The IT Nerd

I’ve been following the story of Nonda’s Smart Tire Monitoring System which used external sensors to monitor your tire pressures. Unfortunately these external sensors have a habit of fusing to the valve stems which require you to cut off the valve stems to put air in the tires. And that’s clearly a design flaw that Nonda hasn’t really owned up to other than to swap the sensors for new ones that will do the same thing. Which of course is a #Fail.

Well, you might remember that Nonda themselves let it slip that they were working on a system that used internal sensors which would be similar to those used by most cars that have tire pressure monitoring functionality which would not suffer from the same design flaw. But in the exclusive story that I wrote at the time, they tried to walk that back. But a few months later there was news that Nonda admitted again that they were working on a “version 2” of this system that wouldn’t have this issue. And they from what I can tell did not walk that back. Fast forward to today and I got a tip from a reader which has pretty much confirmed that Nonda has an internal version of the Smart Tire Monitoring System. The tip came in the form of a link to an online manual for the “Smart Tire Monitoring System (Pro Edition)” which uses internal sensors. I ran through the manual and in my opinion it is the real deal. And my tipster also told me the following via email. I have copied and pasted it directly:

I asked them to replace my set to this one and they declined my request. 

Also today i got mail from them that I could be able to replace my set to new version once it will be released. 

So clearly, Nonda is in the process of getting this new version of their so far flawed Smart Tire Monitoring System to market. But they’re doing that while still selling the known to be flawed system to those who would not be aware of the issues that this system has as evidenced by this link from the Nonda webiste. From my perspective, that’s not a cool thing to do and Nonda should really alter it’s behavior accordingly. But given that they seem to be willing to sell a known to be problematic product, I say that you shouldn’t touch any of their products with a 10 foot barge pole as clearly this isn’t the sort of company that you should be dealing with.

Frequent readers will recall that I’ve been covering the issues with the Zus Smart Tire Monitoring System and the rather shambolic response by Nonda the company who makes it. To recap, I pulled the recommendation of the Zus Smart Tire Monitor by Nonda recently because of a pretty stunning design flaw which is it is prone to galvanic corrosion. That causes the sensors to become stuck on the valve stems. That forced me to have the valve stems on the tires of my car cut off when I tripped over this issue. And then the shambolic response to this issue by Nonda started. Followed by rumors of a redesigned model which Nonda would not confirm or deny. Well, a reader tipped me off to this post on the Nonda Facebook page where it says this:

You’ll note that Nonda, or whomever is running their Facebook page is saying that there is a “version 2” of their Smart Tire Monitoring System coming that will not have the issue with galvanic corrosion. But they only said that when they got caught lying to Phil Brown about the sensors having a habit of being stuck on valve stems. So the question is this. Are they just saying that they are working on a “version 2” of their sensors? Or are they just lying to consumers just to keep selling what they have out there right now? That isn’t clear. But let’s take Nonda at their word, which is difficult to do at this point. I have two questions, how do they prove that there are no issues with this version of their Smart Tire Monitoring System? And what are they going to do for existing owners who already own the Smart Tire Monitoring System with the defective sensors? Will they replace them either free of charge or cheap? That isn’t clear either. What would be handy is if Nonda suddenly changes their behavior and becomes completely transparent about all of this. That is the only way that they will regain the trust of their users and media like me who will call them out until they give me a reason not to.

So how about it Nonda?

I first started writing about the issues with galvanic corrosion that the Nonda Smart Tire Monitoring System has back in January of this year. There were a few more articles that I wrote since then. And I thought that things have quieted down on this front. But in the last two or three weeks, my inbox has been hit with a spike of people who are none to happy about the fact that they bought this product and either:

• Had issues with galvanic corrosion
• Didn’t know about the galvanic corrosion issues before buying the product.

Case in point is this thread on Nonda’s own forums which appears to have seen a similar spike in complaints. All the company seems to be able to do is apologize and either ship out a new unit, or refund the purchase price. There seems to be no indication that Nonda is actually trying to address this. A fact further highlighted by the addition of these words to an FAQ that is placed in an obscure part of the Nonda website:

Q7: What to do if I cannot screw the sensors off the valve stem? 

We recommend you to add oil and unscrew the sensor every two weeks especially in the winter season. That’s because antioxidation coating might be scratched during the installation occasionally and salt spread in snow would trigger the oxidation reaction. If you find the sensor is hard to remove, you may go to the local repairing store, replace the valve stem and contact us cs@nonda.us to return the set for replacement or refund. If you still want to use the sensors, we would recommend you to replace with the aluminum valve stem. 

Let’s count the ways that this is a #Fail.

1. It doesn’t say what type of “oil” to use. For the record dielectric grease is what you should be using as that SHOULD stop this from happening.
2. You’re unlikely to see this on the Nonda website unless you go looking for it. Plus if you buy their products through any other source such as Amazon, Best Buy or whatever, you’ll never see it. Which means that you’ll become one of the many people hit by this issue. Thus it make me think that this was placed here for plausible deniability reasons.

All this leaves me with the impression that Nonda isn’t addressing this issue in a way that stops this from happening. Instead I get the impression that they are dealing with each and every individual case of someone who can’t remove the sensors from the valve stems and hoping that this eventually subsides or goes away. Which is not a strategy for success in my mind as winter is only a few months away. And you can fully expect complaints to ramp up even more than they have already. And clearly the company has no plan to mitigate this for new customers, and address this for existing customers.

The bottom line is that by not taking swift and decisive action to remedy this, they are quickly ruining their reputation in the marketplace. And I suspect that they will find it really, really difficult to gain it back because when you don’t address issues with your product is a direct manner, consumers will never spend money with you ever again.

UPDATE: I just got these tweets from a reader:

Or it needs to be made of the same brass composition that the valve stem threads are.

— Sam Oldman 🐀 (@SamLoonie) August 13, 2018

I’m reaching out to a client who is also a material sciences professor at the University of Toronto for confirmation. But this does sound plausible to me.

A reader tipped me off to an app update to the Nonda app that rolled out in the last 24 hours. As part of the release notes, it says that there are “additional features for you to discover.”

That got his attention and he started to look around the app. That’s when he came across this:

It appears that there are crypto currency mining features that are now present in the app as of this update, or one before it. Now if you’re not familiar with the concept of crypto currency mining, there’s a Forbes article that I’ve linked to that will fully explain it. But in short, mining crypto currency requires the use of CPUs. Sometimes other people’s CPUs. And sometimes it may be done with or without your permission. For example, the recent case of cryptojacking where going to a specially crafted webpage enlists your computer to mine crypto curruency without your permission. That of course is bad.

The reader then clicked on the “?” to get more info, and he got this:

Clearly Nonda hasn’t got any documentation on this which is a #Fail. But here’s what’s worse. This feature appears to have been partially turned on by default based on the fact that it selected a mining device all by itself. But it needs you to press the “Start Mining” button to make anything happen. He figured that out because he clicked on “Close All Mining Data” at the bottom of the screen and he got this:

So, what what does all this mean?

I do not think that Nonda is up to anything nefarious as you have to click “Start Mining” for it to actually mine anything. But in the absence of any documentation that says what this feature does, there’s enough here that may get the attention of users in a negative way. And their cute entry in their release note of “additional features for you to discover” doesn’t help with that at all. Nonda would do itself a huge favor by coming completely clean about what this feature is and how it works. Because if they don’t they really risk eroding the trust that users of Nonda products have with the company.

So how about it Nonda?

UPDATE: Further confirmation that the Nonda app selects a mining device by default can be found in this screenshot:

By default, it selects the mileage trip and battery voltage options to give it the mining power of 60 that you see at the top of the screen. When you click on “Close Mining Data”, it de-selects those options.

UPDATE #2: There is now a FAQ that speaks to this. It says in part:

You might notice that there is a CarBlock Token page after the latest app update 6.2.7 and wonder what it is. This page may help you to understand this feature better. 

CarBlock Token is the rewards that we provide to every customer. You need to have a ZUS car charger to activate the feature and it would give you income when you drive your car using the charger.  There would be a variety kinds of factors that affect your daily CarBlock Token income.  

So basically, the company is giving you a way to mine crypto currency. I suppose that’s cool. But their rollout of this feature sucks because at least one person was bothered enough by it to reach out to me. And I in turn posted this story. Nonda really needs to handle this sort of thing better going forward.

UPDATE #3: A reader pointed out that there is no privacy policy in regards to this. Nor is there any info on how your data might used or shared. #Fail

Frequent readers of this blog will recall that I highlighted a stunning design flaw in the Nonda Zus Smart Tire Monitoring System. The flaw is that the sensors that mount on the valve stems are subject to galvanic corrosion. That leaves them stuck on the sensors and in my case, I had to take my SUV to a tire shop to have two of the valve stems cut off. That led to me pulling my recommendation of the product which is something that I rarely do.

Today I got wind of a interesting development in this story. On the Nonda forums which are littered with people who have this issue, I noted this response from their community manager which caught my interest. I took a screenshot in case the link that I posted gets deleted (click to enlarge):

Nonda is developing a system that uses internal sensors? Here’s the downside to that. The ten minute install that they promised when they came out with their original yet flawed system will not be possible as you will have to take it to a tire shop or dealer to yank all four wheels off the car and possibly remove the tires to get these installed. Here’s the upshot, this makes them just like OEM sensors. Which means unless you do something like put metal valve caps on the stems, galvanic corrosion should not be a problem. The fact that the community manager is offering them up means that they exist or they’re close to existing. Either way, this is an intriguing development. I reached out on the Nonda forum to be put in touch with someone regarding this (click to enlarge):

Plus I reached out on Twitter as well this:

Hello @nondainc , your community manager let the cat out of the bag about a version of the Smart Tire Monitoring System that is INTERNAL. Would it be possible to be put in touch with someone who can speak to this so I can update the story about this that is online at present? pic.twitter.com/n4jiCDvfJG

— The IT Nerd (@The_IT_Nerd) April 4, 2018

If I get something back from Nonda, I will update this post accordingly. Including, if they plan to roll this out to existing users of the product as well as those who have had issues with the product.

Watch this space.

UPDATE: Interestingly enough Nonda has gone silent since I posted this. Their community manager isn’t responding to posts on their forum, and they aren’t responding to anyone on Twitter from what I can tell. I’m not sure if this story has made them go underground or not. But I decided to poke a stick in the cage to see if I get anything:

Any comment on this the tweet below @nondainc as my story on this has generated a lot of interest and I suspect you're going to get a lot of questions on this if you haven't already? https://t.co/gC2aiG4wuH

— The IT Nerd (@The_IT_Nerd) April 6, 2018

Let’s see what happens.

UPDATE #2: Exactly two minutes later I got this reply:

Hello. We are still working on improving the ZUS STSM's sensors, and we will make an announcement once an update has been made on the hardware and once they are ready. Thank you.

— nonda (@nondainc) April 6, 2018

You can bet that I will be holding them to that. Interesting that they didn’t answer the question though. Read into that what you will.

UPDATE #3: I got an interesting reply on Nonda’s community forum via this link and the screenshot below (Click to enlarge):

So now they’re denying that they’re coming up with internal sensors. Or at least, that’s how I read this response. This despite the fact that “Julieta” herself used the word INTERNAL the post that resulted in yours truly posting this story. I’m guessing that she’s trying to walk the original statement back. Walking that statement back is going to be a problem as over the weekend, this appeared on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/elopez7000/status/982395217696309248

Then Nonda replied to “Edward” alone leaving me out of the loop. Though I still saw the reply:

Yes. We estimate the battery life to be 1+ years. It is calculated based on 3 hours of driving per day. Actual lifespan may vary depending on environmental temperatures.

— nonda (@nondainc) April 7, 2018

The way I read this, the person behind the Nonda Twitter account essentially confirmed that the company is working on INTERNAL sensors. The fact that whoever controls their Twitter account isn’t walking back the fact that internal sensors are in play is significant because either that person isn’t in the same meetings with “Julieta” to make sure that they’re both on the same page, or one of them is communicating “alternate facts” to the public. Perhaps they might want to get together and get on the same page as these two are not helping to put this to bed.

By the way, if they are going to go with internal sensors, and you have to swap the battery once a year, here’s how that stacks up with OEM sensors of a similar design:

For comparison purposes, an internal OEM sensor battery has a lifespan of roughly 5 years and the battery cannot be replaced. You would have to replace the entire sensor. https://t.co/FGsFcHf4nN

— The IT Nerd (@The_IT_Nerd) April 7, 2018

In any case, let’s assume for a second that “Julieta” mispoke. If that’s true, then that makes this question that I asked relevant (Click to enlarge):

It will be interesting to see what they reply with.

UPDATE #4: Here’s what “Julieta” replied to me with (click to enlarge):

So I think they’re hoping that by telling existing owners to use dielectric grease to keep the sensors from being fused to the valve stems, that they won’t have to go through the expense to replace the sensors that are in the field with an upgraded model that (hopefully) doesn’t have this issue. I’m not sure if that’s such a smart idea given what has gone on to date. I think that Nonda may regret this decision when this problem doesn’t go away. I say that because those who buy this product will not get this advice about using dielectric grease and then get into this situation. They then will not be happy when they discover that this is a known issue, but they didn’t get the advice upfront about the dielectric grease prior to the initial install. Not only that, but they will be even less happy when they find out that Nonda came up with an upgraded sensor and didn’t proactively get them into the hands of existing users.

I guarantee that this will not end well for Nonda. I think I’ll sit back and watch what happens next.

UPDATE: There’s a new development in this story which is available to read here.

Frequent readers of this blog will know that I pulled the recommendation of the Zus Smart Tire Monitor by Nonda recently because of a pretty stunning design flaw which is it is prone to galvanic corrosion. I wanted to give an final update on this now that I have received a replacement unit from the company.

First of all, the replacement unit sat in my den for about a week while my wife and I debated whether we should put it back on the car or not. In the end, we decided to put it back on the car because having some sort of tire pressure monitoring system on it is better than none. But we would take the advice of the company and use dielectric grease on each of the valve stems to ensure that galvanic corrosion would not be an issue.

Now for a quick science lesson. Galvanic corrosion is a type of corrosion that Wikipedia defines as follows:

Galvanic corrosion (also called bimetallic corrosion) is an electrochemical process in which one metal corrodes preferentially when it is in electrical contact with another, in the presence of an electrolyte.

In this case, the valve stems and the sensors which are both made of metal (brass in the case of the valve stems, and some type of alloy in the case of the sensors) fuse together when in the presence of salt water (road salt is used to keep the roads free of ice and that becomes salt water when the temperature is high enough) which would qualify as an electrolyte. That keeps you from being able to remove the sensors to add air to your tires. That’s a pretty stunning design flaw as you would think that Nonda would have factored that into the design of the product. But clearly they didn’t which is why we’re here talking about this. Now what dielectric grease does is act as an insulator from the salt water and the two types of metal present to stop this from happening. So, what one has do at least once a month, if not every time the sensors are removed to add air to the tires is coat the threads of the valve stem with dielectric grease before screwing the sensors back on.

Top Tip: The guys at Tires23 suggest that you should do this as a matter of course to ensure that you are able to remove pressure sensors like the ones that Nonda supplies, or the regular rubber valve covers that are on your average car.

In my case, I went one step further. I cleaned the valve stems of each tire with alcohol to ensure that there was nothing “bad” on them that could cause an issue. Then applied the dielectric grease before installing the sensors on each valve. So for now, the Smart Tire Monitor is back on the car. I say for now because I am researching its replacement. As soon as I find something that I feel comfortable putting on the car, the Smart Tire Monitor will be replaced straightaway. And that’s a shame because I think Nonda has the right idea here by having a system that constantly analyzes your tire pressure to warn you of impending danger which is a step above what even factory tire pressure monitoring systems do. But the fact that they clearly didn’t take into account galvanic corrosion into the design of the product is an #EpicFail. Now Nonda did say in Tweets and other communication with me that they’re looking at addressing this. For example:

Hi! Our product engineers are still working on improvements for the ZUS Smart Tire Safety Monitor. Once I receive an official word from them I will let you know.

— nonda (@nondainc) February 5, 2018

So, my challenge to them is this: I am holding them to what they said above. I would love to know how this will be addressed as I suspect that this is going to continue to be a problem for anyone who buys this as the replacement unit that I received from Nonda seems no different than the original one. Furthermore, if they actually redesign the product to resist galvanic corrosion, I am willing to do another review on it to see if they have truly addressed it. Until that happens, I will still continue to not recommend this product to my readers.

UPDATE: So much about this being a final update. I came across the fact that Nonda appears to be working on a system with INTERNAL sensors. Details here.

I recently came across ZUS when I was looking for a car charger for my car. You see, even though I own a five passenger SUV, it only has a single USB port which doesn’t charge devices all that fast. So to head off any potential arguments with my wife on road trips, I spent $29.99 USD on the ZUS. Here’s what it looks like when it’s plugged into the 12V outlet in my car:

It bills itself as a car charger that charges your phone or tablet at twice the speed of your car. On that front it delivers. I can say that it took my iPhone from an 80% charge to 89% in a 25 minute drive. If I used the USB port built into the car, it would have only added three or four percent of charge to my phone. It also allows you to charge two devices at the same time which is handy as well. When the ZUS is plugged in to the 12V outlet, it softly lights the surrounding area and lets you know your device is charging. It’s also built to meet the US Military MIL-STD-810G high temperature standard, which means that it will survive a day in your car in the heat of the summer.

Now, that all sounds cool, but it has one additional trick. It can help you find you car if you have a habit of losing track of it in a big parking lot as in the ones that you find in shopping centers. It pairs to your phone via Bluetooth and has an app that’s available on iOS and Android (which requires you to create an account using your e-mail address or a Facebook account) which has to be running in the background that tracks your current location in real time with minimal battery drain. When you shut off your car, ZUS disconnects from your phone and the app saves your current location. Now it takes up to 45 seconds to save your location, so make sure you don’t rush out of your car until it notifies that your location is saved. Once it is saved, you can set a parking timer so that if you pay for parking, you don’t accidentally let your parking expire and you go on your way. If you need to find your way back to your car, the app will lead you there in one of two ways:

This mode allows you to use your phone like a compass to lead you back to your car.

Alternately, you can use a map to do the same thing. The blue dot is me. The black dot with the “P” and the car symbol is my car. It works well as long as the phone can get a GPS lock on your location. That means that underground parking lots and the like are not going to work with ZUS. But the app does allow you to snap a picture of your surroundings so that you can have some way of finding your car in that circumstance.

Now one thing that I did test out is if you could use ZUS with multiple phones. You can. What I did was that I set up the app on my wife’s iPhone and logged into the app using the email address and password that I used when I set it up on my iPhone. It worked, but I had to turn it off Bluetooth on my iPhone so that ZUS would pair with my wife’s iPhone. Thus, it cannot be connected to two phones at the same time. That’s not a huge deal as you only need one phone connected for ZUS to work.

My verdict? This is a really good car charger for your phones and tablets that happens to have the ability to help you find your car in a huge parking lot. The price is right and I’d recommend it without hesitation.