[publicmail]

My favorite is my Bosh wall oven that uses 85C rated capacitors with practically no voltage derating for the control board that sits directly at the top of the oven. After 4 years, they gave out causing the display to dim to the point of invisibility.

We’re talking about 50 cents of part savings on a $3000+ appliance here.

Replaced them myself easily, but most people will end up having to call for service and end up replacing the entire board for hundreds of dollars minimum.

[publicmail]

Actually no - I forgot about my Bosch dishwasher that uses capacitive touch buttons. Great idea for something that is often touched with wet fingers…

[quacked]

Capacitive touch buttons are #1 on my hate list for "inventions". They have all the downsides of touchscreens with none of the upsides, and they're imitating a control device so perfect that it basically hasn't been changed since its invention (the button).

[nrclark]

Agreed - I hate captouch buttons, and would rather have physical controls every time. But in case you're curious why they're so common:

  1. They're cheaper than mechanical buttons.
  2. They're more space-efficient inside of the product.
  3. They are easy to waterproof.
  4. They have no wear-out mechanism.

[quacked]

Thanks, I intuited (1) and (2) but I hadn't thought about (3) or (4). I think waterproof mechanisms are about the only time I've encountered them where I haven't immediately despised them for total lack of haptic feedback and lag time between button input and device function--although that probably has more to do with poor system design rather than the limits of the captouch button technology.

My guess is that I associate them with lag because any control interface that cut corners on buttons probably cut corners on everything else, too.

[cromka]

Arguably speaking, physical buttons and wet fingers seem to be a way worse combination.

[Fargren]

Sidetrack, maybe a silly question: Under what circumstances are you touching your dishwasher with wet fingers? Plates are dry when they go in and dry when they come out if you have a decent dishwasher.

Capacitive buttons suck, but they are no worse in dishwashers than in any other appliance, in my usage at least

[publicmail]

I like to rinse the plates off to remove larger food debris prior to putting them into the dishwasher. It’s not always necessary though.

[nextts]

Plates are not dry in either direction really.