Cell phone activates (Maytag) oven

[mysteryclock]

Wonder if there is going to be a recall or retrofit for this? Poor Matag!

Excerpt:

"The Times suggests that preliminary experiments have confirmed that different brands of cell phones can activate multiple models of Maytag ovens. And, as the story notes, the oven "prefers high" and activates the broiler when it turns on -- which means anything inside the thing is going to get totally fried. On the other hand, tests with a General Electric oven failed to generate the same response."

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/147548

 

[toggleswitch2]

dangerous!

The top-burner ignitors on my sister's gas-fired 1990's Caloric stove(pre-electronics) would turn on her range hood's lights. I kid you not.

There is a great deal to be said about a positive-off MECHANICAL switch.

Manufacturers are you listening?

I had the experience of using one of those new faucets that senses your hand and turns on. It was annoying as hell. Imagine a faucet turning itself on should something "broadcast" to it No thanks. Way too "fashin-forward" for me.

 

[jeffg]

The linked NYT article explains it: the cell phone ring induced voltage in the oven's control panel.

Yet another problem due to electronic panels. Give me mechanical knobs any day.

 

[jeffg]

Last winter we bought a Vortex room heater that came with a remote control. Every time we turned the volume down on our Sony TV, it would change the thermostat on the heater.

Some people saw this coming... Anyone remember the Mr. Bean episode where he tries to fix a kid's radio controlled boat, and winds up sending an old man in a wheelchair into the lake?

 

[frigilux]

I bought a nice iHome clock radio/iPod player for my bedroom, and the remote for it changed channels and settings on my TiVo! I had to get rid of it (the iHome, not the TiVo).

 

[toggleswitch2]

Damn it!

My oven is a Magic Chef. (Same as Maytag) I'm gonna have to add a mechanical toggle switch!

To all you Brits and Europeans and Aussies out there; our outlets / power-points / sockets are NOT (normally) controlled by a switch, and we certainly don't have a one-piece or integral device to do so.

Makes sense that DW-ers here (in new intstallations) are now required to be controlled by a wall-switch. Perhaps it's time to do this with ALL appliances.

 

[paulg]

N-MOS technology

Yeesh, these KIDS who call themselves ENGINEERS nowadays! Honestly, looking at how things are manufactured nowadays makes me think... "Do ANY of today's engineers ever TALK to engineering veterans before finalizing a design?" This issue has been "the buzz" at work. We roll our eyes and laugh as to how history repeats itself.
I don't work for any of the manufacturers mentioned thus far. However, I suspect they used N-MOS switching which is susceptable to being activated by noise. I've also heard of (defunct brands of) cooking appliances being activated by CB radios.
True cause is likely the farm-out of key appliance PWBs to cheap-ass foreign manufacturers with suspect quality control. I suppose that is why I love vintage. Easy to understand and maintain. If you keep it in good repair wacky problems like these are rare. I do have electronic controllers in my newish smoothtop, refrigerator and microwave. For that reason I NEVER leave anything ON or IN the cooking devices when not used and I kill the power to them when on vacation.

 

[ptcruiser51]

Weird Science

Years ago I had an early-80s 19" non-remote Magnavox table model TV. Mechanical switches. All of a sudden it started turning itself off and on again within an instant! Sometimes several times in succession. Annoying, but it often wouldn't do this for a long time. One day my next-door neighbor in the garden apartment had something loud on his TV. Wrestling? Football? Suddenly my set started "doing that" again and I finally figured it out - my neighbor's Magnavox remote was sending the signal when he was channel-surfing! Amazing that this would go through the TWO sets of stairwells that separated our living room!

He moved not long after that and the set never did it again for the 10 remaing years I had it.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Compact fluorescent lamps (bulbs)

Osram 'Dulux' brand CFLs switched a Ferguson 'Videostar' video recorder on, to BBC2, and started recording! It only did this if the bulb was turned on, on a cold day.

Mazda CFL, when cold, transmitted a blocking frequency that prevented reception of Panasonic telly remote control.

Panasonic telly when on and displaying picture, produced interference that caused Hoover upright vacuum with 'Autosense', to engage higher power. I presume the interference created a hissing sound in the hoover's microphone audio circuits. The hoover would think that grit was being detected.

 

[paulg]

CFL and fluorescent interference

Rolls and I are on the same wavelength. I too have heard numerous reports of CFLs, old fluorescent lamps and dimmable fluorescent lamps wreaking havoc with remote controllers. The "cold morning" syndrome is true. Fluorescent lamps have a tendency to flicker more when first turned on and a cold room may make the ramp-up to full brightness quite long... creating more opportunity for troubles (blocking or triggering remotes).
For IR remote troubles, get the fluorescents out of the room as a test. I love the vacuum-cleaner story. Too funny. Truth is stranger than fiction.