[anonymousiam]

I have a new "smart home" with a couple of GE convection ovens that are Internet-connected. In the 2+ years that I've owned them, I've never used the Internet control features. The ONE feature that might make Internet connectivity useful would be setting the clock. Unfortunately, the clocks cannot be set or updated via the Internet. WORTHLESS!

[sizzle]

This is what is wrong with IoT, the one obvious feature that would end the annoying song and dance of updating daylight savings time on appliance displays, isn't even a offered. Do these old school appliance companies do a shred of user research?

[zepearl]

About clocks:

I hate to have to change the time of the oven twice a year. It annoys me :P

I have a nice, cheap, small alarm clock by my bed which gets the current time over air (some sort of radio signal, probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_clock ) => works great, in the past it maybe needed up to 30 minutes or so to do an initial update of its time after a change of batteries, but then it always worked perfectly.

Why aren't more appliances using that? Shouldn't even an oven, maybe having a small antenna embedded in its front, be able to get that signal?

[pixl97]

I have a whirlpool 'smart' oven and it does appear to use internet time, or at least the time from the app.

About the only thing it's useful for is to remind me when its preheated.

[ncmncm]

Whirlpool refrigerators are designed so that the light inside fails after a year, requiring replacing a >$100 power controller board. If you let your thing connect to the internet, it will be able to dispense with actually burning out a part, and can just stop working under program control.

[no-s]

>Whirlpool refrigerators are designed so that the light inside fails after a year, requiring replacing a >$100 power controller board.

I’ve run into several microwave controllers with a similar misfeature. All used the same controller board despite being different makes and models. The part that controlled the light was a plug-in board on the controller and a short in the light socket could blow a diode on it. Bad design since burnt out incandescent bulbs often fail with a short. The plug-in replacement cost ~$8, but nobody seems to stock it, only The whole controller board at ~$175.

[belval]

That seems excessively evil, so the fridge breaks if you don't connect it to the Internet?

[ncmncm]

My (Whirlpool brand) fridge has no ability to connect, and broke.

I took out the power controller board, unsoldered the two resistors that burned and put on higher wattage rated resistors. The light sort-of works now: it makes several seconds to turn on, dunno why.

Probably the right fix would be to replace the board with a custom design with just a little transformer and a diode.

[narrator]

Your smart oven failing to work when your country is sanctioned could also be a feature.