This reminds me of the other day when my power went out in the middle of washing laundry. I was going to take out the wash to put it on the line to dry but the lid was locked and because it is a solenoid switch, I wasn't able to open the washer (it requires power to open). This kind of device isn't even "smart" in the sense of internet connectivity, but it did really surprise me that it was not configured to release if not powered.
Earlier this year, after a few months of lockdown, I discovered that even car batteries that were in reasonable condition can go completely flat without much warning if the vehicle is only being driven rarely over an extended period. I was aware of the possibility of the small power draw draining the battery over time, but hadn’t expected such a strong effect so soon given I was still driving the car a few miles a couple of times a week.
That was annoying enough, but then it turned out that the alarm system in my car has a backup battery to continue powering the siren in the event that the main battery is disconnected, presumably someone’s idea to stop a thief from silencing the alarm quickly. That backup battery can run the siren for several hours, obviously without reference to where the vehicle is or what time of day or night it is.
Moreover, if you’re unlucky, when you try to unlock the car the failing main battery can have just enough juice in it to trigger whatever condition makes the alarm system think the main battery is being disconnected but without actually disarming the alarm system, thus setting off the siren.
Which you can’t stop without power from the main battery.
It's usually a voltage drop detection that sets of the alarm. If your battery is going flat, or is tired, it can drop below the voltage threshold set in the alarm it off. You may still be able to start the car.
You may have a bad alternator though, if it's not the battery. It really depends on the car configuration, but it is surprising that even that short trip doesn't recoup the cost of starting.
You can get alternators and batteries that are better at your use case too, work site utes and shuttles often get used like you describe.
Yes, the voltage drop was the likely trigger for actually setting the alarm off. When I had the battery replaced, they did a quick test on the old one, and it was performing very far below normal.
With the wisdom of hindsight, I should probably have left a trickle charger on the old battery now and then while it wasn’t getting much long distance driving to keep it charged up. I was just a bit surprised that there was so little warning given the dire state it had apparently reached before the alarm incident.
But of course, the real problem here isn’t that a battery with unusually low usage drained faster than I incorrectly anticipated, it’s that my own car had an alarm going off that I had no reliable way to stop even standing next to it with the key in my hand. Clearly this should never be possible. In fact, I read that a lot of vehicle security systems do have some sort of emergency override for this sort of situation, but I found nothing relevant in the documentation that came with the car, and unfortunately the various suggestions I found online for similar models didn’t work on mine.
My opinion and experience with car alarms is that they go off so frequently in error, that no one pays any attention to them. I have heard countless alarms go off, and not once seen a car broken into. I think it's better just to have a comprehensive immobiliser.
I have also had my car stolen. They had the alarm disabled in seconds, and then had all the time in the world to get it running. The only reason I still have that car is because they stalled it in the middle of the street, and the immobiliser kicked back on, so they fled.
That car is now mostly a track car, so it's actually got a pin-locked ECU that I pin in before driving it. No amount of hotwiring would get the ECU to work without that pin. Even still, it would just need to be dragged onto a trailer and I'd never see it again.
Btw, aside from the old battery, you might have something in the car that drains it excessively. IIRC I've had the audio system plugged in a wrong way and it put a small but considerable constant discharge on the battery, even when the car was off. Alarms themselves can do this too, I think.
Yes. I spent a month in lockdown not able to access the things I'd left in my car's boot (trunk) which can only be opened when the battery-powered central locking is available.
Anecdotally, once some modern car batteries die in this way, they fail to hold a charge at all, so classic jump-starting doesn't work. So I only replaced the battery when lockdown was over, to avoid the same problem happening to a new battery.
You say "lid", but is it a side-load washer? Those have a valid reason to not open if the power is cut --- because they'll empty their contents all over the floor.
I have an old top-loader, it doesn't care at all (or know) whether the lid is closed.
Meanwhile my Japanese side-loader sits at a slight angle and never fills up enough to go above the door line, so you're allowed to interrupt the cycle at any point and the door will unlock (after the drum has stopped spinning). When I first saw it I realized how poorly designed all the side loaders I saw while growing up in Europe were in comparison (nevermind not being able to throw something you forgot in after starting, also the risk of a problem leading to water not draining properly, and a flooded room when you go take the laundry out... been there).
I do wonder what it does if I pull the plug with the door locked though. I should try it.
> also the risk of a problem leading to water not draining properly, and a flooded room when you go take the laundry out...
My condo has two front-load washers, and I once saw someone start one up, the door lock, and the seal break - so it was spraying water everywhere. These don't have any way to interrupt them, so we got a maintenance guy to unplug it - but the door still didn't unlock, even after plugging it back in. The maintenance guy ended up jerking it open hard (might have broken the lock, don't remember), so the other resident could get their clothes.
I only ever use our top-load washers, which don't have any lock on them.
Yeah that was my thinking too, but it should still have a manual override of some kind, if for no other reason than the possibility of a child getting stuck inside.
It is a top loader. I don't understand why it has a lock. It has been very annoying actually, because I am used to letting the washer fill up while loading it.
It's a safety mechanism mainly intended for children. I think it's been around for a while. The washer Mom bought 10 or 15 years ago had it. I think there's an unlock button on hers, but I can't remember. I do know it's incredibly annoying.
Seems easier and cheaper just not to put your arm in there while it's spinning. Toploaders have existed for actual decades without solenoids locking them closed, is this actually a problem or just some manufacturer putting in a solenoid because their side loaders have one?
When she was five years old (late 80s/early 90s timeframe), my sister propped the lid up on the washing machine, and jammed a toothbrush into the safety switch so it would run thinking the lid was down. She thought it looked really cool and pretty. At one point she decided the vibrating was cool too. She got up and danced on the top of the washer. Being that soap gets slipper when wet, and kids don't always have the grace of a gymnast, she slipped and landed feet first in the washing machine. It's not every day the emergency room get to body cast a five year old kid with multiple femur fractures.
The grotesqueness aside, I do loath the pendulum swing we have toward safety these days. It's so bad now that it makes things worse in a lot of cases. I have to dick with my phone for navigation (which requires a lot more looking away and danger) because my car won't let press a couple of buttons while it is moving in the name of "safety."
You already live in this world, though. Or at least something close to it.
It's actually quite astonishing how, despite the growing chemical and mechanical complexity of household items, most household things are actually quite safe to have around children. It would be quite easy for these things to be actively dangerous, but fortunately a combination of thoughtful design, fear of lawsuits and regulation works to make them safe.
(Also if we're talking in context of white goods, you can't ignore children in the design process, as a good chunk of the target market has them, and the play around where such appliances are deployed.)
Example of thoughtful design: prescription drug containers that can't be easily opened by children, but can be opened readily by adults.
Example of mindless nanny-statism: washing machines that you are simply not permitted to open at certain times, period -- not even in case of power outages, component failures, or plumbing emergencies.
I hope you can see the difference. Don't defend shitty engineering. It makes the whole world a worse place to live.
Entirely my take, minus the irony. I hugely dislike driving with an armed boxing glove in front of me. A boxing glove originally put there for the benefit of people not inclined to wear a seatbelt. The vast majority of traffic accidents I see (and I drive 8 - 10 hours every day) are entirely self-inflicted. Too much speed, too little distance, no focus on the road ahead and the rear view mirror.
If there isn't a meteor on the hood, but instead the driver ran into something, then the number of times your assumption is wrong will be sufficiently small that the parents observation is valid.
Certainly it will be a far more useful way to guide policy than "You don't know for a fact that all those accidents weren't caused by external events outside the drivers control." however technically true.
There aren't evil driving-fairies nudging people's elbows, and we have manufacturing and inspection regulations to keep the percentage of mechanically unfit vehicles low. That just leaves the drivers themselves holding the primary responsibility in the majority of cases.
These are all things you already knew, which makes the question disingenuous and of questionable ultimate purpose.
I was in a major wreck last winter. Hit a tree head-on due to black ice on the road. I was not braking or turning at the time of the slide. My car had snow tires and was in 4-wheel drive.
How exactly is that my fault?
You make no men to on of environmental factors causing wrecks.
You also make no mention of multi-car wrecks.
Clearly you live in some part of the world with perfect weather?
Attempting to refute a point that no one else made is definitely your own fault.
The original commenter can be reasonably assumed to know which accidents they witnessed could have been influenced by things like weather, and thus are not part of his assertion.
Likewise all the follow-on vehicles in multi-vehicle events are irrelevant. No mention was made because they obviously have no bearing on the observation and point being asserted. Meaning, sure, in addition to a large number of a certain class of accidents he's talking about, there are also a other classes of accidents he's not talking about, so what?
Clearly you live in some part of the world with imperfect schools? Oh was that rude and childish?
Every top loader I've seen solves this with an interlock: opening the lid stops the motor and brakes the drum. Closing the lid resumes from where it stopped.
Yeah, I do the same too. Like if I find a loose sock I can throw it in during the first cycles. I don't think top loading washers make enough of a splash to even warrant a lock, I may be wrong though.
My car [Ford Falcon BA] battery completely died the other day (was reading 8 Volts) and I couldn't even unlock my car to pop the bonnet, since the locks are solenoid actuated. It also only has one external lock, on the driver's door.
I ended up having to wedge the door and open it from the inside with a coat hanger.
Apparently the only other way to open the car when the battery has completely failed (as opposed to having charge, but not enough to turn the starter) is to connect jumper cables to the positive lead on the starter motor and the chassis. Of course my jack was in the boot, which I couldn't open since the battery was dead!
I've now attached a wire to the bonnet latch, so if this happens again I can just pull the wire to open it.
Most cars seem to have a subtle trick to open doors when the battery is dead. Mine (an E90 3-series) has a physical key, but you have to know to pull the lock on the driver's door then turn the key to open it. Turning the key does nothing. Turning the key then pulling the lock does nothing. I found this information buried in the comments of a YouTube video that had elaborate instructions to get underneath the car, and look for some wires in the engine bay to pull so as to pop the bonnet.
Yeah, my car does actually have a power-fail-safe lock where you can pull off a cover and get a real keyhole. For some bizarre reason, it's on the passenger side.
I think most washing machines need power to release the lock. Water damage would be very common otherwise. Without power the machine cannot pump out the remaining water. At least that makes sense for front-loaders. Why this is also commonly implemented for top-loaders I cannot say.
There is probably a mechanical switch somewhere but it might not be documented.
All front loading wash machines I have owned had a small hatch at lower part of the front, hiding a sieve. That can be used to release the water and the emergency door release is usually in there, too.
