Why can't electronics on new washers & dryers be tougher?

Marketing. I saw a washing machine that was advertised as having "crystal control". Presumably, it timed its wash cycles to one part in

Sylvia.

Crystals aren't that good unless especially good and in temperatrure-controlled ovens. I would hope for one part in 10^6 to one part in 10^7 or so.

Meanwhile, crystal oscillator circuits are not expensive to make. Even modules of such are easily available and cost maybe a couple bucks or so, maybe closer to a buck in quantities of tens or hundreds of thousands. Cheaper crystal oscillator circuits may be had for something like 50-60 cents each in quantities of tens of thousands.

The alternative for reliably having a complete cycle's timing down to seconds out of an hour is "power line time base", costing a fraction of a buck, probably a smaller fraction, less than cheaper crystal oscillator options.

Cheaper still requires oscillators regulated by component tolerances - and oscillators tend to have at least two components affecting frequency, and finest tolerance of ones easily available at premium prices is 1%, meaning low chance of achieving timing highly reliably better than 2% in either direction unless either crystal or power line time base is used.

Mechanical timers use "synchronous motors", which gives "power line time base", good enough to make electric clocks with. Many digital electric clocks use electronic means to make use of "power line frequency time base".

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)

I'd have thought getting the cycle to within 10% would be more than adequate.

Sylvia.

No, because time and Tide wait for no man.

They all appear to have various bells & whistles - specific setting for various fabrics, variable speed this, sensor something or other that, various lights, LED time remaining readout etc. etc

In contrast, the Speed Queen front load units at the laundromat have about 4 buttons for different temps and that's it - a mechanical pointer gauge indicates approximately where it is in the cycle. It might adjust the water level depending on the load size but I can't say for sure. If there's a front loader made in a similar barebones way for the home market I haven't seen one at Home Depot or Lowes. You'd think there would be a market for it. I assume those commercial units are expensive.

If the washer has an automatic detergent dispenser, the Tide needn't wait.

The EU has made it less bullettproof by insisting on lead-free solder. It doesn't like vibration.

Graham

-- due to the hugely increased level of spam please make the obvious adjustment to my email address

I`m alergic to Tide, Daz is ok tho ;^)

Do you mean Duz?

No, I meant Daz

Hell, you can swap daughters for appliances. ;^)

Lord of Darkness?

Jeez. I haven't run into that one in person, but it wouldn't surprise me. The current craze for insane amounts of megapixels in digicams with toy lenses is a very similar problem.

A washing machine could be out by 20% or more without causing a problem.

The traditional synchronous motor is more than accurate enough for the application.

It would be. Washing machines used to use synchronous motors driving a cam, which was far more accurate than necessary to do the job properly.

They are, but they last forever. Buy one, & you'll never need to buy another one. Contrast that to the modern domestic units, where you'll be lucky to get 3 years out of them.

Failure of mechanical timers on appliances is VERY common, and usually results in the appliance going to the landfill.

Electronic controls, done properly, are far more reliable. Yes, there are some that are done properly!

Reminds me of DVM's with 3 1/2 digit readouts and 1% accuracy. The last digit is just noise.