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Everything with a battery should have an off switch

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Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#101

Post by newsclues »

nickff wrote: post #7
Nanite wrote: post #4

Examples lying around in my house: Bathroom scale: lovely it powers up when you tap it, but eats up 2 button cells a year for a few dozen uses a year Kitchen scales, bit more use, at least once a day but again 2 button cells a year electronic caliper: Same, eats up 1 button cell a year, just sitting in my toolbox Strangely enough none of our kids toys with batteries seem to suffer from this problem How much extra cos…

> ” How much extra cost does a hard on/off switch add to the bill of materials?” BoM cost is not the whole story; a physical switch can greatly complicate an assembly, and may require hand-soldered wires. In addition to those cost-related factors, external switches are usually quite ugly, and getting them right can be very challenging, so it’s much easier to just omit them.

And on off switches can result in a call to support ($) or negative reviews when idiots can’t turn it on.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#102

Post by foldr »

kuu wrote: post #76
nickff wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ” How much extra cost does a hard on/off switch add to the bill of materials?” BoM cost is not the whole story; a physical switch can greatly complicate an assembly, and may require hand-soldered wires. In addition to those cost-related factors, external switches are usually quite ugly, and getting them right can be very challenging, so it’s much easier to just omit them.

Seriously? Is 2022 and we didn't solve the switch button? I'm sorry but I just don't believe you.

It's weird but true. Adding physical switches to a device can be one of the most complex design elements. It complicates both the layout of the PCB and the design of the case. Finding a suitable switch is also a real pain, as parametric searches for switches don't work particularly well.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#103

Post by easrng »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #48

Just scanning my desk which has a laptop, mac mini, monitor, phone, nintendo switch, a bunch of ipods ... the only things I can spot that have a power switch are 4 of the 5 ipods.

What iPod has a power switch??? On mine at least (3rd gen Nano) the closest you can get to off is asleep with the hold switch on.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#104

Post by narag »

forgotmypw17 wrote: post #80
Buttons840 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both bathroom and kitchens scales are large enough they can run on AA / AAA batteries and casually go a decade (or more) without replacement. Tangentially: I used to have a 3 button timer, it was a little LCD countdown display and 3 buttons. One button set hours, one minutes, and one starts / stops the countdown timer. I found this timer when I was a kid, used, and the 1 AAA battery it had lasted into adulthood, lite…

i have read that the build quality of batteries has dropped.

I have this ultracheap made-in-China big kitchen clock, with a single AA that I've replaced twice in eight years. I don't buy expensive batteries, more like in line with the clock.

It has second hand (the kind that doesn't tick but appears to move uniformly) so there is some extra mechanical work.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#108

Post by PMunch »

hitpointdrew wrote: post #105

I would say there are a few reasonable exceptions to the rule. For example I wouldn’t want smoke detectors or carbon monoxide detectors to have off switches.

Of course there are always exceptions. Smoke detectors usually have replaceable batteries though, which kind of work like an off switch. Pacemakers however should definitely not have an off switch, and a replaceable battery would be tricky. You'd have to do the switch like that BMO character.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#109

Post by PMunch »

mihaigalos wrote: post #50

The trouble with a mechanical off switch is that you cannot easily / periodically turn it on, so it depends on your usecase. AVR Picopower has been around for about 10y now. These devices dramatically drop power consumption to the point where batteries should last a very long time, definitely >1y, more like 3-5y. The fact that modern devices drain a lot of juice is either sloppy SW design or sloppy HW design, since I…

That's the point though, in this case off means off. There is no reason his controller should have to periodically turn on, when you want to use it you turn it on.
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