The Indian government has directed Google and Apple to take down three mobile applications, BAT-BMS, Lossigy, and Epoch-i-ion, after they were allegedly misused to remotely disable e-rickshaws and other battery-operated three-wheelers mid-journey, putting passenger safety at risk.
My house batteries for my PV system are also susceptible to this. Ugh.
They’ve both got Bluetooth for monitoring and configuration. Some config changes require a PIN but not the settings to enable/disable charge and discharge. Someone could just get within range of them, install the official app, and set discharge to “off” and shut down my house.
I’ve also not found a way to disable bluetooth on them. Gonna have to put them in a damn Faraday cage if I decide to worry about that possibility. :sigh:
Wait, mine requires I scan a QR code physically on the device, or typing in the serial number. You can just… connect without any security?
Yep. The QR code is only the encoded BT address to make connecting in the app easier than…selecting it from a list.
Oooof. What an amazingly smart design choice.
That really sucks. My Solar system from my previous home used zigbee instead of bluetooth, but it was pretty much only for monitoring. I was glad that they failed to lock it down as getting access to that was the only way I could get to see interesting data, the company refused to let owners have access to their own data.
Name & shame the company?
It was Vivant Solar, but they have since been bought out by another company (apologies, I don’t recall the name) that also didn’t grant us access to data.
I’ve never before appreciated enough that the shitty bluetooth emitter of my system has such short range that I have to lay my phone on top of it in order to work
Yeah. These are pretty short range and my house (block construction + metal roof) blocks the signals pretty well. Batteries are installed in the basement, and even upstairs I struggle to keep a signal, especially with a crowded 2.4 GHz wifi with all my smart bulbs, etc.
Someone would have to be right at my doorstep to pull this off unless they hook up a directional antenna and point it right at them. Still, would be nice if I could just turn off Bluetooth since I can just use a wired serial connection. At least the inverter has an external Wifi/BT module I can just choose not to connect (it also has a serial connection for monitoring/config).
There is a Bluetooth chip somewhere that is connected somehow. Assuming you can somehow get to it without destroying the battery, disconnecting it shouldn’t be difficult.
I thought about that, but one of the safety features of these batteries is an active fire suppression system that fills the interior with some kind of fire-extinguishing foam. I’m terrified to try to take these apart for fear of somehow triggering that. Plus, they’re hella expensive lol.