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Annoyed and feel like venting

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70herald

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I have a small medical device which transmits blood glucose level to my cellphone. basically just reads sensor output (NFC) and transmits to my phone using bluetooth. Every couple of days it needs to be recharged. Ages ago I ordered a spare charging cable from amazon (same cable as pebble watches and many others) USB to a small 2 pins connector with polarized magnets to hold it in place.

Yesterday I couldn't find the original cable so I just grabbed the spare, plugged it in and BAM it let the smoke out faster than old Lucas ever did. So I looking into things a bit and found that most of these cables are set up with the (+) side by the S magnet. But the original came with the (-) next to S and NO polarity protection. Incompetent engineers, I slit the device open and they easily could have found space for an extra diode. I also didn't know that a 5 v UBS charger could cause such a big spark. But WHY go to the trouble of using a semi standard plug interface with POLARITY! and then WIRE IT BACKWARDS?????

So that was the end of a $170 device that contains maybe $3 of electronics but missing a $0.01 diode.
 
That’s awful. Any chance the device is covered under your homeowners insurance?
 
Gliderman8 said:
That’s awful. Any chance the device is covered under your homeowners insurance?
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about the device - that stuff makes me crazy.

Gliderman - I know the answer to this one - of course not - it is less than the deductible and of course your rates go up if you make a claim :rolleyes:
 
Yeah, I know you are right. We are presently renewing our homeowners policy right now. In the new proposed policy there is an add-on for major appliance damage. Both my wife and I agree that our rates will only go up if we use it and not to mention the deductibles make the whole thing a waste of money.
 
True certainly not covered by insurance or by medical insurance for that matter. Warranty also won't cover since of course power was hooked up backwards because of the cable.
Fortunately this is more of a convenience item than necessity.

This is also annoying is because the only reason I bought this device is to allow me to use third party, unofficial glucose tracking software which is in many ways better than the official, "approved" version.
If the manufacturer just designed the software correctly made a decent interface and gave the user more options, there would be no need to hack around designed in limitations, some of them put in for marketing purposes more than the health of the user.
 
Gliderman8 said:
. In the new proposed policy there is an add-on for major appliance damage. Both my wife and I agree that our rates will only go up if we use it .
Click to expand...

The way most of the appliance coverage add-ons are written there is almost no way to use them. They frequently have appliance age limits, high deductibles etc... Almost pure profit margin for the insurer. Same thing with extended warranties.
 
70herald said:
So that was the end of a $170 device that contains maybe $3 of electronics but missing a $0.01 diode.
Click to expand...

Make and sell a million cables worldwide and that 1 cent savings adds up, particularly when they probably know there's little chance they'll need to honor and warranty or get sued. Companies are run by money managers and decreasing unit cost and increasing unit profit are all that counts.
 
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