Dealers Charge for Firmware Update?!? on brand new carb

[dangerousatom]

What is the deal Im in Pennsylvania 18951 and have called 8 dealers within reasonable driving distance and everybody wants to charge me to get a flash on a brand new carb. One place said a minimum of $50 another said standard shop rate at $79 an hour and it would likely take 45 minuets...?

Im beginning to think Husqvarna only created Autotune to entice chainsaw dealers to carrying Husky so they can make more money for doing near nothing

 

[hacskaroly]

What is the deal Im in Pennsylvania 18951 and have called 8 dealers within reasonable driving distance and everybody wants to charge me to get a flash on a brand new carb.

I had several customers that had autotune saws that just stopped working. Apparently the saw detected what it determined was a "bad" situation and shut itself down. It required being hooked up and the firmware reflashed. After that the saw started with no issue.

It is disheartening to have to take the saw in and get it flashed/reflashed. I wish that the software/dongle were available and reasonable for people to do at home. I have a work 562 that has spark and gets fuel to the carb and plenty of air, but won't even pop or fire up. Work does not want to pay for a computer diagnosis and I am not going to pay for it (unless they give me the saw...lol, which they won't). So it becomes a parts saw.

 

[redline4]

Why do so many people expect things to be paid for by someone else, either the manufacturer or the service center, for some type of product they purchased in perpetuity?

 

[RCBS]

I put the updated AT12 carb on my Mki 550 a few years back. Guy I bought it from asked for my serial # and bumped it for me before he shipped it. No extra charge.

 

[Hinerman]

Why do so many people expect things to be paid for by someone else, either the manufacturer or the service center, for some type of product they purchased in perpetuity?

Trying to understand your question. Are you asking: Why do so many people expect things to be fixed by somebody else, for free, for eternity?

Yes, or no, or something else?

 

[redline4]

Trying to understand your question. Are you asking: Why do so many people expect things to be fixed by somebody else, for free, for eternity?

Correct. I guess I worded it poorly.

 

[dangerousatom]

Why do so many people expect things to be paid for by someone else, either the manufacturer or the service center, for some type of product they purchased in perpetuity?

Its literally a 1 minuet ordeal form what I gather. Plug the saw in and initiate an update....walkaway and comeback give the customer the saw. I have the Husky Diagnostic box and can get into the carb with a compy, but dont have a dealer login to access software updates or new carb initial firmware.
IMO its a dealer/customer appreciation/loyalty thing.
At least the customer comes in and waits in the showroom while it updates. Then maybe buys mix-fuel-filter-chain or "ogles" a new saw while their there.....?

 

[Hinerman]

Correct. I guess I worded it poorly.

You bring up a valid point. I know your profession so I understand your point of view. I think most people on here are used to being able to fix any saw themselves, and not have to rely on a dealer for repairs. I think these people are just frustrated having to take their saw to a dealer and paying, what for some people seems an overpriced fee, for a simple "flash" of a new carb. I think the flash should be free with the carb purchase, but that is not my decision. I think most people here don't expect free service; I am sure a few do.

 

[Steve]

Its literally a 1 minuet ordeal form what I gather. Plug the saw in and initiate an update....walkaway and comeback give the customer the saw. I have the Husky Diagnostic box and can get into the carb with a compy, but dont have a dealer login to access software updates or new carb initial firmware.
IMO its a dealer/customer appreciation/loyalty thing.
At least the customer comes in and waits in the showroom while it updates. Then maybe buys mix-fuel-filter-chain or "ogles" a new saw while their there.....?

So if you spent millions of dollars of your own money designing and building software would you give it away for free because it only takes 30 seconds to download or would you like a tiny fee to recoup your cost?

 

[Nutball]

Does it really cost that much to build the software? I'm sure it doesn't take 10,000 programmers several months. 45min to update a saw sounds unreasonable. A hacker could probably do it faster without the OEM tools.

It doesn't need to be free, but to me it's like buying a song and putting it on your MP3 player. $5, maybe $15 with inflation and taxes for having the brick and mortar shop do it for you.

I'm surprised the saws don't take a common USB cable, so you can go online and pay Husqy $5 for an update. We're lucky it's not as bad as DJI drones where the software cripples the performance after a while until you get their regular updates, which are probably rather China's regular updates on video and location data of it's users.

 

[dangerousatom]

Well I spent almost $100 on a new carb thats technically useless untill firmware is uploaded. While just about any auto parts store now does free diagnostic and code deletion in leu of selling parts to fix said codes.
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IMO this will eventually change to let us all in on the tech side

 

[Steve]

Does it really cost that much to build the software? I'm sure it doesn't take 10,000 programmers several months. 45min to update a saw sounds unreasonable. A hacker could probably do it faster without the OEM tools.

It doesn't need to be free, but to me it's like buying a song and putting it on your MP3 player. $5, maybe $15 with inflation and taxes.

Who knows how much it cost. It's just an example.

 

[Motorka]

What is the deal Im in Pennsylvania 18951 and have called 8 dealers within reasonable driving distance and everybody wants to charge me to get a flash on a brand new carb. One place said a minimum of $50 another said standard shop rate at $79 an hour and it would likely take 45 minuets...?

Im beginning to think Husqvarna only created Autotune to entice chainsaw dealers to carrying Husky so they can make more money for doing near nothing

New carb is not flashed. Why ... flash is selected by a number on chainsaw.

 

[Steve]

Well I spent almost $100 on a new carb thats technically useless untill firmware is uploaded. While just about any auto parts store now does free diagnostic and code deletion in leu of selling parts to fix said codes.
.
.
.
IMO this will eventually change to let us all in on the tech side

Auto parts stores do not do a free engine light diagnostic check. They pull a code and sell you a part. The never check any thing much less know a damn thing about how any system on a modern vehicle even works.

You're $100 carb is only useless because you are too stubborn to have the dealer help you for a small fee to get your saw up and running. Complaining on the Internet about woa is me because I have regrets on my garden tool purchase is getting you no where. Pay the fee, thank the dealer, and cut some trees already.

 

[Wonkydonkey]

I quite agree that the dealer is probably making a few bucks out of hooking it up. But they do have overheads
And I do think there should be a set rate fee by husky for a basic update.
However they got your by your bellend with these new saws just like new trucks .

 

[wood4pit]

I work as a firmware engineer. I suspect the system could be designed without the need for the updates. Carb software need not change, maybe some parameters but that could be done by the saw itself.

The MBA's just won't let a potential revenue stream go.

Shakespeare wrote his complaint about the lawyers before there were MBA's

 

[Nutball]

Yes, they could have a serial number chip for the carb to talk to, or each part could otherwise identify the other through some wired communication. I wouldn't expect the wrong version of coil to work well with the wrong version of carb on the wrong saw.

I saw a video where a guy tried to blow up a little speaker on the same brand of huge amplifier, but the amp was able to identify the speaker somehow and wouldn't overdrive it.

 

[jblnut]

Come play in the agricultural technology world. $79/hr is a bargain. The red and green dealers up here charge north of $155/hr to do anything.

I like my old saws so I can work on them myself. The auto tune stuff is nice but I’ll eventually get stuck because of a computer. No thanks.

 

[stihl livin]

Consider yourself lucky that you did the carb swap yourself and saved money that way. If the cost of fixing your saw is to much to handle find a different hobby.

 

[Squish9]

This is the whole right to repair argument. Everything else I own I can access with a OBD2 port and I can find software to access it. I just serviced my bike, cleared the service reminder and balanced the throttle bodies etc with a cable and some software.

If Stihl or husky would give us access to the software (one off fee) then it would make this much better for the average person. I repair a few saws and my own, I would pay a reasonable fee for access but as it stands now I turn away anyone with newer saws because I can't do the complete job. My personal saws are all older to avoid this crap and it's unlikely I will buy anything new because there has not been a big enough improvement from the last generation of saws to justify having it repaired at a dealer vs me fixing it.

Same thing is happening in farm equipment, people are dragging the old stuff out and repairing / rebuilding it to avoid waiting hours for a service person to show up to clear a code. I like the technology, just give us access to fix things ourselves.