Re: Stupid design decisions

From	rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.arch.embedded
Subject	Re: Stupid design decisions
Date	2017-01-06 14:51 -0500
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<o4osca$i22$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	<o60u6c5ebpdopgrth3flc1vscseb52mshj@4ax.com>

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On 1/5/2017 10:14 PM, Robert Wessel wrote:
> The following is more a vent than anything really constructive, but...
>
> So for the last four days (yes, I got called in New Years day
> afternoon), something has been beeping in the computer room.
>
> Let me rephrase that.  A proper beep would have likely been little
> more than an annoyance.  No, this was a single, fraction of a second,
> fairly high frequency, not very loud, chirp, repeated at odd
> intervals, typically in the 5-20 minute range, although with
> excursions to the 30s and 2-hour-plus ranges.  And did I mention, the
> volume was not particularly consistent?  And it was high enough
> pitched that half the people trying to help couldn't hear it at all.
>
> IOW, a signal with very poor directionality, in a room with a couple
> of dozen computers, other electronics, A/C, and whatnot contributing
> tons of background noise.
>
> I have rarely in my life been so frustrated, as I have been trying to
> locate that dang* chirp.
>
> As it turns out, there was a device that had an embedded fan (1.5 inch
> muffin), and a temperature sensor.  The fan bearing was going bad (in
> a quiet area, removed from the outer enclosure, the bad bearing was
> audible, but not at all in the computer room) and cooling was
> impacted.  The only sign of the overheat was that dang chirp from a
> little magnetic buzzer (an AX-1212-LF, if anyone cares).  Somewhat
> amusingly, this is a device rated for 8-12V, and there's nothing more
> than 5V headed into the portion of the device where the buzzer was
> (and there are mechanically identical 5V and 3V devices in the product
> line - AX-1205, AX-1203, for example).  That probably explains part of
> both the volume and frequency (the device is supposed to be producing
> ~2300Hz, but it was at least in the 5kHz range) issues.  The
> apparently minimal length of pulse used to trigger it likely explains
> the rest.  And did I mention that this buzzer is inside a mostly
> enclosed component inside the case of the device?
>
> And no, the overheat does not appear to be reported anywhere (despite
> considerable chat between the device and the host system).
>
> I understand the need to not make alarms excessively obnoxious (and
> there is a handy little "BUZZER DISABLE" jumper next to the buzzer),
> but making them so hard to hear is just absurd.  Clearly no one ever
> tried listening to this in any real environment.  There are so many
> ways this could have been better.  A simple series of chirps at each
> alarm would have made this infinitely easier to trace.  Perhaps having
> it repeat at a reasonable interval.  Or a reasonable frequency and
> duration.  They went to all this trouble to monitor temperatures, and
> then have an alarm, and then made it almost unusable.
>
> Took about 15 minutes to swap in a spare (less than half of which was
> screwdriver time).  Now to find a replacement fan to refurb the old
> unit.
>
> Ah well.  My apologies for the rant.  Back to the regularly scheduled
> program...

I feel your pain.  I've always thought the high pitched beep is a load 
of crap to begin with.  Surely there are other ways to make a less 
annoying and more easily detected/noticed sound.  When I have a piece of 
gear in a bag making noise, good luck figuring out which bag and which 
piece of gear it is.  When it is such an intermittent thing like a low 
battery warning, well, you only get so long to locate it before it just 
quits.  Or worse, figuring out which of the two smoke detectors are 
emitting a once an hour, single chirp!  One is just above the other, two 
floors with an open balcony.  That drove me nuts for several nights.

Yeah, they really should give a bit more thought to the use cases for 
such alerts.

-- 

Rick C

Thread

Stupid design decisions Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2017-01-05 21:14 -0600
  Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-01-06 12:27 -0700
  Re: Stupid design decisions rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2017-01-06 14:51 -0500
  Re: Stupid design decisions Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2017-01-06 20:22 +0000
    Re: Stupid design decisions David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-01-08 17:11 +0100
      Re: Stupid design decisions rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2017-01-08 17:10 -0500
        Re: Stupid design decisions Dimiter_Popoff <dp@tgi-sci.com> - 2017-01-09 11:30 +0200
          Re: Stupid design decisions rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2017-01-09 04:58 -0500
            Re: Stupid design decisions Dimiter_Popoff <dp@tgi-sci.com> - 2017-01-09 13:10 +0200
            Re: Stupid design decisions Clive Arthur <cliveta@nowaytoday.co.uk> - 2017-01-09 11:15 +0000
            Re: Stupid design decisions David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-01-09 13:48 +0100
        Re: Stupid design decisions Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> - 2017-02-08 17:40 -0500
      Re: Stupid design decisions Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2017-01-10 21:42 -0600
  Re: Stupid design decisions Tim Wescott <seemywebsite@myfooter.really> - 2017-01-06 15:33 -0600
  Re: Stupid design decisions Ed Prochak <edprochak@gmail.com> - 2017-01-30 12:28 -0800
    Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-01-30 13:52 -0700
      Re: Stupid design decisions Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2017-01-30 20:55 +0000
        Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-01-30 14:18 -0700
          Re: Stupid design decisions Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2017-01-30 21:20 +0000
            Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-01-30 14:31 -0700
              Re: Stupid design decisions Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2017-01-30 23:37 -0600
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-01-30 23:20 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Ed Prochak <edprochak@gmail.com> - 2017-01-30 22:29 -0800
                Re: Stupid design decisions rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2017-01-31 02:10 -0500
        Re: Stupid design decisions Hans-Bernhard Bröker <HBBroeker@t-online.de> - 2017-01-30 22:30 +0100
        Re: Stupid design decisions rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2017-01-31 02:00 -0500
      Re: Stupid design decisions Ed Prochak <edprochak@gmail.com> - 2017-01-30 22:18 -0800
        Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-01-30 23:36 -0700
        Re: Stupid design decisions jladasky@itu.edu - 2017-01-31 16:01 -0800
          Re: Stupid design decisions Paul <paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk> - 2017-02-02 09:47 +0000
            Re: Stupid design decisions rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2017-02-02 06:35 -0500
              Re: Stupid design decisions Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2017-02-02 16:26 -0600
                Re: Stupid design decisions rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2017-02-02 19:49 -0500
                Re: Stupid design decisions Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2017-02-03 01:27 -0600
                Re: Stupid design decisions Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2017-02-03 07:18 -0600
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-03 10:14 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Rob Gaddi <rgaddi@highlandtechnology.invalid> - 2017-02-03 10:12 -0800
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-03 14:10 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Paul <paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk> - 2017-02-04 11:15 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-04 13:52 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2017-02-05 04:36 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-04 21:55 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Paul <paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk> - 2017-02-05 21:39 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-05 15:55 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Paul <paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk> - 2017-02-05 23:38 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-05 21:25 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2017-02-04 17:26 -0600
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-04 16:56 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2017-02-03 21:40 -0600
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-03 21:48 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Paul <paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk> - 2017-02-04 11:03 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-04 13:00 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2017-02-05 01:49 -0600
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-05 10:43 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Paul <paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk> - 2017-02-05 21:31 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-05 15:22 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Paul <paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk> - 2017-02-05 23:24 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2017-02-06 03:51 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions Paul <paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk> - 2017-02-06 10:11 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2017-02-06 20:07 -0500
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-05 21:08 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions mac <acolvin@efunct.com> - 2017-02-04 14:42 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2017-02-05 02:00 -0600
                Re: Stupid design decisions Tom Gardner <spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2017-02-05 09:11 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2017-02-05 03:51 -0600
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-05 11:10 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Tom Gardner <spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2017-02-05 22:22 +0000
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-05 16:01 -0700
                Re: Stupid design decisions Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-02-05 11:03 -0700
    Re: Stupid design decisions Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2017-01-30 23:44 -0600

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