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GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

theregister.co.uk

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Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#131

Post by StavrosK »

Okay so there are two considerations here:

1) You want this to be easy to reset.

2) You don't want this to be so easy to reset that children playing with it will do it by accident.

I feel that a good compromise between the two would be a rule of "flick the switch on and off three times in two minutes, with the on state being longer than 3 sec".

This makes it easy to reset, just flick it on and off three times slowly, but hard to reset accidentally, since children don't tend to flick light bulbs on and off that slowly. For added safety, you can make the "on" time 5 seconds instead of 3.

I don't think "flick it on and off slowly three times, with each flick lasting at least five seconds" is hard to follow.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#132

Post by tbyehl »

james_a_craig wrote: post #31
Jonnax wrote: post #4

Philips Hue is older I think and doesn't have this insanity. The bulbs have a serial number on them, you just input that serial into the app synced with a new bridge.

There's a proper reset procedure much like the GE bulbs too, though - On-Off at 3-to-5 second intervals 5 times.

With Hue bulbs there's no Off-On cycle reset. Serial Number or TouchLink.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#133

Post by basch »

gus_massa wrote: post #90
undecisive wrote: post #68

> For some reason, GE decided not to install a physical reset button – you know, one of those tiny holes that you have to stick a pin or paperclip into. Hmmm... Nope, I can't see a problem with getting people to stick a paperclip into holes around mains electricity! Sounds perfectly safe. Seriously though, this is bonkers. Power cycling patterns are by far the best method for initiating a reset - and no, sending a re…

> e.g. on-off 5 times with no more than 5 seconds in either state Until you get a small kid that has just learned how light switches work, probably around 2 or 3 years.

that is exactly why the GE reset process is how it is, so you cant accidentally reset all the bulbs in your house, by flicking a switch 3 times. Ive even had bulbs reset being unscrewed while the power is on, because they flickered.

I have a lot of different brands of smart bulb, and I appreciate the GE procedure. The people complaining about it dont see why its the less bad alternative that 3-5 constantly timed power cycles.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#134

Post by imglorp »

owenmarshall wrote: post #125
heavenlyblue wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kind of do that to Spotify - I have to listen to tracks I don't necessarily like so that their suggestion mechanism would stop pushing me the same stuff I had already listened to. PS: That being said, I would still listen to stuff I don't like to discover something, but that's beyond the point - wasn't automation supposed to make our lives better in some way? :)

So your goal is discovery of music? We used to have a great solution for this: disk jockeys. Some stations still do employ them as actual curators of music, not just a pleasing voice over the Clear Channel Top 40 feed. The problems of today are strange.

The loss of DJs to syndicated formats was tragic.

These folks are pros, with vast experience, and they can put together a show by theme, or to tell a story, or to set a mood, or to challenge you with some new things. Most of them now press the button on whatever they're told and read the title out.

But, every once in a while they sneak in a late night show now, maybe when mgmt isn't looking.

I wonder if this would be a good format for streaming, like the old days but global, with a live DJ and fans interacting live.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#135

Post by josteink »

undecisive wrote: post #108
r3bl wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and no, sending a reset command via apps is not feasible (what if you've lost the account password and you've accidentally paired it to your neighbours wifi?) Hubs save all the pain with smart lighting system. No need for an account, system works locally. If you wanna control them remotely, you can (but you don't have to). Connected to the wrong wifi? Reset a hub instead of individual bulbs. You pair bulbs with hub…

I have a few problems with hubs; you need to store the physical thing somewhere, and as a house with difficulties in getting a wifi connection to corners, I can't guarantee that the coverage will be good enough before committing to a whole system. Then there's interoperability - I don't really want to be locked in to Phillips bulbs (though I'm sure some are a little more interoperable than others) So I'm left thinkin…

> I have a few problems with hubs; you need to store the physical thing somewhere, and as a house with difficulties in getting a wifi connection to corners

The hub only speaks WiFi to the app.

All the smart units (hub included) use Zigbee mesh-networking for cross device-communication, which is self-extending and only gets more reliable the more units you add.

At no point in time does IKEA or Hue bulbs depend on WiFi to function.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#136

Post by davio »

Reminds me of the key programming method for my 2003 car: Sit in the driver seat of your G35. Close all of the car doors. Insert the key into the ignition then remove it. Repeat this process six times within 10 seconds. Watch for the emergency lights to flash on the car to indicate that programming mode is active.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#137

Post by sumedh »

nradov wrote: post #48
huseyinkeles wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first time I had to upgrade the firmware on my smart lightbulbs, it was so weird. But you get used to it! And I think they were one of the best purchases I did to be honest. Some features I love; # When I come to my home during the evening, lights are automatically turned on. # When I leave my place, they automatically turn off. # You can set up alarms, like 30 minutes before my alarm goes off in the morning, lig…

Perhaps I'm missing something but why would I want any of that? It all seems annoying and useless.

You never been in bed and then remembered to turn off the light in some other room?

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#138

Post by DoctorOetker »

StavrosK wrote: post #129
DoctorOetker wrote: post #127

if the device is raddio (bluetooth) controlled, wouldnt it be more sane to reset through the bluetooth device? perhaps a unique serial number on the bulb (verifies access to the bulb), and/or a bulb generated string of random bits (on/off), so the user enters for say 10 cycles if the bulb is on or off (prevents replay attacks)? ok, you should close the window blinds. or even simpler: just unscrew and rescrew the ligh…

> wouldnt it be more sane to reset through the bluetooth device No, because you might be resetting because you can't connect with the bluetooth device. > or even simpler: just unscrew and rescrew the lightbulb to reset! How does the light bulb know it's unscrewed? How is that different from turning the switch off?

How does the light bulb know it's unscrewed? How is that different from turning the switch off?

it could easily measure this by either:

- a limit switch, or

- a split center electrode: if there is a conducting path between left and right halves between center electrode, then the bulb is screwed in, or

- measuring the capacitance between outer and center electrode: in open air there is the known capacitance, when screwed in both the electrodes of the housing, and the long parallel conductors going to the switches will alter the capacitance

- myriad other ways: electrically there is a huge difference between an unscrewed bulb, and a screwd-in bulb in an open circuit

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#139

Post by vinaypai »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #104
Taniwha wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me think - the reset button can only work when the light is powered up (and maybe too hot to touch) - you can't mount it on the metal base because that's live when it's on, and so the light fitting is designed so you can't touch the base. you could mount it in the glass but it would cast a shadow ... any solution has to cost less than a penny ...

> Let me think - the reset button can only work when the light is powered up (and maybe too hot to touch) A capacitor that is kept charged during normal operation, and that powers the reset circuit which you close with your metal pin once you unscrew the bulb. The circuit flips some bits in persistent memory of the bulb.

So it resets every time you leave the bulb off long enough for the capacitor to discharge?

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#140

Post by roland35 »

davio wrote: post #136

Reminds me of the key programming method for my 2003 car: Sit in the driver seat of your G35. Close all of the car doors. Insert the key into the ignition then remove it. Repeat this process six times within 10 seconds. Watch for the emergency lights to flash on the car to indicate that programming mode is active.

To turn off the beep when locking my rental Dodge minivan I had to press and hold the lock button for 4 seconds, then press the panic button twice.

I was happy to do it since nothing annoys me more than that beep!

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