What's the most annoying gadget you own?
Let me preface this post by saying that I am a lazy idiot.
I have a problem, I keep leaving the fridge door open. I've come home a few times only to discover my half-hearted push hasn't properly closed the door and it has swung back open. Our new house has a built in fridge, so I can't adjust the feet to make it close automatically. I can't easily attach springs and magnets to force it shut.
The only solution? A new gadget!
Enter the EcoSavers Fridge Alarm Light. It's a clever bit of kit. It replaces the standard E14 bulb in your fridge with a combined light and alarm. Once the fridge has been open too long, it makes a loud noise. Perfect!
Except... it is really annoying.
I mean amazingly annoying! After the fridge has been open too long, the bulb starts flashing. It is at a frequency which gives me a headache. It's probably bad for epileptics as well. But that wouldn't be so bad, if it gave you a decent amount of time to rummage in the fridge.
It doesn't. Take a look at this video:
TEN SECONDS!!!! That's not enough time for me to decided which condiments I want - let alone rearrange the fridge as a I grab them.
Ten seconds after that, the buzzer sounds. It is sufficiently loud to alert me to the distress my fridge is experiencing.
This patented bulb has no user-adjustable settings. It would be great if I could stop it flashing, or give me a minute before it told me off, or even set a ringtone. Bit it doesn't. It just annoys me.
The worst thing? I deserve this. If I wasn't a lazy idiot, I wouldn't need my fridge to shout at me.
⯪☆☆☆☆ Would buy again, reluctantly.
So, what's the most annoying gadget that you keep using?
Nigel Metheringham said on twitter.com:
I have one of these on my garage-utility room door, which has a tendency to not quite close, and an automation rule in home assistant that tells me if its been open for 10 minutes. Could do the same on the Fridge.
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dusoft says:
I thought most of the new fridges have a built-in alarm these days? I have 10+ years old one and it does have it. It also works pretty well, it does high long beeping probably after 60 seconds or so.
Mike says:
At least you'd hear that alarm. Some people at Samsung decided that my fridge should have a built in alarm for when the door is left open. But they also decided on a volume level that's audible only if you're stood next to the fridge.
Simon Hearne said on twitter.com:
I’m assuming that IC is a 555 (or derivative) – swap out the cap for something a little bigger. E.g. if it’s 47uF try a 68uF to get +30% duration ohmslawcalculator.com/555-astable-ca…