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I’d pay more for NO firmware in my washing machine. This is beyond my desire to just keep things simple. What is the point of washing machine you can control r
by nonethewiser 4y ago
I’d pay more for NO firmware in my washing machine.
This is beyond my desire to just keep things simple. What is the point of washing machine you can control remotely? You have to put clothes in at the start and take them out at the end. It offers no convenience.
- j45 4y agoIt’s less about desire and imagining there may be perfectly reasonable scenarios that exist without one needing to be aware of them or them having to be universally applicable. I found little utility for appliances with remote access until the number of humans to keep fed and clothed grew beyond myself and a partner. How? Every little tweak can add up to a staggering amount of time around monotony in a lifetime. A basic example: https://efficiencyiseverything.com/water-per-second/ https://efficiencyiseverything.com/water-per-second/
- sokoloff 4y agoI'm also in favor of simplicity, but I think there is an increase in reliability from a microcontroller-based system over one built from discrete logic gates, a mechanical timer, or electromechanical relays. I get that you might not want updatable firmware or might not want communications off the board, but you probably do want a microcontroller-based (with the associated firmware) machine.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- atyppo 4y agoI’d absolutely pay for some features of a smart washing machine, like a way of telling whether there’s a load currently running. I live in NYC where my building has one (non-commercial) W/D set for ten residents. Climbing up 6 floors with a heavy laundry basket sucks and avoiding wasteful trips would be something I would pay a huge premium for if I could add it on.
- cemoktra 4y agoMy washing machine displays a remaining time when you start it but is constantly wrong. So you go to the basement to find out it needs 15 more minutes. You go down 20min later and still 5min left. It is very pleasant to know when it is ready without going to the basement
- hammyhavoc 4y agoExample of why someone would want to control it remotely: not infrequently, people pay less for energy used between x and y hours that are allocated to them specifically as a customer, or, also not uncommonly, people pay less for energy post-midnight prior to dawn when demand is lower, ergo, they can save a significant amount of money by doing their laundry at 3am. The above doesn't apply to me specifically, but I would like notifications when my washing is done and thus when I can put another load in. This can be done with energy metering or sensors that attach to washing machines or tumble dryers, but not done it yet myself, but would very much like to.
- newaccount74 4y agoOnly the most expensive Miele washing machines have Wifi. The basic models don't. So it seems people are willing to pay extra for the feature.
- STM32F030R8 4y agoDumb appliances still have firmware on their microcontrollers to control things like wash program, indicators, sensor feedback, you name it. Making a full functioning appliance without the micro would incur huge engineering and BOM costs that can be replaced with a $0.50 micro.
- actionfromafar 4y agoThe only thing I could agree with is if it started at at time when the spot-price of electricity was low.
- nonethewiser 4y agoThat is an interesting idea. I guess you could probably set that up somehow. Although I’m not sure if you can necessarily access that data live from your electricity company. I imagine you could probably just accomplish the same thing by running at 3am every night.
- itsthejb 4y agoI’ve thought the same. But quite anti-social for apartment dwellers
- actionfromafar 4y agoDepends on the building. The last two apartment buildings I lived in, you could hardly ever hear anything at all from neighbours. One was in a century old building, one was in a completely new building a couple of years back. YMMV.
- unwind 4y agoBut how would that work in practice? You load the machine say in the afternoon/evening after work etc, and then it decides based on historical data that 02:35 is the local minima and starts. You run the quick 1-hour program because it's Good Enough(tm), then the laundry lies wet in the machine from 03:45 until you wake up around 06:00 to start your day hanging it? In my experience, but perhaps this is just local circumstance (climate etc) you can't leave damp laundry in the machine for hours on end, it will get smelly and need to be re-washed. Also, not being able to plan when you deal with the wet laundry because of the power price hunting feature sounds super annoying and stressful. Perhaps there's an assumption that after the laundry it will also tumble dry; we rarely do that due to it being bad for the clothes and costly in energy etc.
- 4y ago
- rileymat2 4y agoI disagree. I would like a machine that I could start when I want, I don't like when I start a load before leaving the day then having it sit in the damp until I get home to put it in the dryer. I would prefer to be able to start it an hour before I was going home so it would be ready for transfer to the dryer then. I also would like phone notifications, it is sort of in a corner of the basement so I don't hear the alarms.
- _Wintermute 4y agoEvery basic washing machine I've owned has had an option to delay the start for an adjustable amount of time.
- nonethewiser 4y agoI guess there is some utility then. I find that to be very narrow and outside my personal preferences but recognize that you find it useful. In theory you don’t need a computer/internet to start it later, but that would require you knowing when you want to start it upfront. Meaning there is still a unique capability for the smart washer.
- Dead_Lemon 4y agoA mechanical controlled washing machine with a mechanical timer on the plug would, reliably, achieve the same thing. no need for networks and external servers. A timed controlled smart plug, with current monitoring, would be able to achieve the IOT aspect of the problem.