News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:DIY Powerwall Builders Are Using Recycled Laptop Batterie... by captainmuon on Sunday August 27, 2017 @03:43AM (#15109623)
Yeah but if you hack your Tesla even to change the color theme of the display, you'll probably loose warranty, loose certification status or whatever it is called (so you can't have any new parts installed unless it is expensively recertified), you'll get a call from Tesla asking what the hell you are doing, and so on.

On the other hand, I can replace almost every part in my conventional car without ill effects from the manufacturer.

Re:DIY Powerwall Builders Are Using Recycled Laptop Batterie... by jraby3 on Sunday August 27, 2017 @04:13AM (#15109690)
Not for long. You can still do this with older cars, but newer ones really restrict you. I just bought a new car and am not even allowed to jump start someone else's battery without risk of voiding my warranty.
Re:DIY Powerwall Builders Are Using Recycled Laptop Batterie... by gambiting on Sunday August 27, 2017 @09:24AM (#15110681)
I don't know what car you've got but I have a brand new Mercedes-AMG and I can do a surprising number of things with it without voiding the warranty. It's certainly as easy to work on it as on older cars, I don't need to go to the dealership to replace the brakes, the battery, the bulbs, filters, engine oil, transmission and diff oil. Manual explains how to jump start the car but certainly doesn't prohibit it. I've heard some horror stories with newer cars (especially French and American) but it's not like all new cars are horrible to work on.
Re:DIY Powerwall Builders Are Using Recycled Laptop Batterie... by digi_owl on Sunday August 27, 2017 @07:05AM (#15110221)
In large part thanks to the CAN bus and how jump starting is likely to cause enough spiking to fry the boards.

Was trying to help a relative with some issue with their car the other day, and the wiring diagram for the part and related controls almost seemed to run in reverse depending on how the switch was set.

Re:DIY Powerwall Builders Are Using Recycled Laptop Batterie... by hwillis on Sunday August 27, 2017 @08:55PM (#15113730)
doing work on your car always voided your warranty, with good reason. That's not a realistic thing to ask. It's realistic to ask for the UI and apps to be open-source (say, something like android), but even that would be an incredibly open thing for a non-software company to do. I still think it's very unfair to call them extremely closed.

However, I really do wish they'd adopt a more android-like ecosystem.