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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

#111

Post by dividedbyzero »

parenthesis wrote: post #94
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…

What's wrong with mechanical bathroom and kitchen scales?

I tried to get such a kitchen scale and couldn't find one that wasn't either highly imprecise or ridiculously expensive (like three digit euros)

If you have a vintage one that is reasonably exact, they're great.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#112

Post by GekkePrutser »

> They never seem to just use the bluetooth module as the sole microcontroller

There's more reasons than just being able to plug a different BT controller (which is great in times of supply chain problems)

You're also usually stuck with a different toolchain than you're used to, so you will have to learn all the quirks. And they may not have enough pins or not the right type..

But I get the point. It's kinda funny to read the "w000t my C64 now has Bluetooth". When the BT controller is actually much more powerful than the C64 :P

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#113

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

easrng wrote: post #103
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.

You're right — a few of them are hold, not power. Even the OG shuffle, which definitely looks like it's a power switch, appears not to be — when I switch it "off" during playback, there's a suspicious delay before the music stops.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#114

Post by GekkePrutser »

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…

My caliper eats at least 1 battery per month and it's those awful R44 alkaline ones that start leaking when they're empty :(

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#115

Post by adhesive_wombat »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #86
iamben wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is because they, one, don't listen to anyone ever; and two, never use the products they design. Oh, sure, there might be a user study or two. But they never actually have to live with or work with the damn things. I wonder the percentage of consumer (and business - have you ever used a POS in a pub?!) electronics this applies to? It's gotta be high 90s. I've lost track of the number of times I've lamented "did…

> I've lost track of the number of times I've lamented "did anyone actually use this?" We have a combination oven and microwave (yes...) that seems to have been designed with the primary purpose of enraging the owner. The microwave can only be set in 15 second increments. But you can fine-tune it, in five-second increments, by spinning a dial. Except that you can't do that while the oven is on. The microwave makes a…

> The microwave can only be set in 15 second increments. But you can fine-tune it, in five-second increments, by spinning a dial

Mine is similar, also a combi. You spin the dial and it will go up in 10 second increments to a point, then in minutes, then in 5 minutes, then ten minutes, etc. Fine, I get it, it's like floating point. But it starts doing 5 minutes at the 10 minute mark! So you can't do 11-14 minutes. Which is actually about right for some things in an oven.

You also can't add more than 10 minutes to a short time without stopping the oven (this, I assume, is intended to be a safety thing to avoid being able to accidentally add hours of cooking without positive user intent).

And I do wish it would just stop the fan once it stops cooking, but I suppose the electronics next to the hot oven don't suddenly need less cooling just because the hot metal box doesn't have food in it.

I do like it though because it's much more efficient for small things than a big oven and I don't have space for a toaster oven and a microwave. And it has a much better UI for setting a delay start than the 6-button interface of the big oven.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#117

Post by c_o_n_v_e_x »

f311a wrote: post #90

I can't even turn off my Suunto watch from the operating system. They are always on while they have enough battery.

This was always a gripe of mine, although I assume it's for our own good... I wouldn't want to accidentally turn my watch off mid dive.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#119

Post by progbits »

narag wrote: post #104
forgotmypw17 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think the quality is hit and miss, even with premium batteries. I had enough devices damaged or entirely ruined by a leaked battery so now I remove them from anything not actively used.

If anyone knows a reliable model for AA/AAA cells that will absolutely not leak when left unused in a device for year+ I would love to hear it.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#120

Post by watwut »

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…

> The trouble with a mechanical off switch is that you cannot easily / periodically turn it on, so it depends on your usecase.

That is not trouble, that is the whole point.

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