Here in California, the law requires that all homes have working carbon monoxide detectors. So I headed out to my local Home Depot and picked up a combo fire and CO alarm.
When I got home, I removed the packaging, but I couldn't separate the unit from its base. Assuming it must be defective, I returned it to Home Depot and picked up another one of the same model. This time, I wanted to make sure I could remove the unit from its base before heading home. I opened the package, and I still could not separate the unit from its base. Some Home Depot employees said they had the same problem with the product.
At this point, I read through the manual, and it turned out this particular model had a feature that was supposed to prevent closure of the unit when batteries were not installed. Could this be the problem? I looked the unit over and, through the slots in the base, saw a latch in the battery cavity. When I pushed this button in (as it would be with a battery present), I was able to remove the base.
On further inspection, I realized that the design of this feature actually had the opposite effect as intended. The angle of the knob (attached to the latch) that was used to prevent closing of the unit without batteries actually allowed the base flange to ride over it, locking the unit into the base without batteries.
Once the base and unit were closed, this feature actually prevented opening it again if batteries were not installed.
Now just imagine what would happen if the base were installed in a wall or ceiling before the batteries were placed in the unit, and then you attached the base to the unit. You would end up with a useless alarm, and you wouldn’t be able to remove it without breaking it apart.
This entry was submitted by John Muren and edited by Rob Spiegel.
Tell us your experiences with Monkey-designed products. Send stories to Rob Spiegel for Made by Monkeys.
Ahhh you don't need one of those detector things. Keep your chimeny and burner clean and no worries. Just a bit of maintenance every winter before your first lighting is all thats needed. Kind of like changing those 9v batts, but less frequent. Those things are made in CHINA and they probably can't even read your complaint letter. And so what we have here is a crummy design built in a foreign land that's known to output some really sorry stuff and it's susposed to save lives in an event something happens. But it's a law to have one and they all come from the same country and hopefully not the same factory.
Nancy, As far as I can tell they are an American company, but may have Contract Manufactured in Asia. I think this was just a case of poor design validation. The mechanical engineer who worked on the latching feature should have known better, so I have to believe he was inexperienced.
TJ, Yes, I contacted the manufacturer and told them they had a major defect in their device. I even wrote to them to email me for specific information regarding the defect, but that was almost three months ago, and the still haven't contacted me.
Hi Ann. I don't know if Home Depot did anything with this product. I do know I contacted the company that made it and told them of the defect, giving them my email address so that they could receive detailed information regarding it, but I never got a reply. Worst of all, this is an American company.
They should be. Yet they do not do the level of quality control they would do in their own factory. The latest public example is here in Chicago. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bought $1.1B of new trains. The manufacturer was Bombardier. They in turn got some structural steel members from an overseas manufacturer. These were all defective. The CTA will not use the trains until all of the sub-standard members are fixed. The situation I mentioned as my first experience was transistors in a power supply for lighting. The overseas manufacturer substituted what they assumed were equivalent parts when they could not get the specified parts. These failed in less than six months in a product that should last many years. There are many others, but in most cases I am under non-disclosure agreements. I have also seen this in software.
The problem is not that the overseas manufacturers or deveopers cannot do the job. What I am seeing happening is that the customers assume that the supplier does all the same quality control that they do and have all the same standards. When you are outsourcing just for price, that is what happens. You are still responsible for quality control. You are the one with the name on the box. Assuming tha that quality is a cost, not an advantage, is the problem. I am talking about quality in design and manufacture. I thought we learned that with the auto industry. Come to think of it, it was an overseas company that took those lessons from the US and applied them when US companies stopped.
They also mandate that they can take our tax dollars to buy atomic bombs and gun down innocent civilians in foreign lands. They also mandate that an electrician needs a license and not every bozo can monkey around with stuff that can kill you. Same applies to car mechanics that work on the breaks and steering of your car. Same applies to you who is mandated to buy car insurance.
Governments do dumb stuff, but sometimes they put something really decent in place, such as mandatory health insurance. Otherwise you end up in the hospital without insurance and have the choice to either file for bancruptcy or die, because you either opt for the care or reject it.
The health insurance mandate is no different than taking your income tax and use it for road maintenance. It is a thing that works better when everyone in the community pitches in. Otherwise you would have a toll booth at the end of your driveway.
Aside from that, the majority of the federal health care legislation isn't even in effect yet, but that doesn't stop some from mindlessly bashing it as 'not working'.
As for CO detectors, a 20$ gadget can save lives. Not having a CO detector in your home is just stupid. I agree, it is shocking that a law is needed to make people take such simple and basic precaution to protect themselves, it should be obvious. But common sense went out the door for many.
You can ALWAYS tell a company that does not threat their nerds very well by the qualtity of their products. The engineers should be in charge, not some idiot managers.
Naperlou, I didn't realize that changes in the product was yet another of the hazzards of outsourcing. Are brand owners unaware of this? I would think they would examine their products carefully as they roll off an outsourced manufactruing line.
When your lab is only one scope, one meter, and one homebrew function generator and power supply, the scope is stage center. But this one wasn't working right.
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