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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

#491

Post by fnimick »

wpearse wrote: post #482
progbits wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

We switched to buying USB-rechargeable AA/AAA lithium ion batteries. The brand we buy is Pale Blue, but there are many other brands. These batteries have a regular form factor, with an added micro USB (and USB C on some larger battery sizes) port for recharging. They work really well for us and charge quickly (and conveniently — everything has a USB socket nowadays). The price may seem expensive, but after 10 or so c…

I wouldn't recommend this personally, having had bad experiences with poor charge circuitry in integrated chargers like these (in my case it was in a 18650 battery). Get a good charger (e.g. eneloop), and then you can get generic rechargeable batteries incredibly inexpensively for it, without risking poor charge management causing overheating or battery failure.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#494

Post by zepolen »

Timpy wrote: post #196
inglor_cz wrote: post #186

So true. I just found out in the hard way, by letting the battery in a home safebox expire. I cannot find the physical key and the electronic lock does not work without power. I will have to call some specialists to break in.

I'm sure you had an array of considerations when buying an electronic safebox, but this is the bottom line as to why I would never buy one. As a programmer my day job is "this isn't working the way it's supposed to, lets figure out why and fix it." I can't fathom ever wanting to deal with that stuff when I get off work. A lock and key have been working just fine since the Roman times, it's relatively easy to conceptu…

Why did you pick a job you wouldn't do in your free time, doesn't that get tedious?

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#496

Post by sydthrowaway »

lynguist wrote: post #345

Isn’t the takeaway message from this: just don’t buy the cheapest and worst product? It will always give you a bad experience. When filtering for products the cheapest one and most expensive one should not even be considered.

Or y’know, buy crap products to rant about them and increase your social media engagement

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#497

Post by Robotbeat »

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…

Someone at my work has a really nice electronic calipers that is solar powered (think like a calculator… low enough power requirement that ambient light is more than enough) and thus will effectively never need battery change.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#498

Post by Jolter »

Arrath wrote: post #402
lobochrome wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding Kitchen Scale: I recently bought this [1]. It works with friction - you turn the nob once or twice and you're good to go for a couple weigh ins. It feels rather cheap - so let's see if it really lasts. I love the idea though. I wish we had more energy harvesting gadgets like this. [1]; https://caso-design.de/en/p/caso-kitchen-energy-design-kitch...

When I was a child my parents had a purely mechanical scale, with a dial to adjust the zero. Yet another case of why fix what isn't broken. Only, I expect that an IC or two and an lcd to run a digital scale are cheaper at volume than some amount of mechanical clockwork, once the cost of batteries is pushed off on to the consumer.

We used to have one like that, too, and I don’t remember it being capable of single-gram accuracy like my cheap IKEA scales are.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#499

Post by NavinF »

jsjohnst wrote: post #151
birdman3131 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of those are ones I would argue the best design is to eat a few batteries a year. Calipers need to hold memory specifically. But more generally most of those are using alkaleak batteries and you really wanna be changing those out on at least a yearly basis. So it actually makes since to let them have a small always on drain. (Some might be using a 2032 lithium but I can almost guarantee at least the calipers are…

> Calipers need to hold memory specifically. You don’t need power to retain a tiny bit of settings data. I believe the real reason is because most of them have the “helpful feature” of turning on when you move it. Without something monitoring the sensor, no way to know to turn on automatically.

No, most calipers can only do relative measurements. It’s constantly counting how many 0.01mm the head has moved so it doesn’t lose track of where 0mm is located. Turning on the LCD when the volatile counter changes value is a free feature since the mcu is always on.

Of course better calipers do absolute measurements, but they’re too expensive to scribe lines with and therefore useless for hobbyists.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#500

Post by arinlen »

mega_dingus wrote: post #318
arinlen wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I increasingly subscribe to the thesis that many designers and design teams design primarily in an effort to impress other designers. They don't have to use the things. They often don't even really care if the things work at all. They care that other designers - their artistic peers - are impressed. To put things in perspective, this is how we get stuff like the Eiffel tower.

The Eiffel Tower was built as a temporary display for the World's Fair. It was very much intentionally designed to impress other designers; that was kind of the point

> The Eiffel Tower was built as a temporary display for the World's Fair. It was very much intentionally designed to impress other designers; that was kind of the point

I'm not sure I got the point across. The whole point is that focusing on design is how we get outstanding, high-quality results. It makes the product more appealing and can even make it transcend it's status. High quality design creates value with negligible impact on cost.

The Eiffel Tower exemplifies that. It was designed as a temporary exhibition but it's impact transcends that of a mere temporary structure. It became the landmark of a European capital, and the symbol of one of the richest, most successful and culturally dominant nations on earth, and in the process generates fortunes in revenue due to tourism.

Another good example is the Sagrada Família cathedral in Barcelona, or pretty much each of Gaudi's work. Even the Gaudi's Park Guell, which failed as a real estate project, is a resounding landmark and tourist attraction.

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