General > General Technical Chat
New UK plan "could spell end of throwaway culture" (BBC News)
unknownparticle:
LED lamp life is very much dependant on the type of light unit it's installed in. If there is free air flow around the lamp, it is likely to last a reasonable time, although I doubt any will last into the 10's of thousands of hours that is often claimed. The lamps I've had fitted in light units with restricted air flow have never reached even a 1000 hours, some as little as a few hundred. What will ultimately dictate longevity is the dreaded capacitor in the PSU, the LED chips themselves, if of good quality could potentially go for 1000's of hours, but the caps will prevent that. Any LED's I've had in outside fitments do about 6 months before they fail. Overall, incandescent bulbs have LED's beat for longevity in my experience, but at a cost!
HobGoblyn:
While not a repairable point as such, I recently bought a new dyson hand held vacuum cleaner.
None of the accessories from my older model fitted, very very slightly different, the only reason for this that I can see is that dyson has deliberately slightly altered the fittings so that people are forced to chuck all the old accessories away and buy new ones.
unknownparticle:
Dyson prices are just outrageous!! Circa £400 or more for a vacuum cleaner, hairdryer or fan, WTF!!! Full marks for their PR, advertising and marketing crap that persuades people to pay those prices though, very clever!!
AndyC_772:
--- Quote from: donotdespisethesnake on March 12, 2020, 02:40:08 pm ---I can't really see how to legislate for "repairable". Who is to judge that? And even if products are theoretical repairable, who is going to check that the spare parts actually are available and at reasonable cost from the manufacturers? Will companies have to commit to supporting all products made for X years, including those of businesses they acquire?
--- End quote ---
There's some simple, easily achieved improvements to be had here, which wouldn't be at all difficult to describe in legislation.
For example, not too long ago, the phone in my pocket had a sliding battery cover which was trivial to remove. The battery was clipped into place and could be easily swapped out with no technical skill whatsoever. Nowadays almost every phone on the market has an integral battery which cannot be replaced without special tools and a risk of permanent damage to the phone - and there's no good reason for them to be made that way.
Or, look at laptops. For years it was entirely normal to be able to replace the battery, upgrade the HDD, install more memory and so on. Now that's still possible in some models, but others are soldered and glued all in the name of making them fractionally thinner.
Last year my washing machine packed up, 13 years old (which was disappointing, but could have been worse). The component which failed was only available as part of the complete drum assembly, cost around £600 and completely uneconomic. That wasn't so bad; the real problem was finding a replacement machine which didn't have a sealed drum and a design life expectancy of 5 years or less.
All these limitations could easily be overcome with minor design changes to the products in question. Manufacturers don't do it for economic reasons, and because for each of them, being the one manufacturer to do so would put them at a competitive disadvantage. Apply legislation that's the same for everyone, though, and that objection goes away, and every consumer benefits.
SiliconWizard:
--- Quote from: unknownparticle on March 12, 2020, 04:58:00 pm ---Dyson prices are just outrageous!! Circa £400 or more for a vacuum cleaner, hairdryer or fan, WTF!!! Full marks for their PR, advertising and marketing crap that persuades people to pay those prices though, very clever!!
--- End quote ---
Which allows them not to directly compete with the low-cost gear market, which is the real clever part here.
It's not just about margin. It's about market positioning.
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