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Electrical Appliance Brands You Would Never Buy Again
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coppice:

--- Quote from: Veteran68 on January 13, 2020, 04:26:48 pm ---Also rechargeables can't handle the voltage/current loads that alkalines do, which rarely but occasionally causes an issue with devices with tight operating specs or high drain. My DSLR flash unit, for example, specifically states NOT to use rechargeable batteries, and only alkalines.

--- End quote ---
Quite a lot of camera equipment says not to use rechargebles, and if you put rechargeable cells in them they just don't work. They need more than 1.25V per cell to function. This means that when used with alkaline cells they stop working when the cell still has some capacity left, so these products are rather poorly designed. NiMH cells have a low internal resistance, and are capable of supplying high currents. The issue with products that can't be used with them it purely their rather marginal voltage requirements.
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: Veteran68 on January 13, 2020, 04:26:48 pm ---
--- Quote from: james_s on January 13, 2020, 02:23:39 pm ---I haven't bought disposable AA batteries in years now. LSD NiMH have gotten really good, I have Eneloop, Fujitsu and some of the Japanese made Amazon branded cells and have not had a single failure or leak since I started buying them almost a decade ago. Alkaline AAs are obsolete IMHO.

--- End quote ---

[...]

Also rechargeables can't handle the voltage/current loads that alkalines do, which rarely but occasionally causes an issue with devices with tight operating specs or high drain. My DSLR flash unit, for example, specifically states NOT to use rechargeable batteries, and only alkalines.

--- End quote ---

I find my flash units work better (faster cycle time) with NiMH rechargeables than plain alkaline.  The rechargeables can really supply a lot of current...

My experience mirrors what is on this site:  https://scantips.com/lights/flashbatteries.html
AndyC_772:

--- Quote from: Brutte on January 13, 2020, 04:15:50 pm ---
--- Quote from: AndyC_772 on January 12, 2020, 07:56:32 am ---A couple of months ago our washing machine died. (Miele, 13 years old).
(..)
I ended up with a new Miele, £900 with a 10 year warranty = £90/yr and a fair chance that it won't break in that time and have to be scrapped.

--- End quote ---

So you made an assumption that durability == warranty length. Interesting but not very common approach, I am afraid we are not there yet. With progress, this equation becomes a limit case as manufacturers are better and better with estimating when appliance breaks and maximizing profit. Of course this always comes with some random factor but the ultimate goal (perfect design) is the one where all components fail a day after warranty period is over.

--- End quote ---

I really made an assumption that warranty length == minimum interval before I next have to buy a washing machine, which is a time consuming and expensive pain in the butt that I could well do without. I don't think I'm too far from being accurate here, unless the machine turns out to be such a total basket case that I choose to ditch it early.

Speaking as an engineer, I don't know how I'd go about designing something for a lifetime as long as 10 years without it crossing over into the realm of being actually fit for purpose, ie. likely, in practice, to go on for a great deal longer. A part which makes it to 10 years should be comfortably at the bottom of the bathtub curve in terms of failure rate by that point.

I bought the cheapest model in the range for which the 10 year warranty was available. It seemed like as objective a criterion as any.
coppice:

--- Quote from: Brutte on January 13, 2020, 04:15:50 pm ---
--- Quote from: AndyC_772 on January 12, 2020, 07:56:32 am ---A couple of months ago our washing machine died. (Miele, 13 years old).
(..)
I ended up with a new Miele, £900 with a 10 year warranty = £90/yr and a fair chance that it won't break in that time and have to be scrapped.

--- End quote ---

So you made an assumption that durability == warranty length. Interesting but not very common approach, I am afraid we are not there yet. With progress, this equation becomes a limit case as manufacturers are better and better with estimating when appliance breaks and maximizing profit. Of course this always comes with some random factor but the ultimate goal (perfect design) is the one where all components fail a day after warranty period is over.

--- End quote ---
He clearly only considered 10 years to be a lower bound for the product's life, set by the warranty. However, it depresses me how many people now see warranty duration as the expected service life, and wouldn't even consider paying the inflated repair costs they know they will face from the vendor outside warranty.
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: coppice on January 13, 2020, 06:32:21 pm ---
--- Quote from: Brutte on January 13, 2020, 04:15:50 pm ---
--- Quote from: AndyC_772 on January 12, 2020, 07:56:32 am ---A couple of months ago our washing machine died. (Miele, 13 years old).
(..)
I ended up with a new Miele, £900 with a 10 year warranty = £90/yr and a fair chance that it won't break in that time and have to be scrapped.

--- End quote ---

So you made an assumption that durability == warranty length. Interesting but not very common approach, I am afraid we are not there yet. With progress, this equation becomes a limit case as manufacturers are better and better with estimating when appliance breaks and maximizing profit. Of course this always comes with some random factor but the ultimate goal (perfect design) is the one where all components fail a day after warranty period is over.

--- End quote ---
He clearly only considered 10 years to be a lower bound for the product's life, set by the warranty. However, it depresses me how many people now see warranty duration as the expected service life, and wouldn't even consider paying the inflated repair costs they know they will face from the vendor outside warranty.

--- End quote ---

The repairmen tell me most modern appliances simply aren't built to be repaired - taking them apart is like extracting a rat's skeleton out through its anus and putting it back in again -  it just isn't a job anyone with a life and things to do would attempt, and it isn't affordable to pay someone to do it.
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