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Right to repair is not a danger

According to Master Electricians chief executive Alex Vranyac-Wheeler, right to repair "could be deadly".

What is this man smoking?

Seriously... right to repair is a brilliant concept that is long overdue in this country. It is the loss of this right to repair that is seeing mountains of waste being produced on a daily basis -- when perfectly servicable items are discarded due to lack of parts or service data.

Right to repair is essential if we're not going to squander the planet's precious resources and it also has the potential to preserve dying industries or restore some that have all but vanished.

There was a time when every town had several TV repair businesses.

Indeed, I probably spent at least 10 years of my working life as an electronics repair person -- fixing products that failed long before their useful life was over.

In New Zealand there was even a nation-wide company (TISCO) that had a fleet of white vans which would call to your home whenever the line-output transformer or some other critical component in your TV failed. (National Library reference).

I just checked and TISCO still seems to be in business but I don't think I've seen one of those white vans for a very, very long time.

These days, if your TV breaks and it's out of warranty then odds are that it's either still under warranty or you'll just go buy another one with improved technology and features. That creates an awful lot of waste.

Ah for the wonderful days when every part was easily replaced and each set had a service manual that documented the circuit and provided useful fault-finding tips. Ask for a circuit diagram for any modern piece of electronics and you'll be met with blank stares. At best you might just get a block diagram consisting of some rectanges that represent major circuit boards, joined by lines representing any wiring harnesses.

However, given the cost of labour and the ultra-low price of replacement electronics these days it's easy to see why repair shops have all but vanished. Even with the parts and documentation it's probably not economic to repair much in the way of consumer electronics these days.

Never the less, The Master Electricians have issued a stern warning as reported by RNZ that the right to repair could cost lives.

Seriously?

They cite the example of a microwave oven which contans some pretty beefy capacitors capable of storing high voltages with enough current to kill anyone who's stupid enough to get in their way.

Well guess what?

This is nothing new.

"Back in the day" any piece of electronics that had valves (vacuum tubes) in it also had beefy capacitors which held more than enough voltage to shock and more than enough current to kill. As an electronics engineer or service technician, you soon learned to discharge these capacitors before working on such devices -- just as you would turn off the engine in a car before trying to change the fan-belt.

Let's be honest... how many home handymen do the "Master Electricians" expect to be ripping the covers off a microwave oven and throwing in a new magnetron or other component -- even if they could buy one under right to repair legislation?

No, right to repair these days is designed to stop manufacturers from artificially restricting the ability to repair their expensive products (not cheap Chinese tat) through restricting the availability of parts or knowledge and especially through artificial barriers such as software with proprietary access codes and such.

If you spend thousands (or more) on a product, the right to repair that product must be enshrined in law.

We see farmers that are unable to perform even basic service tasks on their tractors because the onboard electronics require a "special" dealer tool to reset them after something as simple as an oil change or new battery. This becomes a license to print money.

In the age of modern cars, the same sort of thing is happening -- just try changing the battery in a new BMW for example. You can't just unbolt the old and bolt in the new -- no, each battery has to be paired with the vehicle and that requires the use of a special device available only to authorised BMW dealers and that's the problem.

It takes me about 5 minutes to replace the battery in my old 1994 Toyota ute and all I need to do so is a couple of ring-spanners of the correct size. Total cost -- whatever the battery itself costs down at Repco or even The Warehouse.

Why can't BMW owners be granted the same freedoms? Why are they held hostage by dealers who may choose to charge hundreds of dollars (or more) for a few minutes of work to hook up their brand-specific device and press the button marked "pair"?

Right to repair would force the likes of BMW to make the information needed to perform this task available to everyone -- as a *right*.

I don't know why the Master Electricians have got their ponytails in a knot over right to repair... back in the day the streets weren't littered with people who'd electrocuted themselves while trying to fix their TV set or radio.

Carpe Diem folks!

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