA cells will deteriorate far before the 10 years necessary to deplete their charge.
  - myself248 2y ago
    That's why it's shown with Energizer Lithium primary cells. No they won't.
harvie 2y ago
This is cool, but i can see simple improvement. You're supposed to discard airtag backplate, but the capsule is big enough to provide compartment for storing it. Just in case that you decide to re-use that airtag in some other way in upcomming 10 years... I think that would be neat addition.
starlite-5008 2y ago
[dead]
dgroshev 2y ago
I'm almost sure they are 3D printed on a nylon SLS machine, what a lovely example of high quality printing enabling relatively small scale, high number of SKU production!
billylo 2y ago
A 3D-printed part + two washers + battery case. DIY approach. https://www.printables.com/model/383741-cr2032-battery-adapter https://www.printables.com/model/383741-cr2032-battery-adapt...
q3k 2y ago
My $0 version: https://object.ceph-eu.hswaw.net/q3k-personal/5143b5491fca1100da596b14f68401a9a6977ff6b67ef2f6caa083817d1f451c.jpg https://object.ceph-eu.hswaw.net/q3k-personal/5143b5491fca11... Usually wrapped in electrician's tape. 1. NRF52 board from some scrap given by a friend, running forked/ported OpenHaystack firmware 2. AA battery holder from junk box 3. AA batteries from junk drawer If my math is correct, this should last until AA self-discharge, ie. around 10 years. Yes, it works with Apple's FindMy network. Yes, I've flown with it.
- stanmancan 2y ago
  I guess anything could be a $0 version if you just happen to have all the parts already.
OceanBreeze77 2y ago
how long do batteries in watches last for?
wkyleg 2y ago
Something like air tags would be a great use case for an open source DePin project. Ideally Zero Knowledge proofs would be used to preserve privacy.
websku 2y ago
there you go. It's useful, but you can find cheaper alternatives easily on chinese websites.
hi41 2y ago
About a year or so back, there was an issue about Airtags being used for stalking a person. Has that issue been resolved by Apple? Or does the issue still exist?
lowbloodsugar 2y ago
Don’t AA batteries leak long before 10 years?
neuroelectron 2y ago
This addresses the main reason why I haven't bought an AirTag yet.

709 points by dmd 2y ago

I don't see how this huge tracker would help with the stolen camera gear. At least an airtag is small enough, you can probably glue it to the bottom of the camera, paint it black.

bee_rider 2y ago
It is huge compared to an AirTag, but as somebody who doesn’t know much about cameras, if I stole a photographer’s stuff and something like that was in there, I’d probably not think too much about it. It is a black rectangle. Professionals have countless black rectangles that I don’t understand. If they wanted to be really clever, they could easily find space to disguise it as a usb hard drive or something (I mean they could literally stick a USB hard drive in the thing, they are so tiny nowadays).

janandonly 2y ago

That is not how batteries work. Batteries drain even under minimal usage. My bet is that in 2/3 years this device will stop working already. Just change the batteries if you AirTag once a year. Especially if you are using an AirTag to keep watch over 10.000 dollar equipment.

Kirby64 2y ago
Lithium batteries (like the 1.5V energizer suggested) have extremely low self discharge. The reason why lithium batteries are used for long life is because you can actually reliably count on them to not self discharge after 20 years. As long as the mAh is 10x the coin cells they use, I’d totally believe the 10 year statement.
alnwlsn 2y ago
Here [0] is the datasheet for the batteries used. 25 year shelf life is spec'd. I have personally run these cells buried underground, and gotten 4.5 years out of 4 of them, though my application is just for fun and likely not as power conservative as an AirTag. [0] https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf
- michaelmior 2y ago
  Okay, now I'm really curious what application you have for a device buried underground.
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
  Ooh what's the application underground?
  - alnwlsn 2y ago
    So I attend this local annual event that has a time capsule. Each year, we bury one and dig up the one from 5 years ago. This has gone on for several decades, and people are always thinking of interesting things to put in there. I made a little electronics project that is somewhere between "what happens inside a time capsule while it's buried?" and "what if you could wind a watch once and have it still be ticking in 5 years?" I nearly forgot that I made a project page for it: https://hackaday.io/project/160740-low-power-environment-monitor-logger https://hackaday.io/project/160740-low-power-environment-mon... I dug up the first one last year and it had made it to 4.5 years, and I'm actually due to dig up the second one next week.
m463 2y ago
Lots of smoke alarms now have 10 year batteries.
- jerlam 2y ago
  Now mandated in California. No more waking up in the middle of the night and crawling up a ladder to find out which of your smoke alarms decided it was too cold and decided to sing its low battery chirp.
  - michaelmior 2y ago
    Also in New York. Personally I'm all for this even though I think it does make detectors a bit more expensive. Not only because it avoids the need to change batteries, but because it's more likely that smoke detectors actually get replaced at their end of life.
  - _yb2s 2y ago
    Does that fix it or make it worse? If you have 10 smoke detectors and they end up randomly staggered so this happens once a year, and you can't replace the batteries anymore... that seems worse than the old system which completely eliminated this issue if you just replaced them all every year or two on a schedule.
    - jo909 2y ago
      Remember that you are supposed to replace the entire thing because the other components like the sensor or simply capacitors also age. It is a very cheap safety device and simply not worth taking any risks by stretching it to say 15 years instead. The proper way would be to replace them while they were all still fine by making a note in the calendar. There are two cases: Your products are faulty and at least one has not made their intended 10 year lifespan. I'd change them all for better ones. Or They have reached their lifespan and you only noticed because the first one failed. I'd replace them all.
      - _yb2s 2y ago

taylodl 2y ago

This solution makes the AirTag bigger. Might be okay for a photo bag, it's quite cumbersome for car keys and dogs. Besides, your phone will warn you when the battery is getting low. I always keep a couple of 2032 batteries on hand and soon as I get the low battery warning I just pop a new one in.

moojacob 2y ago
They talked about this in the article. It is for bigger items like RVs and camera bags that you also don't interact a lot on a daily basis.
grouchomarx 2y ago
>Might be okay for a photo bag Yes that's what its for

jerlam 2y ago

Not a bad price, but it does require an existing Airtag. Ten years is a very long time in tech. I wouldn't be confident that the Airtag protocol will be functioning in 2035, and there are already rumors of a new Airtag and possibly a newer protocol coming up.

spiderfarmer 2y ago
If Apple kills existing Airtags any time soon they effectively kill the product line. So they won’t.
- minton 2y ago
  This might underestimate Apple consumerism (I include myself in that).
- tpetry 2y ago
  Its really easy for them, and this also in line how they would operate: Add a new Airtag v2 protocol to the next iPhone and sell new Airtags only using that protocol. Why should you buy them? They could have different improvements you would like. Start deprecating Airtag v1 in 3-4 years - and only sell new ones. There are now 3-4 iPhone generations that can handle the new version. The next iPhone in 6-7 years doesn't support Airtags v1 anymore as it is obsolete now for many years. Voila, they killed Airtags v1 in less than 10 years without killing the entire product line by switching to a new version. Is that unrealistic? No, thats their normal way how they deprecate stuff. It still works but only with old hardware or by not getting new updates anymore (iOS, macOS).
  - BudaDude 2y ago
    I would agree with you if this was a main line product (iPad, Macs, iPhone). You could argue the Apple Watch is a main line product as well. But this is an accessory line. Apple is pretty good at keeping accessories working for as long as possible. AirPods v1 still work. A Magic Mouse bought 10 years ago still works as long as the battery isn't dead.

jakedata 2y ago

Brilliant, I just ordered a couple. But I bet that case muffles the sound when the AirTag decides to sing you the song of its people. This might be a boon to AirTag stalkers who are too lazy or unskilled to disable the sound and upgrade the battery life.

kylebenzle 2y ago
> This might be a boon to AirTag stalkers who are too lazy or unskilled to disable the sound and upgrade the battery life. What a nonsensical fear to have.
- jakedata 2y ago
  Why is that nonsensical? Airtags are very nice little bits of technology, a marvel really. But examples of abuse are not theoretical. Increasing the battery life by years and placing the airtag in a waterproof case are totally valid things a legitimate user might wish to do, but it also enhances their nefarious or unethical use potential. That is not nonsense.
  - fragmede 2y ago
    that's not the part that seems nonsensical. it's the idea that a stalker wouldn't just pull out the speaker.
    - wlesieutre 2y ago
      Or for the comment's theoretical "too lazy or unskilled to disable the sound" stalker, wrap the airtag in a sock and stick it in a tupperware container. "Put the airtag in a box" is not really an exclusive invention here.
    - Zababa 2y ago
      Most criminals are dumb. Anything that makes their job easier can increase the crime rate/efficiency of their criminal activities. I'm pretty sure stalking with devices increased after the Airtag was released.

15155 2y ago

I was hoping to see a betavoltaic battery here.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

Titan2189 2y ago

[flagged]

toomuchtodo 2y ago
It’s good marketing for fasteners they would likely spec by default due to tolerances dictated by product size and smaller production runs.
e40 2y ago
Needed to be waterproof?
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

LeafItAlone 2y ago

Really neat idea and at that price I’ll probably get some for luggage and my backpacks, where I have AirTags that stay there the whole time. One thing I’m curious about battery leakage. Many of the batteries of my remotes and similar devices seem to leak after a while (including one I heard pop and got very warm). These are devices that do get frequent usage, so they aren’t just sitting without any discharge (but also the drain for a remote would be very minimal). Would this device experience the same, given how little power the AirTag needs?

ssl-3 2y ago
This appears to be intended to be used with lithium primary cells. Lithium primary cells tend not to get all leaky with age like alkalines do. (They'll keep your remote working approximately forever, too.)
- sss111 2y ago
  Project Farm did a test for the best battery and lithium batteries smoked all the alkalines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efDTP5SEdlo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efDTP5SEdlo
- buescher 2y ago
  IIRC the packaging pretty much says, should they leak, Energizer really wants to hear about it. For what that's worth.

zeagle 2y ago

Does anyone know what camera bag that is on that website. Peak design? Looks perfect for my usual load out.

m463 2y ago
Looks like any number of generic camera bags. Camera bag design seems to have moved on from that, and a sling design seems to be more popular. The sling lets you swing the bag from your back under your arm to in front of you. There is a zipper towards the side that lets you securely access the camera and accessories. So pretty easily you can get your camera out, or later put it back without removing the backpack.
- zeagle 2y ago
  That’s fair. And thanks for the thoughtful reply! I was thinking more for travel / safe storage. I’m often flying on small planes and to throw it in my duffle. My solution is I have a PD 30L as with dslr, 200-400, macro, 24-74 lens two straps are nice to have purely due to weight vs sling. The side access is clutch.
542354234235 2y ago
I'm pretty sure it is the DSLR Pro Pack by Incase. https://www.incase.com/products/dslr-pro-pack?srsltid=AfmBOop26nsMBASu710ib6Y-kvPX48Km1I0TslGR7Qlh6cY5aeQfuBWa https://www.incase.com/products/dslr-pro-pack?srsltid=AfmBOo...
- neilv 2y ago
  It's a good design, IME. Lowepro makes a variety of similar ones. (I had a one similar to the photo, fitting 2 bodies, wide L, long L, f/1.4 prime, strobes and triggers, and boxes of strobe batteries.) Lowepro also has day/overnight/carryon backpacks, so you can carry some DSLR gear, laptop, change of clothes, and toiletries, all in one bag. I still have one LowePro day backpack that I repurposed as engineer/startup briefcase. It fits a huge laptop and misc. stuff for working late hours, and has a DSLR door in the side, so you can slide one shoulder strap off off long enough swing it forward like a sling bag, for quick access to a good camera for serendipitous shots. Regarding real sling bags, I personally wouldn't use for lengthy carrying of heavy stuff, since it's asymmetric left/right. I even got rid of my grocery canvas tote bags, and use an old backpack for carrying home groceries.

dcdc123 2y ago

Cool idea for a product but you either have to be a serious airhead or just lazy to miss or ignore all the low battery notifications. Also, that case should have a spot to store the back plate. > Just discard the AirTag's back plate

avree 2y ago
It's a cool hack, but a terrible idea for a product. There are more components than the battery that will fail over a 10 year period (both in hardware and in software) - which is why ignoring notifications, and assuming that this product solves your problem is a big issue.
- jrmg 2y ago
  This seems incredibly pessimistic to me. Do you really not expect things to last for over ten years? In my experience most electronic things - and especially things that are simple and solid with no wear and tear like an AirTag - easily last 10 years. I’d expect an AirTag to work for, at least, decades.
  - dmd 2y ago
    My amplifier and speakers date from the 70s.
    - avree 2y ago
      Do they run a proprietary Apple software, and have NFC and UWB inside them?
      - Spivak 2y ago
        When the software is fixed we're back to thinking of the object as a single piece of hardware. My Gamecube and Xbox 360 have been working for (nearly) 20 years now. Unless there's a known failure mode in these devices that gets worn down over time you should probably expect them to outlive you. The worst you'll probably get is corrosion from the AA batteries in the pack.

saturn8601 2y ago

Any chance that the AirTag could have a software memory leak that would normally be masked by cutting power once a year? Its possible right? The code must be written in something low level like C. Would be kinda funny if 10 years from now the author gets his stuff stolen again and then discovers said memory leak crashed the Airtag 9 years ago. As Elon Musk likes to say: "The most ironic outcome is the most likely" . (OP I hope your stuff does not get stolen again, its just a joke)

smileybarry 2y ago
AirTags get updates regularly, so they'd probably get power-cycled sooner than that.
- kube-system 2y ago
  They're not being updated any more frequently than they are already reporting their battery status, are they?
  - unsnap_biceps 2y ago
    I would presume the battery status is sent as part of the beacon, firmware is updated only when the phone is locked and charging in range of the tag.
    - kube-system 2y ago
      I believe that's correct. I get low battery notifications when I am out of range of mine, I think.
buescher 2y ago
I would also imagine someone with a fleet of these would be pretty cheesed if Apple rolled out an update that drained some fair fraction of users' batteries, no matter how fast they fixed it.
fiatpandas 2y ago

randyrand 2y ago

double the battery & double the size would be the sweet spot for me. this is a bit big and heavy.

Brajeshwar 2y ago

I'm OK with the One-Year-ish battery life and happy to change them yearly. I try to do them in batches (the fours usually die together within about a month). The irritating ones are in the bags/check-ins I stashed/stored snugly, and now I have to take them out to replace the battery. Of course, the bearable thing is that the battery lasts for about a month after the warning, so there is that. I think I'm complaining about something which is not a big deal. I’m not sure if this much bigger device is any benefit just to make it last 10-years and forget about it.

MisterTea 2y ago
Well look at in in terms of batteries deposited per year in the landfill: 0.1 or 1.
- conductr 2y ago
  GAAP requires you to accrue your batteries deposited in landfill, so back to 0.1 per year (/s if not obvious)
- ianferrel 2y ago
  Two AA batteries is about 16 cm^3 of waste. 10 CR2032s is about 10 cm^3. "Number of batteries" is not the right thing to measure. Maybe volume isn't either, but it's got to be closer.
  - lobsterthief 2y ago
    Probably volume and type of toxic materials are the best metrics

duxup 2y ago

At 10 years I kinda wonder what the odds your AA batteries become problem occasionally (leaking, etc) long before the Airtag... although they are Lithium batteries.

riffic 2y ago
are lithium batteries known to expand or catch fire in the AA form factor?
- kube-system 2y ago
  I believe that is primarily an issue for damaged or rechargeable lithium batteries, so not really a concern here.
- homebrewer 2y ago
  I think you misunderstood GP. Lithium AA batteries are very reliable and keep charge for at least ten years (the standard metric is losing approximately 1% per year), that's what he's saying. They won't burn because they contain metallic lithium (and not lithium salts like rechargeable cells) and don't contain easily flammable organic solvents (yep, like rechargeable cells). There are videos on YouTube of people disassembling them with no problems (for example, to extract metallic lithium for chemistry experiments).
  - riffic 2y ago
    it's a sincere and earnest question - I didn't know. I appreciate the additional info.
IshKebab 2y ago
I think leaking is relatively rare, but based on my experience of "10 year" smoke detector batteries they usually don't last anywhere near that. Also there's stupid legislation in the UK at least around making smoke detectors with replaceable batteries. Took me quite a while to find some.

roger_ 2y ago

This solves one of my biggest issues with AirTags and I'd be tempted to buy one if AirTag 2s weren't right around the corner...

SSchick 2y ago
Pretty much this, I hope they retain the form factor, I would very much buy 3-4 of these for my luggage, I previously duct-taped airtags inside of the case but they died within a year, this would help a lot.

renewiltord 2y ago

Replacing batteries is a pretty big annoyance for me. But if I’m honest, the $19.99+Li Cell Cost is too steep for me. I’ll just replace these every year.

drdaeman 2y ago

Are AirTags actually useful for anti-theft purposes? I threw one in the trunk of my car (just in case - I ordered a 4-pack and I had a spare one), and every single time I drive somewhere it chirps loudly when I'm exiting my driveway, making its presence immediately obvious without any delays, and despite my phone being with me in the car.

dmajor2 2y ago
No, they have been rendered useless for that purpose through software updates because of the almost 100% overlap of the use cases of 1) stalking someone 2) and tracking a thief.
- ronsor 2y ago
  Wait until they realize the almost 100% overlap between the camera's use cases of 1) spying on people and 2) recording nature
  - post-it 2y ago
    Nature cameras are relatively hard to conceal (from humans), whereas AirTags are very easy to conceal.
    - theshrike79 2y ago
      They are also very bad for tracking compared to what you can get on Aliexpress/eBay/Amazon (which are the same tbh). For about the same price you can get a device with a SIM card and GPS/GLONASS and _zero_ ways to detect it.
      - post-it 2y ago
        What's the battery life on that though? The appeal of AirTags is that they last a year and work anywhere that has an iPhone nearby.

mdawwg 2y ago

Cool idea. I actually just recently changed my air tag battery for the first time. The FindMy app notified me when the battery was at 30%. Personally I'm able to risk the battery dying since the tag is on an inexpensive item I lose frequently, but I understand the annoyance of replacing the battery often.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

johnklos 2y ago

I wonder if they really don't know that Apple already has a product named Time Capsule.

chili6426 2y ago
The product you're referring to is called "AirPort Time Capsule" and time capsule can't be copyrighted.
- mjlee 2y ago
  https://www.apple.com/legal/intellectual-property/trademark/appletmlist.html https://www.apple.com/legal/intellectual-property/trademark/... It is a registered trademark. As I understand it, common words or phrases can be protected within the same area. Colours too - https://secureyourtrademark.com/blog/t-mobile-magenta/ https://secureyourtrademark.com/blog/t-mobile-magenta/

humanpotato 2y ago

What is the point of CNC machined screws? I have only seen that type of thing on specialized military applications and the like. I'm sure standard rolled screws would be just fine...

alamortsubite 2y ago
Not technical razzle-dazzle but the sheer aesthetic superiority of its elegant parabolic design make the GFX-100 a marketing breakthrough!
kube-system 2y ago
Well, it is ambiguous enough of a statement that it could be both. Maybe rolled threads and CNC lathe finish on the head... to make it look nice? Rolled threads are stronger anyway. Zooming in, it does look like there's turning marks on the head of the screws.
jonhohle 2y ago
I had the exact same thought. The screws are recessed, so knurling is unimportant. I love the idea and will buy some for the cars but give me a stainless m5, hex cap head screw, I don’t care about the process.
to11mtm 2y ago
If I had to guess, they had easier access to a CNC or someone with CNC skills vs a shop that could get them rolled screws in the right size within their timeframe. The 'nice' thing about CNC screws is that it's cheaper to do short runs. (which, on the military side, can help on some 'security by obscurity' lengths for revers engineering). That said Rolled screws are almost always gonna be better unless the die is fucked.
myself248 2y ago
Marketing wankery. It's _extremely_ valuable among a certain market, and when you look at the pricing here, oh yeah, that's their market.

jmull 2y ago

I know this is useful (for something), but I'm stuck on the plot holes in the motivating story... Why didn't they replace the battery when the app complained? How long would a thief really keep the AirTag anyway? If the thief did keep the AirTag and you tracked them down, then what? A confrontation has a fairly high chance to have a worse result than losing some equipment. You could try to get the police to do it, but that's going to take more time, during which the thief is even more likely to ditch the AirTag. Anyway, you're really swimming upstream trying to think of aigtags as an antitheft device. They're really for something lost, not stolen. Generally, they are specifically designed to not work well in adversarial situations.

cute_boi 2y ago
i wish police do honey trap more often like put expensive equipment. That will definitely reduce lot of crimes.
- roland35 2y ago
  Didn't that work well with car theft? I believe reading something like that
  - colechristensen 2y ago
    https://mndaily.com/190563/uncategorized/minneapolis-police-catch-thieves-bait-vehicle-program/ https://mndaily.com/190563/uncategorized/minneapolis-police-... It's a thing in Minneapolis, though the Kia Boys thing was still very real here, I don't know how much they've kept it up.
    - throwaway48476 2y ago
      Well they're blaming the cars for being too easy to steal and not the thieves, so it's not going well
      - mrguyorama 2y ago

buescher 2y ago

The third time someone calls to complain that the alkaline batteries they put in this leaked, they'll wish they used a soldered-in 3V lithium primary cell. Even though that goes against a certain ethos.

tivert 2y ago
> The third time someone calls to complain that the alkaline batteries they put in this leaked, they'll wish they used a soldered-in 3V lithium primary cell. Even though that goes against a certain ethos. Those aren't alkaline batteries. Energizer makes AA/AAA-size lithium primary batteries, which is what they are using. They wont leak and have a 25 year shelf life. https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf And I don't think they'd get complaints about alkaline batteries leaking. I think pretty much anyone (even those who don't understand batteries), would tend to blame the batteries themselves, not the device they're in.
- buescher 2y ago
  I saw that they recommended Energizer lithiums. So would I. Recommendations won't change that behavior, which I am very familiar with. It's ok that you aren't if you're willing to learn something today.
- wyager 2y ago
  He means that idiot customers will use the wrong batteries and get mad, and they absolutely will. The modal customer doesn't understand anything about battery chemistry and will unconditionally buy the cheapest battery at the store.
  - buescher 2y ago
    No amount of intelligence or understanding of battery chemistry will make batteries any less dismal and disappointing to the consumer. Ironically, the very cheapest carbon-zinc batteries probably would be kind of OK in this application.
  - to11mtm 2y ago

Grazester 2y ago

Who leaves 10K worth of anything in their car? I get antsy leaving my $200 laptop hidden under my seat! This person is crazy. There is also no guarantee they person who stole the bag wouldn't dump the bag(with the hidden AirTag) and just keep the gear or that the police would help recover it even if you gave them the location(many times the don't).

xattt 2y ago
Usually, cars are worth more than 10K and they are often left out in the street!
- Grazester 2y ago
  Yeah but someone can't pick up my car and walk away with it on their back, can they now, genius?
  - withinboredom 2y ago
    hulk has entered the chat
- nine_k 2y ago
  Cars are impractical to carry by hand, while a lot of expensive computer / photo / audio gear can easily be carried in a tote bag.
qazxcvbnmlp 2y ago
The amount of things you leave in your car varies strong by local. In many parts of the country you can leave the car unlocked w/ laptop inside no problem.
npretto 2y ago
Surely going to lunch with 10k of equipment is safer, especially when you'll need to go to the toilet.
- 2y ago

chili6426 2y ago

I have a AirTag in my car so I can find it when I park in an unfamiliar city or an airport parking lot. I'm imagining a rechargeable version I could plug into the cigarette lighter and it would theoretically last as long as my car does.

unsnap_biceps 2y ago
I plan on getting one of these TimeCapsules (what a silly name) and modify it to be rechargeable.
kstrauser 2y ago
When I get out of my car, my iPhone remembers that this was the last place it was connected to the car's Bluetooth. I don't have an special devices or tracker apps or anything else, just "Find My" automatically pinning my car's location on the map. That's such a neat and helpful feature!

tonymet 2y ago

this is a great idea and I'd love to see v2 with a 20 year flat-pack cell with usb-c charging. It would be 40% smaller and you could call it "lifetime charge"

amluto 2y ago

ISTM that this use case would be better served by building a nice piece of openhaystack hardware.

goryramsy 2y ago
I do wish openhaystack would be updated for MacOS 15, currently using a fork from a PR because of changes in MacOS 15’s mail app.

rdtsc 2y ago

> My camera bag with $10k of gear was stolen from my car. When I saw the broken glass and empty backseat, I immediately pulled up FindMy to track the thief ... Aha, but that's not what AirTags are for, according to Apple at least. On https://www.apple.com/airtag https://www.apple.com/airtag Not a single mention of "theft" or "stolen". It will even politely inform the thief you have a tracker in your stuff: > AirTag is designed to discourage unwanted tracking. If someone else’s AirTag finds its way into your stuff, the network will notice it’s traveling with you and send your iPhone an alert I wouldn't be surprised if Apple will come down on them with their legal team for promoting usage of the AirTag that's not according to their intended use.

theshrike79 2y ago
Just as a thought experiment, what do you think would happen if Apple specifically advertised them as theft prevention tools?
- lxgr 2y ago
  Presumably people would start complaining that they're really bad at that, since they loudly make themselves known to any thief.
- rdtsc 2y ago
  > what do you think would happen if Apple specifically advertised them as theft prevention tools? I don't know, I am not Apple, and I don't even have AirTags. What do you think would happen, it seems you already have an idea?

sllabres 2y ago

I have once used a airtag to track a parcel. This is now 3 years ago and despite several low batt warnings since about a year ago its still running. So even wit the tiny cell battery the runtime can be quite long.

esaym 2y ago

> we recommend Energizer Ultimate Lithium The advantage of "lithium" is high rate discharge, not longevity right?

Diti 2y ago
Yep. That recommendation is weird. They should recommend NiMH batteries like the Eneloop series from Panasonic.
cr3ative 2y ago
I think in this case it’s shelf life. Very little discharge for a very long time.
- esaym 2y ago
  Doing some math, looks like a CR2032 is roughly 200mah while AA is 2000mah. So if CR2032 lasts one year, then the AA will be 10 years, two AA would be 20 years. I guess in that case lithium would be the way to go. I just know for your typical wall clock that takes a single AA, whether it is lithium or alkaline, both won't make it much further than a year.
  - ascorbic 2y ago
    These have 3500mAh capacity: https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf
phil21 2y ago
They don't leak would be why I would choose these over an alkaline battery. The draw of an airtag is so low that the shelf life becomes very material. I also put lithium AA/AAA batteries in remotes these days - anything that might get stuck in a drawer for years at a time and needed again for a random task. My A/V receiver remote is rarely touched, but when I need it I really need it. Too many times have I went to grab some device like that only to find the batteries have leaked and corroded a critical component on the PCB.
ascorbic 2y ago

lxgr 2y ago

Nice! Definitely somewhat of a niche use case, but I don't doubt that it exists. I do wonder though: Do AA batteries actually have a shelf life of 10 years even without supplying any current?

jackvalentine 2y ago
Yes - some quality batteries claim 25 years shelf life.
Slartie 2y ago
The Lithium ones that they suggest to use do have a decade or more of shelf life, and they also don't leak! I've got an old pinball machine. Those use AA batteries to store highscores and settings in a battery-powered RAM chip. Typically the batteries must be replaced once a year or at least every two years, largely because of self-drain, and it's a common occurrence of them leaking, which can quickly destroy the 30 year old circuit board they're on. That's why most pinball collectors suggest to use Lithium AA batteries: you get 5-10 year lifetime, no danger of leakage.
- throwaway2037 2y ago
  Do you know why alkaline batteries leak, but lithium do not?

daniel_iversen 2y ago

I wonder if the signal strength is worse or not now that the AirTag is enclosed in another case? I have my AirTag in the car hidden, which already seems to reduce the strength.

TuringNYC 2y ago

Nice solution, but the bigger problem is how AirTags can basically be turned off, which makes it poor for many use cases. Of course, I get it from Apple's perspective, they dont want AirTags to be used to tail others. However, that precludes it from being used for theft tracking. For example, I use an AirTag on my bicycle. If someone steals the bicycle, they are literally informed "an air tag is following you" https://support.apple.com/en-us/119874 https://support.apple.com/en-us/119874 There are a lot of things I'd love to put long-term AirTags on (luggage, snow-blower, childrens' backpacks) but if theft isnt really deterred, then the case for a bulkier AirTag is quite reduced.

unsupp0rted 2y ago
Theft-tracking is sort of an "off-label" use for AirTags, from Apple's perspective. They'd rather make AirTags less generally useful than make them both more generally useful + open to stalking occurrences and lawsuits.
- TuringNYC 2y ago
  Agreed on the trade-off. And there are some absolutely 1000% winning use cases (lost cats, lost dogs, lost luggage). However, lets look at the constraints and outcomes: - Me or other people need to be around (since airtags jump off others' devices) This removes use cases like tracking lost marine goods, tracking lost drones, etc. - Item being tracked has to be big enough to be worth the extra size/weight of the long life battery wrapper This removes most common use cases like wallets, remotes, etc. - Item being tracked has to be something you actually lose w/o wrongdoing. Makes sense for backpacks, purses, parked cars. But, most capital equipment wouldnt be "lost" it would be stolen, so that is out. https://ios.gadgethacks.com/how-to/20-surprisingly-practical-uses-for-apple-airtags-0384571/ https://ios.gadgethacks.com/how-to/20-surprisingly-practical...
  - theultdev 2y ago
    > This removes most common use cases like wallets, remotes, etc. I use an airtag for my wallet and apple remote. https://ridge.com/products/carbon-case-for-airtag https://ridge.com/products/carbon-case-for-airtag https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09G4PT3NJ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09G4PT3NJ

running101 2y ago

Maybe just set a reminder in your phone annually to replace all AirTag batteries

jaykoronivo 2y ago

what a joke.

jaykoronivo 2y ago

AirLuggages!

amelius 2y ago

Why can't the AirTag simply report its battery status and warn the user e.g. through a nearby iPhone? This is another case of bad UX by a company praised for its great "product design skills".

devmor 2y ago
It does do that already. The author likely ignored the notifications repeatedly until it died.
lp251 2y ago
it does
joefitzgerald 2y ago
> Why can't the AirTag simply report its battery status and warn the user e.g. through a nearby iPhone? This is precisely how an AirTag works. It reports its battery status[1] via a notification to the user on an iPhone. [1]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102600 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102600

jcrawfordor 2y ago

The size and cost of this unit and the AirTag to put in it get close, but not quite to, the size and cost of a cellular asset tracker. Roughly $30 more to get into a reputable brand asset tracker. The promised ten-year life is better than the e.g. 4-year life you can get out of a GPS/LTE NB-IOT with lithium primary cell and deep sleep, and with fewer compromises around tesponsiveness to commands (primary-battery asset trackers are usually waking up like once every 6 hours). Still, standalone asset trackers have a number of features that make them more suitable for theft scenarios than airtags, not least of which is the absence of the anti-stalking feature of airtags which means they're never really a concealable option. The major difference left is consumer-friendliness... Most asset trackers are provided by vendors with pretty hefty ongoing fees, and more oriented towards commercial customers like fleet operators and construction. Big difference in ease of purchase and use. It does make you wonder about the market for a really consumer-friendly solution, though.

myself248 2y ago
What's the cheapest monthly fee I can get on an asset tracker with some confidence that it'll still be operating in 4 years when the batteries run out?

nycdatasci 2y ago

Get all perils insurance and make sure your typical use is covered. Often, commercial use will not be covered so it's important to double-check!

cheema33 2y ago
Insurance requires making constant regular payments to a third party for life. I self-insure most things. Also, have you ever made an insurance claim? I have. A claim is really bad for your insurance rates with most insurance companies.

EugeneOZ 2y ago

The last line could be a real link :)

enigma101 2y ago

the battery will erode on the contact springs way before 10 years tho. just sayin. Sorry to hear about your stolen gear

samanthasu 2y ago

If the battery can work so long, I'd love to use it for my quartz watch!!

fauria 2y ago
It is not a new cell battery, is an enclosure with 2 AA lithium batteries that replaces the standard CR2032.

elintknower 2y ago

Incredibly cool and stupid simple. Just purchased 10 of them!

noja 2y ago

I think this is a sleeper ad for the new AirTag, and that it will have a ten year battery life.

varenc 2y ago

If you could disable the public key rotation on the AirTag, presumably you could greatly extend its battery life at the cost of your own privacy. When your battery gets low, Apple warns that "privacy protection is temporarily adjusted, AirTag may be traceable over Bluetooth". Wish I could enable this behavior in certain situations to extend the life. (Or hook up an oversized external battery like this one, but tune the voltage to ~2V so it always looks like a nearly depleted CR2032 battery!)

fellerts 2y ago
I doubt that key rotation is a significant contributor to energy use. Energy spent doing RF (transmitting) plus energy spent sleeping will account for over 90 % of the energy use. Source: I'm in a similar industry
- generalizations 2y ago
  I think the airtag just wakes up less frequently on low power, so it has fewer opportunities to rotate the key.

gcanyon 2y ago

I know the concept here is set it and forget it, but still: wouldn't it make more sense to have a smaller (but still probably larger than the current setup) rechargeable battery? I admit I haven't done any research on this, but the Magic Mouse/Keyboard seem to prove the concept of a rechargeable battery lasting months at least, and the Apple Watch proves the idea of wireless charging in a compact form factor, so it seems likely you could produce something that 1. Still roughly fits the AirTag physical profile (i.e. could be used as a dog tag, which this certainly could not) and lasts for months at least and is easily rechargeable. And again, I get that I'm making it require more maintenance rather than (effectively) zero maintenance with this product, but the wireless recharging makes that maintenance much less of a burden than sourcing and swapping a watch battery.

brookst 2y ago
Months would be painful. I have six airtags, so at two years life I’m replacing a battery every 4 months. If the lifespan was 3 months, I would be recharging one every two weeks. That means pulling them out of (relatively) hidden spots on a car and scooter, a laptop bag that I don’t even use most months, etc. For me, it would mean most of them were dead most of the time.
- gcanyon 2y ago
  Oh, 100% if you're burying one in an obscure place on your car, you want to set it and forget it, and you have the space, so the 10-year battery makes sense. I'm thinking of the more portable use cases.
nevi-me 2y ago
I imagine that keeping the cost down might have been important when designing this. You don't need a rechargeable battery and the charging circuitry. 10 years is also long enough that perhaps the tracker might stop being supported before its battery runs out.

radres 2y ago

Good god. Do you see how good things happen when you let people change their fucking batteries?

undebuggable 2y ago

I'm genuinely surprised that Apple product has a replaceable battery at all.

nielsbot 2y ago
Do you mean “user-replaceable”? You can get new batteries for most Apple products (I think). Exception is AirPods (Pro).
- undebuggable 2y ago
  I just watched a video with the battery replacement in Macbook Air. There is no way the laptop will switch on after I do it by myself for the first time.

simonjgreen 2y ago

A browse through this companies product selection is interesting. They make some really well thought through options for mounting and attaching AirTags that I’ve not seen elsewhere. In particular the pin, bike tube, and fabric mount ones. The CNC screws mentioned in other thread appear to be part of their design language btw.

spike021 2y ago
They've been around quite a while now and have always seemed to have sturdy looking designs.
AkashKaStudio 2y ago
Yeah, I wanted to see all the products at a glance without having to click & open each one of them.
asynchronous 2y ago
I have several of their fabric mounts, one for a backpack and another for a dog collar, they’re more expensive than the cheap knockoffs but the quality is top notch and they’re worth every penny.

satonakamoto 2y ago

My $2 version: https://img.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3/278427340/O1CN01LBluOG245m3ehp24r_!!278427340.jpg https://img.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3/278427340/O1CN01LBluO... https://img.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3/278427340/O1CN01qLKoYT245m3kStyuT_!!278427340.jpg https://img.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3/278427340/O1CN01qLKoY... https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i4/4611686018427384736/O1CN01f6qDO41fQ3GtgTM0h_!!4611686018427384736-0-rate.jpg https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i4/4611686018427384736/O1CN0... https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i1/4611686018427381970/O1CN01UBnkM81CwuqTj89Pa_!!4611686018427381970-0-tbbala.jpg https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i1/4611686018427381970/O1CN0...

mati365 2y ago
That white clock looks cool. What's the name?
- madchinchilla 2y ago
  Looks like Xiaomi Mi Temperature and Humidity Monitor Pro.
- tecleandor 2y ago
  Just in case you're looking for the exact model, it's: LYWSD02MMC
- jjeaff 2y ago
  I have a dozen of those style temperature gauges all over my house. Mine are actually a slightly smaller, square version. You can use Home Assistant to read the Bluetooth temperature and humidity readings from them. They ended up costing maybe $3 each when buying several at a time. Battery tends to last a bit over a year.
ra120271 2y ago
is that a purchasable product? link? Thank you in advance!
rahimnathwani 2y ago
The airtag case doesn't have a gap large enough to allow a regular wire to pass through. I guess you'd need to drill the cover, or just discard the cover and use tape. Then you could use one of these dummy batteries: https://www.aliexpress.us/w/wholesale-cr2032-dummy.html https://www.aliexpress.us/w/wholesale-cr2032-dummy.html

piyuv 2y ago

If you’re the type of person who forgets to change a battery every year, in spite of Find My app warning you a couple of times, most likely you’ll forget to change it in a decade too

adamm255 2y ago
Yeah I've not forgotten yet, the warnings were pretty impressive. Key is to have a few replacements on hand so you dont have to remember to buy them.
phoronixrly 2y ago
Don't worry, the AA cells will deteriorate far before the 10 years necessary to deplete their charge.
- myself248 2y ago
  That's why it's shown with Energizer Lithium primary cells. No they won't.

harvie 2y ago

This is cool, but i can see simple improvement. You're supposed to discard airtag backplate, but the capsule is big enough to provide compartment for storing it. Just in case that you decide to re-use that airtag in some other way in upcomming 10 years... I think that would be neat addition.

starlite-5008 2y ago

[dead]

dgroshev 2y ago

I'm almost sure they are 3D printed on a nylon SLS machine, what a lovely example of high quality printing enabling relatively small scale, high number of SKU production!

billylo 2y ago

A 3D-printed part + two washers + battery case. DIY approach. https://www.printables.com/model/383741-cr2032-battery-adapter https://www.printables.com/model/383741-cr2032-battery-adapt...

q3k 2y ago

My $0 version: https://object.ceph-eu.hswaw.net/q3k-personal/5143b5491fca1100da596b14f68401a9a6977ff6b67ef2f6caa083817d1f451c.jpg https://object.ceph-eu.hswaw.net/q3k-personal/5143b5491fca11... Usually wrapped in electrician's tape. 1. NRF52 board from some scrap given by a friend, running forked/ported OpenHaystack firmware 2. AA battery holder from junk box 3. AA batteries from junk drawer If my math is correct, this should last until AA self-discharge, ie. around 10 years. Yes, it works with Apple's FindMy network. Yes, I've flown with it.

stanmancan 2y ago
I guess anything could be a $0 version if you just happen to have all the parts already.

OceanBreeze77 2y ago

how long do batteries in watches last for?

wkyleg 2y ago

Something like air tags would be a great use case for an open source DePin project. Ideally Zero Knowledge proofs would be used to preserve privacy.

websku 2y ago

there you go. It's useful, but you can find cheaper alternatives easily on chinese websites.

hi41 2y ago

About a year or so back, there was an issue about Airtags being used for stalking a person. Has that issue been resolved by Apple? Or does the issue still exist?

lowbloodsugar 2y ago

Don’t AA batteries leak long before 10 years?

neuroelectron 2y ago

This addresses the main reason why I haven't bought an AirTag yet.