Designed to break?

[Rich Grise]

.

"Designed to break" brings up some grief we (and probably lots other
folks in the US) experience a lot: Malibu Light timers. The last plastic
gear before the big timing wheel is usually shot after 3 years. I've
asked them twice how to get spares because it's easy to replace. No
answer. Silence. So every time this 5c part breaks we have to either buy
a new timer-transformer for $40 or so or wait until a whole set with
transformer and ten lights comes up in a sale for around $30. Quite
wasteful, considering that only the timer-transformer needs to be replaced.

How about, next time you buy a new one, take a plaster cast of the
existing gear, then when it wears out, mold a new one?

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

... What are they teaching them these days?

"Self-esteem."

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Joerg]

"Self-esteem."

Uhm, that seems to be utterly lacking as well. The number of kids who
move back in with their parents and pretty much never leave the nest
anymore is mind-boggling these days.

 

[Joerg]

I used a digital Intermatic timer to turn a window air conditioner on
and off for years I haven't needed it much, since I got sick. The AC
is on almost year round since I've become disabled. the motorized one
on the water heater has been in use for eight years and still works
fine. The older ones had the motors fail at about five years, but
spares were sold at Home Depot.

The metal ones are great but the plastic ones with the ABS lid cover are
horrible. They don't last.

 

[Joerg]

How about, next time you buy a new one, take a plaster cast of the
existing gear, then when it wears out, mold a new one?

I just wanted to avoid that hassle. Next thing we probably have to
machine our own gears for the transmission...

 

[Joerg]

Well, me too. But manufacturers don't cater to us. If you want a
microwave oven, you get to select between the models that are aimed at
the mass market.




They (consumer electronics manufacturers) want to sell you another unit.
If they sell you a repair part, they've lost ther sale of a new unit. If
they don't sell you a repsir part and you go away thinking dark thoughts
about them, that's the same sale they've lost.

That's what the marketeers think but their are dead wrong. The story
goes more like this: A visit for a barbeque. One guy says they want to
build a new deck and thus do a few upgrades. The other guy's ears perk
up and he instantly counters "Just don't ever buy that stuff from XYZ".
That's the kind of advice that really sticks because it's based on
first-hand experience of a good friend. Now the sales losses become
staggering and such damage is usually irrecoverable for a very long
time. No matter how much money XYZ sinks into TV ads. Ask the guys in
Detroit about that...

 

[Rich Grise]

Uhm, that seems to be utterly lacking as well. The number of kids who
move back in with their parents and pretty much never leave the nest
anymore is mind-boggling these days.

Sure, they're losers and parasites, but by golly, they sure do have great
self-esteem! ;-)

What's sorely lacking is self-respect. >:-(

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

The metal ones are great but the plastic ones with the ABS lid cover are
horrible. They don't last.

I've seen good used metal ones in thrift stores for a few bucks. I
didn't buy any of them, because I haven't needed to buy on for over
eight years.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Joerg]

I've seen good used metal ones in thrift stores for a few bucks. I
didn't buy any of them, because I haven't needed to buy on for over
eight years.

Problem is that the ones that break all the time contain a transformer.
I could, of course, mount an additional metal box there but the WAF
won't be that great because it's right next to a patio door.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Problem is that the ones that break all the time contain a transformer.
I could, of course, mount an additional metal box there but the WAF
won't be that great because it's right next to a patio door.

You can't bypass the internal timer and mount the other timer at the
breaker box?


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Uhm, that seems to be utterly lacking as well. The number of kids who move
back in with their parents and pretty much never leave the nest anymore is
mind-boggling these days.

Teaching self esteem is like teaching helicopter piloting with no hands on
experience. Two feet off the ground you'll lose it.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

I just wanted to avoid that hassle. Next thing we probably have to machine
our own gears for the transmission...

Manufacture them then sell them to retailers!

 

[Joerg]

Teaching self esteem is like teaching helicopter piloting with no hands on
experience. Two feet off the ground you'll lose it.

I tried it with an RC helicopter once. Didn't lose it ;-)

The owner was next to me ready to jump in as a crash would have been
quite expensive.

But you are right, self esteem cannot be taught. It needs to come from
the parents. Unfortunately many of those have signed off and believe
that public school must do that. Politician of a certain kind seem to
believe the same, and they are wrong.

 

[Joerg]

You can't bypass the internal timer and mount the other timer at the
breaker box?

Sure but the other timer would need to be mounted right there. It's
where the outlet is and I can't time that whole circuit. Else the vacuum
cleaner would only work from 8:00pm til midnight. Very low WAF ;-)

 

[Joerg]

Manufacture them then sell them to retailers!

Aha! Alright, here comes the capitalist spirit. Good idea.

 

[Joerg]

Reminds me of:

http://funnies.paco.to/cars.html

If Operating Systems Drove Your Car to the Store

MS-DOS
You get in the car and try to remember where you put your keys.

Windows
You get in the car and drive to the store very slowly, because attached to
the back of the car is a freight train.

Windows NT
You get in the car and write a letter that says, "go to the store." Then you
get out of the car and mail the letter to your dashboard.

Macintosh System 7
You get in the car to go to the store, and the car drives you to church.

UNIX
You get in the car and type grep store. You are given a list of 400 7-11's
in your area and 50 grocery stores. After picking one and reaching speeds of
200 miles per hour en route, you arrive at the barber shop.

OS/2
After fueling up with 6000 gallons of gas, you get in the car and drive to
the store with a motorcycle escort and a marching band in procession.
Halfway there, the car blows up, killing everybody in town.

AIX
During the whole trip to the store, your gas meter reads full and the car
runs fine. On the way home, under the strain of the extra cargo, the car
inexplicably runs out of gas, even though the meter still reads full.
(SIGDANGER)

Taligent/Pink
You walk to the store with Ricardo Montalban, who tells you how wonderful it
will be when he can fly you to the store in his Lear jet.

S/36 SSP (mainframe)
You get in the car and drive to the store. Halfway there you run out of gas.
While walking the rest of the way, you are run over by kids on mopeds.

OS/400
An attendant locks you into the car and then drives you to the store, where
you get to watch everybody else buy filet mignons.

VAX/VMS
You use up tremendous amounts of gas to go very slowly and only get to see
an image of the store.

Vista
You turn the keys and a message appears on the all-glass dashboard. It
says that your car is currently to weak and unable to drive anywhere
unless you buy a new car with a turbo-charged V8 Power-Stroke Diesel
engine and that if you want to haul back groceries it also needs a $4k
Banks upgrade.

 

[Joerg]

I've never intentionally done that, but many things created from technology
will eventually become obsolete. Sometime, parts are no longer made. A
product I designed, the Ortmaster, uses a parallel port in a special way
and must have MSDOS to run the software. New computers don't come with
MSDOS, and even if you could install it, parallel ports are often no longer
supplied.

In a way, this is fortunate for me, because I am setting up an upgrade
option where I will replace the internal PC Board and supply new Windows
software that can run the system through a serial port or USB. This is a
device that sells for $3000, and the retrofit will sell for about $1000,
for a parts cost of about $100.

This new product contains a PIC, and it would be possible to program
planned obsolescence into the product. It could have a RTC, so after a
certain period of time, it could shut down operation. I was considering
something similar, but not so drastic. The device should be calibrated on a
yearly basis, and the calibration data is contained in the program memory
(which is supposed to be better than EEPROM). The calibration date could be
included, and the software could check this date against its own RTC and
pop up a warning that calibration is due.

Actually I think this is a good idea, because it is very important that
calibration accuracy be assured, and many of these units that I get in for
repair are long overdue. Sometimes when I repair them, the calibration can
still be checked, and usually is pretty close, but sometimes it is off by a
significant amount. I charge a flat rate of $100 for NIST calibration, and
an extra $100 for repair, plus shipping, so it's reasonable. However, most
of the shops that have them don't want to part with them for even a few
days, so they nurse them along until they stop working.

It also depends on how regulated that industry is. I design medical gear
and that is often nursed along until things literally fall off. This is
not because of greed but because the paperwork to initiate a repair is
often overwhelming the staff.

 

[Robert]

Uhm, that seems to be utterly lacking as well. The number of kids who move
back in with their parents and pretty much never leave the nest anymore is
mind-boggling these days.

But when self-esteem isn't based on accomplishments and is just taught as a
basic "right" they can move back in and feel just fine about it.

Robert

 

[Joerg]

But when self-esteem isn't based on accomplishments and is just taught as a
basic "right" they can move back in and feel just fine about it.

That's because "modern" parents often totally pamper their kids. They
buy them everything they want. No wonder that any feeling of
accomplishment vanishes. That was very different in my days and I am
thankful to my parents that they didn't do that to us. For example, I
had to slave six grueling weeks in a meat-packing and processing plant
to make enough money to by my first used and heavily beat-up ham radio
transceiver. The 8 miles back home on a bicycle at night were really
excruciating but in the end it got the objective accomplished.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

For example, I
had to slave six grueling weeks in a meat-packing and processing plant
to make enough money to by my first used and heavily beat-up ham radio
transceiver. The 8 miles back home on a bicycle at night were really
excruciating but in the end it got the objective accomplished.

I'll bet it was, with all those hungry dogs chasing you because of
the smell of meat! ;-)


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida