Skynet is Coming

There is no need to connect discussed devices to wifi and their smart functions (IoT) remain dead.

Up to now I have none of these and pay attention not to buy any.

I don't want my fridge to report me to taxman, should a total amount of stuff taken in and out during a given month exceeded certain proportion of my pay.

Real troubles will begin once you simply cannot run these household devices without internet connection.

There might be a new profession for electronic geeks on horizon:

Disabler of smart functions.

3 days ago our washer dryer died - we don't have room for both machines seperate. Screen dead. In the middle of a wash. Died for no apparent reason. But it's electic, has wires coming out of it so not to be totally trusted. No power getting past whatever is the first bit it comes to in the machine. All looked good inside the machine, no dangling disconnected leads or dodgy smelling bits. Chance of trouble shooting that is as remore as a new car under bonnet problem.

It was an Ikea machine, so probably made by Whirlpool or Electrolux, bought partly because Ikea stuff comes with 5 year guarentees, this one had lasted over 10 so had probably done well by modern standards. Up to it failed it had been working perfectly, and all seemed super inside, probably what failed was some little electronic bit that costs about tuppence/ten thousand.

So new machine ordered next day, and day after it arrived. All installed and working so back in the dhobi business again, but this machine was supplied with a manual, so much stuff these days isn't. Mind you, the text is small, tricky to read and it takes for ever to read too, and then you find you have to learn a complete new way of working the machine and washing process.

There was this little light that kept flashing - the bluetooth icon. It appeared that it would connect with my mobile phone if I wanted. Going back to the OP - why on earth would I want to do that for, why was that thought a desirable option to fit.? As the OP said, you have to go to the machine to load it. So why would I want to then go and sit down in another room and the start it over the phone. Crazy

Luckily, the manual also told me which button to hold down for 3 seconds to make it disappear!

Chris

Well the tumble dryer I started the thread with has been in use for a week, my observations thus far:-

My old dryer had a timer dial and a start button, the new one has a 16 program dial and 6 extra push buttons, I mean how many ways can there be to dry washing. It's either dry or not, right? Apparently not so, one of the buttons can set four different dryness levels basically wet, slightly wet, wet enough to iron, and almost dry!

With all this high tech heat pump drying the one thing it doesn't do is get clothes dry, well not what I would call dry. It has an A++ rating for energy usage so it uses half as much power as the old one. Problem is if you actually want things dry it has to run twice as long. By my calculation I don't think I am really saving power here, just spreading the load.

And no I haven't connected the b****y thing to the interweb nor am I likely to do so.

The wonders of modern technology...

John

P.S. The manual it came with is originally written in Turkish and both the translation and content leave a lot to be desired.

Edited By Journeyman on 26/02/2021 11:22:54

My Tumble drier has four settings and I always use the Extra Dry. It runs for about an hour but the things do come out dry.

The question of whether a suitable dryness to iron is completely irrelevant from my point of view!

Both my Washing Machine and Tumble Dryer are Miele brand.

If they connect to the Internet, it's NOT mentioned in the Manual - but maybe they are too old now.

Is Journeyman going to reveal the brand of his new machine?

MC

It's a Hoover, I have to admit chosen mainly for the fact that it fits under a 600mm worktop. Most of the other machines I looked at were around 650mm or greater and thus stick out the front so to speak. I have to admit I am not in the category of 'Domestic Deity'.

John

I remember some thirty years ago when doing a software course towards a OU degree and we had to design a washing machine cycle that would upload to a processor and work the necessary lights and motor within I think 128bytes. Someone asked why manufacturers put so many options on these types of machines and the simple answer was because they could. I doubt the manufacturers actually have a test panel who actually uses the machines just software engineers who look for something to do.

When I needed to replace my stove (condemned by insurance company's contractors after the fire), it was impossible to buy one where the oven door opened sufficiently to move the shelves.

The one supplied by the insurance company was NOT fit for purpose - so I threw it out and bought an induction hob (and lots of new pans) and a built in oven. Cabinets were all adapted by my builder.

The condemned stove had lasted 33 years and I would quite happily continued with it until I move into the care home but it was cheaper for the insurance company to throw it out than have it cleaned!

Our machine is also of Turkish origin - a Beko, despite vowing never to buy a Beko as they had a record of bursting into flames at one time.

Manual written in English one can understand, but to try and find one particular piece of information - say what all the pretty little icons on the display panel all mean for example - is very laborious to say the least.

There are three levels of dryness available we have discovered, extra dry, cupboard dry and iron dry. What each level of dryness precisely means I am not sure, but seeing as how we stopped ironing anything as soon as we retired 14 years ago the iron dry level is never going to be used.

You can also set the dryer to run for a certain period of time, it would seem from playing with the settings, but I've not read that in the manual. Mind you, it's a plus point that 1. we have a manual and 2. we can nearly understand it.

It's a seemingly clever little machine with lots of features buried in the manual and not clearly and readily visible, therefore you don't really know what you are doing until you have thoroughly mastered the manual, why do manufacturers have to make things so difficult, instead of applying a little thought to the process and marking the dials to clearly identify the process. For example, one wash programme is called Down Wear. What does that do? Well according to that manual we figured it mean we could wash clothing that contains feathers, but doesn't say what temperature it runs at. Another programme says Hand Wash. This is for washing woollen clothes apparently, but again doesn't say at what temperature. Why not say Wollens? To be fair the machine does select a temperature and you can alter it down if required. I think!

Chris

When the A..... lady first came on the market a group of my sons workmates, all degree level, decided to test its ability. They would meet , in turn, at each other’s homes suitably equipped and have loud conversations about the respective length of their “ you guess”. Each proclaimed that they needed another 50 mm or so, plus the fact that they also needed something to enhance and lengthen the ( imagined ) time of the experience. They did it over a period of 3 weeks.
It came as no surprise to receive emails, texts and good old catalogues through the post offering all sorts of solutions.
My son declined to say if he participated saying he had no need.

pete

Please explain A… lady

Too subtle for me

MC

These super chips might be "cheap as chips" but if you try to buy a new control board for say a washing machine, you will probably find the cost is not far short of a new machine. At least with discrete components, there was a good chance of effecting a repair. (Probably why they have gone down this route, or am I just being paranoid?)

It's easier (and cheaper) to employ a poorly trained operative who can simply replace a circuit board than a highly skilled engineer who could trace the fault and solder in replacements for defective components.

The corporations do not want you to fix your old one. They want you to buy a new one. Then the old one is recycled. It's green, innit? Take a look at BMW recycling two year old cars and cry:

Edited By Hopper on 27/02/2021 09:25:00

A is for the lady inside the device that obeys all your commands - Weil most of them. If you don’t believe me “ask Alexa”

pete

While in Korea I was in an hotel room helpfully equipped with a washing machine. Instead of symbols the settings were clearly written - in Korean text.

It would probably be "greener" to repair it, but in these days of double sided circuit boards with minature surface mount components that I can barely see, let alone identify, it's not really possible. It's 12 years since I retired so that's an epoch in the electronics game. Well before then, I stopped taking the likes of "Practical Electronics" when most of their projects comprised a PIC and a page of code. I have to admit that towards the end of my working life, I too became a board/equipment changer, but according to my friend who is still working, the new "engineers" can't even manage that.

.

Perhaps on the [reasonable?] assumption that guests would be in possession of a ‘phone App to OCR and Translate the text for them.

MichaelG.