The dumbest design flaw I've seen in a while.

[JW]

Bought this piece of junk at a garage sale.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/MIP108-I-Station-Speakers-Docking-Station-White/dp/B000G0G6K2

Sounds OK enough for what it is. Not using it with an iphone, I just
wanted something better sounding than my laptops built in speakers on the
front porch for the summer.

The problem: If the thing doesn't detect any sound for about 10 seconds,
it goes into power management mode and cuts out the amp. If you're
listening to music that has quiet sections you'll get chunks of audio cut
out of the music while the amp turns back on!

Good grief, the idiot engineer who designed this! I hope he got his pink
slip.

Maybe this winter I'll open it up and see if there's a way to disable this
"feature".

[Tom Gardner]

On 09/09/16 20:30, JW wrote:
> Bought this piece of junk at a garage sale.
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/MIP108-I-Station-Speakers-Docking-Station-White/dp/B000G0G6K2
>
> Sounds OK enough for what it is. Not using it with an iphone, I just
> wanted something better sounding than my laptops built in speakers on the
> front porch for the summer.
>
> The problem: If the thing doesn't detect any sound for about 10 seconds,
> it goes into power management mode and cuts out the amp. If you're
> listening to music that has quiet sections you'll get chunks of audio cut
> out of the music while the amp turns back on!
>
> Good grief, the idiot engineer who designed this! I hope he got his pink
> slip.

You haven't listened to music radio stations recently.
Most "popular" music is designed and engineered to
have a constant loudness.

[Syd Rumpo]

This was an issue many years ago - 1973[1] or thereabouts - at BBC radio
before 24 hour broadcasting. The transmitters were fitted with a
circuit which would switch them off if there was more than a minute[1]
of silence.

BBC Radio 3 was and is a classical music station[2]. A minute[1] of
'aesthetic pause' wasn't uncommon.

[1] Whatever. Something like that. Too long ago.
[2] Probably the best in the world.

Cheers
--
Syd

[Dave Platt]

In article <fs26tb9arnl6jp2ca...@4ax.com>,

JW <no...@dev.null> wrote:

>The problem: If the thing doesn't detect any sound for about 10 seconds,
>it goes into power management mode and cuts out the amp. If you're
>listening to music that has quiet sections you'll get chunks of audio cut
>out of the music while the amp turns back on!
>
>Good grief, the idiot engineer who designed this! I hope he got his pink
>slip.

I sorta expect that this isn't a problem for the product's intended
demographic: the very large number of young folks who listen to
modern pop music, which simply doesn't *have* any 10-second quiet
periods in it. It's all been loudencompressified to death, has a
total dynamic range of maybe 3 dB on a really good day, and is either
THERE or ( )

Thanks for the warning, though - I won't buy such a monstrosity
myself. I have this atavistic preference for dynamic contrasts and
subtlety in the music I play...

[rickman]

I'd like to find a decent remote bluetooth speaker that doesn't use a
battery and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I had some old Sony speakers
that I got off Freecycle and got an $18 bluetooth module for music in a
car. I lucked out and the internal PSU put out about 30 volts which was
in the range for the module. I embedded it and it worked great. I had
the speaker close by so I could tweak the volume knob (my preference
over on PC controls) but didn't need another wire plugged into my laptop
which moves around.

I worked pretty well for about a year until it stopped pairing with my
PC. I'm not certain if it is a hardware problem or a software problem
on the PC. I need to see if my phone can see it.

--

Rick C

[Adrian Tuddenham]

Syd Rumpo <use...@nononono.co.uk> wrote:


> This was an issue many years ago - 1973[1] or thereabouts - at BBC radio
> before 24 hour broadcasting. The transmitters were fitted with a
> circuit which would switch them off if there was more than a minute[1]
> of silence.
>
> BBC Radio 3 was and is a classical music station[2]. A minute[1] of
> 'aesthetic pause' wasn't uncommon.
>
> [1] Whatever. Something like that. Too long ago.
> [2] Probably the best in the world.

The producer was suppoosed to 'book out' any extended silences so that
the transmitter engineers were warned in advance, the automatic circuit
could the be over-ridden.

The transmitters didn't switch off immediately, they switched to an
incoming feed via an alternative route or an off-air receiver tuned to
another station in the chain.


--
~ Adrian Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

[JW]

On Fri, 09 Sep 2016 15:30:05 -0400 JW <no...@dev.null> wrote in Message id:
<fs26tb9arnl6jp2ca...@4ax.com>:

Decided winter is still too far away to live with this idiotic flaw.
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/the-dumbest-design-flaw-i've-seen-in-a-while/msg1023011/#msg1023011
Fixed.

[d...@yipee.com]

Yes. That is refered to as CCAA. Continuous Cacaphonous Auditory
Assault. Responsible for much of the brain numbness plagueing the
youth today.

[krw]

VCR clocks.

[legg]

On Fri, 09 Sep 2016 15:30:05 -0400, JW <no...@dev.null> wrote:

A handheld digital meter with 'power saving' issues an audible warning
beep when it has decided to save power due to inactivity, although it
is serving it's function with a non-zero or non/overange display.
Nothing you do subsequently will prevent the shut-off, except
recycling the power before it happens.

RL

[legg]

No clicks or pops at turn-on....?

RL

[jurb...@gmail.com]

>"A handheld digital meter with 'power saving' issues an audible >warning beep when it has decided to save power due to inactivity, >although it is serving it's function with a non-zero or non/overange >display. Nothing you do subsequently will prevent the shut-off, >except recycling the power before it happens."

I like my old Fluke. Mechanical power switch, but then again it runs off the mains, not a battery. You would think they have the technology to detect if there is something connected to the probes but the fact is that new engineers don't know shit and even if they do have never serviced anything in their life or even done any product testing.

Now CROs on the other hand might benefit from something that will at least turn down the beam current in the absence of a signal. That would save it from screen burn. Some of them had writing speed enhancers so they already had most of the circuitry. But they don't make CROs anymore, much to my dismay. I prefer them alot. The LCD scopes might have the bandwidth and features but if they only update the display ten times a second they would be useless for much servicing, I need to see it NOW when something is going into shutdown or whatever. Bunch of junk as far as I am concerned. Well, OK I never used a really high end one but I ain't spending $400,000 for a machine that is used to fix the cheap shit I fix and is susceptible to viruses and needs software updates. Fuck all that.

Anyway, all you on here might enjoy a look once in a while at a website called "Made By Monkeys" which, while updated infrequently, has stories about shitty designs and engineering gaffs and the like. There are a few interesting posts there, and I have not gone all that far back in their archives, so there might be more interesting stuff.

[Phil Hobbs]

I have about 8 of them, and none do that. You just turn the range switch.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs


--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

[JW]

On Mon, 12 Sep 2016 13:09:59 -0400 legg <le...@nospam.magma.ca> wrote in
Message id: <q9odtbt5u3cjuv66l...@4ax.com>:

Nope.

[legg]

I have a lot of them that don't do it either, but at least one 4.5
digit hand-held and another multifuction 'tweezer' measurement unit
do-do it. Ain't nuthin' you can do abahd 't.

RL

[krw]

On Mon, 12 Sep 2016 18:52:20 -0400, legg <le...@nospam.magma.ca> wrote:

>On Mon, 12 Sep 2016 13:22:59 -0400, Phil Hobbs
><pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote:
>
>>On 09/12/2016 12:13 PM, legg wrote:
>>> On Fri, 09 Sep 2016 15:30:05 -0400, JW <no...@dev.null> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Bought this piece of junk at a garage sale.
>>>> https://www.amazon.co.uk/MIP108-I-Station-Speakers-Docking-Station-White/dp/B000G0G6K2
>>>>
>>>> Sounds OK enough for what it is. Not using it with an iphone, I just
>>>> wanted something better sounding than my laptops built in speakers on the
>>>> front porch for the summer.
>>>>
>>>> The problem: If the thing doesn't detect any sound for about 10 seconds,
>>>> it goes into power management mode and cuts out the amp. If you're
>>>> listening to music that has quiet sections you'll get chunks of audio cut
>>>> out of the music while the amp turns back on!
>>>>
>>>> Good grief, the idiot engineer who designed this! I hope he got his pink
>>>> slip.
>>>>
>>>> Maybe this winter I'll open it up and see if there's a way to disable this
>>>> "feature".
>>>
>>> A handheld digital meter with 'power saving' issues an audible warning
>>> beep when it has decided to save power due to inactivity, although it
>>> is serving it's function with a non-zero or non/overange display.
>>> Nothing you do subsequently will prevent the shut-off, except
>>> recycling the power before it happens.
>>>
>>
>>I have about 8 of them, and none do that. You just turn the range switch.

That's no less annoying.

>
>I have a lot of them that don't do it either, but at least one 4.5
>digit hand-held and another multifuction 'tweezer' measurement unit
>do-do it. Ain't nuthin' you can do abahd 't.

Every one I've had does it. The range switch thing works, for small
values of "works". 'cept as you hint at, those that have no range
switch.

[Phil Hobbs]

My Tek ones allow you to disable it by holding down a button as you turn
the meter on. I think the Fluke 87 does too. (I bought mine in 1988.)

[Ralph Mowery]

In article <5Z-dnYBSZNMolkXK...@supernews.com>,
pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net says...

>
.
>
> My Tek ones allow you to disable it by holding down a button as you turn
> the meter on. I think the Fluke 87 does too. (I bought mine in 1988.)
>
>

I don't know all the model numbers, but the Flukes I have will allow you
to keep them on by pressing a button when turned on.

[Jon Elson]

jurb...@gmail.com wrote:


> Now CROs on the other hand might benefit from something that will at least
> turn down the beam current in the absence of a signal. That would save it
> from screen burn. Some of them had writing speed enhancers so they already
> had most of the circuitry. But they don't make CROs anymore, much to my
> dismay. I prefer them alot. The LCD scopes might have the bandwidth and
> features but if they only update the display ten times a second they would
> be useless for much servicing, I need to see it NOW when something is
> going into shutdown or whatever. Bunch of junk as far as I am concerned.
> Well, OK I never used a really high end one but I ain't spending $400,000

Tek DSOs update at something like 100K traces per second in shotr-record
mode (the scope only records one screen-full per trigger). These ran $4K
new, and are available on the used market for about $1K. They are pretty
good, we have about 4 of them at work. For a lot of work, a plain analog
CRO is all you need, but when you need to capture a one-time event, like a
power supply starting up or tripping out, then a digital scope is great.
You can even capture the signal from BEFORE the trigger event, which can be
totally priceless.

Jon