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My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi

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Re: My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi

#461
post #379
post #40

Smart devices are overly complex. The entire point should have been to make devices work for you, but now when you buy a ‘smart’ washing machine, it requires you 30min of setup. Downloading apps, connecting it to wifi, providing GPS location etc. why? What’s the point. We need devices that make life simpler. Straight out of the box.

A washing machine already requires a fair amount of time spent on installation. I don't think "it doesn't work out of the box" is a good argument when talking about 200 pound appliances that have to be hooked up to your plumbing.

Bring it in. Screw hoses onto taps. Plug into electrical socket. Check level. Done. That's usually the entire process. Why would anyone want to complicate such a simple thing?

Only the absolutely lowest end student slum apartments where I live (in a very not-rich state) don't already have a washer hookup/tap. Any home a person would actually purchase would have one already, so no effort.

Re: My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi

#462
post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every dishwasher I've ever used, your best bet is to put everything on full blast, least efficient settings. Otherwise the dishes get "almost" clean. I always imagine the engineers standing around patting themselves on the back after testing, and marveling how their ideas worked so well most of the dishes got clean. The dishes all need to be totally clean, every time, or it's useless to me.

I can guarantee that the majority of the ineffective cycles are there because of environmental regulations (energy star in the US; there are equivalents in other western countries). The big one that drives me nuts on new cars are all the auto start/stop at idle systems. They eat car batteries and starters (increase wear from oil starvation on startup too - consumer car engines are not positively lubricated; pressure…

Regardless of the reason for these "ineffective cycles", I use them. They work well. Not sure what the big deal is.

Re: My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi

#463
post #68

"Smart device" isn't the correct term. The device isn't smart, it's just a big social experiment to check whether you're smart enough not to buy one. (and sadly too many people have failed, so they increased their efforts to get meaningful data by getting rid of other options. Nowadays you often can only buy "smart" devices, or you repair your old stuff) All they do is take away more time and make once simple tasks o…

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Re: My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi

#464
post #345

Stuff like this is why I'm starting to wonder if I need to hoard non-connected appliances now before they aren't available any more. I certainly have zero intention of ever buying a new car again either. I hope to be buried with my late 90's/early 2000's "dumb" cars :p

I recently Purchased a 2021 Chevy Traverse. The salesman had me sit through the OnStar intro, and purposefully left the vehicle while the OnStar rep guided me through the process. They sold me on 2 months free SiriusXM radio, vehicle Wifi, and OnStar ( only catch was to provide credit card). I inquired multiple times to ensure that I would not be charged during trial. I arrive home one hour later to receive notification from my credit card company that new charges were being pushed through. This ruined a perfectly fine car buying experience. I spent the next 3 hours trying to figure out how to cancel the said "FREE" trial services. Looking deeper I found the car is part of "Connected Services" for next 10 years - GM is actually tracking speed and driving patterns and is scheduling to offer insurance for GOOD DRIVERS. NO and NO. I am now tasked in figuring out how to disconnect my car fully from the big bros at GM.

here are the two gems that make me fume: https://www.onstar.com/us/en/support/smart-driver

How often is data collected from the vehicle? Smart Driver data is collected by OnStar from the vehicle upon every ignition cycle.

How are my scores calculated? After your trip is complete, we look at the factors above and apply a proprietary scoring algorithm used to assess driving behavior. The scores by trip can vary widely. For example, a longer trip with one mild hard brake would score much better than a very short trip with a more abrupt hard brake. Daily, weekly and monthly scores use the same factors, but use somewhat different scoring algorithms. Daily scores consider things that trip scores don’t, like how many trips the driver took and miles he or she drove over the entire day. Trip scores may vary. Monthly scores are the most reliable indicators of how drivers are doing on their driving behaviors.

Re: My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi

#465

I can understand the appeal of most smart devices, but since a dishwasher can’t yet load and unload itself, what is the point of an internet connected dishwasher? You have to have physically loaded it. Why not just push the start button then?

I wish my dishwasher could automaticly start whenver the price of electricity was low. I can manualle delay it by doing simple math in my head and forecasting prices, but it would be easier and more foolproof if I could script it with IFTTT.

it's actually one of the reasons for wifi in miele dishwasher. it can fetch data about electricity pricing in order to run when it's lowest

Re: My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi

#466
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, it could also get functionality updates. For example they could upload a new totally different UX loved by the designers and that nobody else understands how to use ;-)

In theory yes, but so far in my 43 years of life feature updates are usually things that are hostile to the user.

So things are now generally much less user friendly than 43 years ago?

Re: My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi

#467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bosch is bosch really a "high-end" appliances company? I always considered it mid-range company, producing appliances for the middle-class.

Definitely middling quality and design. Our Bosch dishwasher has the worst UI. Nothing exterior at all, only buttons inside the door itself. There's a secret button combo to set the "done" alarm to one of 4 volume settings: too loud, even louder, why is this so f'ing loud, and silent. So you either get a horrible noise that rings intermittently until you open it, or you get to play guessing games.

Funny, there is another comment in this thread that counts the interior buttons as a feature. Can't please everyone I guess.

Re: My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi

#468
post #312
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used Miele appliances for 3 decades now. Somehow, until recently, they managed to provide excellent quality and durability without spying on their users and releasing half baked firmwares in need of updates.

This can easily been spun the other way around: There was a firmware upgrade that would save 10% energy / water / time in certain circumstances, but that evil corp hasn't provided us with a way to upgrade, because they want us to buy a brand new dishwasher.

Except that they clearly never tried to incentivize customers into frequent upgrades. Quite unlike most other brands that have a habit of dying months out of warranty.

Anecdata: In my wive's house, we have a Miele wasching machine from the year 2000. Its been used daily. It is as good as on the day it was purchased - quiet, and does not vibrate even when spinning at its max 1600 rpm. Its pretty amazing.

I believe when it was last cleaned they did install new firmware -- though to be entirely hoenest, I doubt a lot of people really know or care how efficient their wasching machines are -- water is way too cheap.

Re: My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi

#469
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern-ish ones usually have a dirty-water-sensor; I believe it works by shining light through the water on the way out of the machine to see (roughly) how dirty it is. Clean water = cycle over, dirty water = keep going!

So if the water never gets dirty it doesn't turn off? How does it judge how dirty the dishes are to tell how dirty the water should be? Seems fancy but nonsense.

I guess if the water is clean then it does a very quick cycle and just stops

Re: My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi

#470

Is it weird that the more tech becomes like this the more I feel checked out? I don’t want smart devices, nor do I want to be online 24/7. However it’s hard to escape this reality. My thermostat (in apartment) recently reset due to a power issue and I had to have maintenance over to do its configuration again. They had to come twice because after setting it up they have to figure out how to connect it to Wi-Fi for a…

The problem isn't tech per se, it is the many poor implementations and the push by manufacturers to get you to subscribe to their cloud service. You can have your cake and eat it too, but you do have to do some work to get there. I can control every light switch, thermostat, garage doors, deadbolts, and a few other random things. All from my phone. Automate things, get notified if I want, when the door is unlocked/op…

"You can have your cake and eat it too, but you do have to do some work to get there."

Yup! It used to be a lot harder, but with Homekit and Home Assistant it's more accessible with less tinkering than ever before.

I hope Matter (the Amazon/Google/Apple consortium based on Homekit) doesn't blow out the cloud-free options - hopefully Apple can reign in the others.

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