Effective date: September 2026 · X Engineering · xengineering.net
This policy covers two distinct things: this website (xengineering.net) and X Engineering hardware and software products, including the alternator regulator and its companion app and cloud services. Where a section applies to only one, it is labeled accordingly.
Website Applies to visitors of xengineering.net.
Product Applies to users of X Engineering hardware (including the alternator regulator), firmware, companion mobile apps, and cloud-connected services.
Both Certain sections apply to both.
When you visit xengineering.net, our hosting provider may automatically log standard server data including your IP address, browser type, referring URL, and the date and time of your request.
We use Umami, a privacy-friendly analytics service, to understand aggregate traffic to this website. Umami does not use cookies and does not collect personally identifiable information; it records only anonymous, aggregated data such as page views, approximate location (country/city), referrer, and device type.
Beyond Umami, this website loads no advertising, retargeting, or session-replay trackers, and it sets no cookies at all. There is nothing here to consent to and nothing to opt out of, which is why you are never shown a cookie banner. If that ever changes, this section changes with it.
A few small things are stored in your own browser, and none of them is a cookie. If you subscribe to the article newsletter, or close the subscription prompt, a flag is written to your browser's local storage so you are not asked again; it holds no identifier and is never sent anywhere. If you leave a comment on an article and type a name, that name is kept in local storage so you do not have to retype it on the next one. The interactive dashboard demo writes two local-storage entries of its own, holding its console settings and a random identifier the demo generates for itself, so that it behaves like the real device; they are not used to recognise you. If you reached this site by clicking one of our advertisements, the advertisement's click identifier is held in session storage for that browser tab alone and is attached to your order if you buy something. After a purchase, that identifier and the amount paid are sent from our server to the advertising network so the advertisement can be credited with the sale; your name, email address and shipping address are not included, and nothing is sent if you did not arrive from an advertisement. Your browser never contacts an advertising network, which is why there is still no advertising cookie or tracking script here. All of these entries are readable only by this site and clearing your browser data removes them. Because they are per-browser, the newsletter prompt can reappear on a different device or in a private window.
Two forms on this website ask for an email address, and both are optional. The international waitlist stores the address and the country you select, so we can tell you when shipping opens to your country. The article newsletter stores the address, and which page the signup came from, so we can send new articles.
Subscribing to the newsletter takes effect immediately, and the first email you receive confirms it and carries an unsubscribe link — so if an address is entered by mistake, one click removes it. Every article email carries that same one-click unsubscribe, and the unsubscribe also works from your mail app's own unsubscribe button. Neither list is sold, rented, or shared, and neither is used for advertising. Article emails contain no open-tracking pixel and no rewritten click-tracking links, so we cannot tell whether you read one. Unsubscribing from the newsletter does not affect order or support email, which is separate.
Blog articles carry a comment box, and the support forum takes posts, and neither needs an account. What you type is published on this website and is visible to anyone, including search engines. A name is optional on both; leave it blank and the comment shows as Anonymous. The comment box asks for no email address at all. Along with each submission we store a one-way hash of your IP address, used only to rate-limit spam and never shown to anyone. Comments and posts can be removed on request, or removed by us if they are spam or abusive.
The firmware installer page writes firmware to a regulator over a USB cable, from your browser. Each time it is run, the page sends us a report of that attempt: the regulator's serial number, the firmware version it was running and the version installed, whether the install succeeded, and the installer's own progress and error messages. We use this to confirm that an install worked and to diagnose one that did not; because the serial number identifies the unit, a failed install can be matched to its order so we can get in touch. The report carries no account credentials and nothing about your computer beyond the browser type. It is sent whether or not the install completes, and, like the comment forms, it includes a one-way hash of your IP address used only to limit abuse.
Our products interface with NMEA 2000 (NMEA2K) networks to receive and process GPS and navigation data. In addition, if you grant the companion app permission to access your phone's location, the app may provide your phone's GPS data — position, speed over ground, and course over ground — to the device as a backup source when NMEA2K data is unavailable or not installed. Phone-derived GPS data is processed and stored identically to NMEA2K-derived data, including cloud synchronization where enabled. Collected navigation data may include:
When the solar-forecast feature (Defer to Solar) is enabled on the device, the device sends the vessel's latitude and longitude to Open-Meteo, a third-party public weather service, in order to retrieve a solar irradiance forecast for that position. This request is made directly by the device and does not pass through our servers. The feature is disabled by default, no position is sent while it is off, and it can be switched off at any time. See Section 4.
If you create an account to access leaderboards / cloud features, we collect:
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
We may use your data, including aggregated, de-identified, or anonymized data derived from GPS and performance information, to develop commercial products and services, license data insights to third parties, or otherwise generate revenue. See Section 6 for more detail and your rights.
We share data with vendors who help us operate our infrastructure, host our cloud services, process payments, send emails, and provide customer support. These parties are contractually limited to using data only for the services they provide to us.
If you enable the solar-forecast feature (Defer to Solar), the device sends the vessel's latitude and longitude directly to Open-Meteo, a public weather API, to retrieve a solar irradiance forecast for that position. This request does not pass through our servers, and Open-Meteo is not one of our contracted service providers — their handling of the request is governed by their own terms. The feature is off by default. This is the only case in which the device sends your position to a party other than us.
See Section 5 below.
If X Engineering is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such change in ownership or control.
We may disclose information where required by law, court order, or government authority, or where we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of X Engineering, our users, or others.
We may share your information for other purposes with your explicit consent.
Leaderboard features may display your display name, performance metrics (e.g., top speed, segment times, distance), and vessel or vehicle information to other registered users. Your precise GPS track may be processed server-side to compute leaderboard scores; by default, only derived metrics (not raw coordinates) are shown publicly unless you choose to share a full track.
You may opt out of leaderboard participation at any time through your account settings. Opting out will remove your entries from future leaderboard displays, though previously published data may remain visible for a period while changes propagate.
We do not currently sell your personal information to third parties in exchange for money. However, we reserve the right to do so in the future, including the sale or licensing of GPS-derived data, performance data, and aggregated datasets.
If we begin selling or sharing personal information in ways that trigger opt-out rights under applicable law (including the CCPA), we will update this policy, provide notice, and honor any required opt-out mechanism before doing so.
We may share de-identified or aggregated data — data that cannot reasonably be used to identify you — with research partners, marine industry organizations, or commercial third parties without restriction, and this does not constitute a "sale" under applicable privacy laws.
California residents may submit a Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information request at any time. See Section 12.
We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, to provide our products and services, to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. GPS and performance data associated with your account is retained for the life of your account and for a period after deletion to allow for backup recovery and legal compliance. You may request deletion of your data as described in Section 10 or by contacting us directly.
We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You use our products and services at your own risk. If you believe your account or data has been compromised, contact us immediately at joe@xengineering.net.
To report a security vulnerability, please contact us responsibly at the address above. We appreciate responsible disclosure.
Our products and services are not directed to children under the age of 13 (or 16 where required by law). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us and we will delete it.
Both Wherever you live, you can ask us to do the following with the personal information we hold about you. Where the law of your state or country gives you these rights, we honor them as legal rights; where it does not, we honor them as a matter of policy.
Why we process your information. Each use described in Section 3 rests on one of the following: it is needed to provide the product or service you asked for (accounts, cloud sync, regulator telemetry, support); you consented to it (phone location, optional cloud features, marketing email); it serves our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure, reliable, and improving, in a way that does not override your interests; or the law requires it. Where a use rests on our legitimate interest, you may object to it as described above.
How to exercise these rights. Email joe@xengineering.net from the address on your account, or describe the account if you cannot. We verify identity before acting, act without undue delay and in any case within 30 days (extended, with notice, where a request is unusually complex), and we do not charge for requests unless they are manifestly repetitive. You may authorize someone to act for you in writing. If you believe we have not handled your information lawfully, you may also complain to the data protection or consumer protection authority in your state or country.
Both X Engineering is a company established in the United States. Our servers and service providers (Section 4) process and store your information in the United States. If you use our website, products, or cloud services from outside the United States, your information is transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States, where the law may protect it differently from the law of your own country.
For those transfers we rely on the fact that the transfer is necessary to provide the service you asked for, on your consent where a feature is optional, and on contractual commitments from our service providers to protect your information to the standard described in this policy. We have not appointed a representative in any other country; contact us directly at joe@xengineering.net.
If you are a California resident, you have the following rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):
To submit a request, contact us at joe@xengineering.net. We will verify your identity before processing your request and will respond within 45 days, with an extension of up to 45 additional days where reasonably necessary. You may authorize an agent to act on your behalf by providing written permission.
We do not sell the personal information of consumers we know to be under 16 years of age.
Categories of personal information collected (past 12 months): Personal identifiers; precise geolocation data; device and online identifiers; internet and network activity; electrical and performance data; inferences drawn from the above.
Business or commercial purposes for collection: Product operation, analytics, improvement, customer support, legal compliance, and potential future commercial data use.
Categories disclosed to third parties: Personal identifiers; geolocation data; device identifiers; usage data (disclosed to service providers and, for leaderboards, other users).
We may update this policy at any time. Material changes — particularly those affecting how we use GPS data, leaderboard data, or whether we begin selling personal information — will be communicated to account holders by email or in-app notice before the change takes effect. The effective date at the top of this page will reflect the most recent revision. Continued use of our products or website after notice constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
Questions, requests, or concerns regarding this privacy policy:
X Engineering
joe@xengineering.net