Washers with WiFi?

[Chuckanut]

A few years ago Garmin started selling GPSs with free "lifetime" database updates. A real knee slapper: "Lifetime" turned out to be the lifetime of the product as determined solely by Garmin.

I knew from the start that the 'free map updates' for my Garmin GPS was for the life of the product not my life. So far Garmin has not told me that my product is too old to be updated. I did have to install a micro SD card because the maps got to big for the devices internal memory.

Has Garmin actually told you that they won't update your device any longer?

 

[Alan]

Tonight we will be getting paid to use electricity so using the appliance app it is very easy to program a hot towel wash starting after midnight. We’ll also be running the dishwasher and a space heater during the negative price plunge.

 

[Ready]

Our house has become highly automated and I find it very convenient to use the technology. I can use the internet to:

1) Turn lights on and off, or have them automatically turn on/off at sunrise sunset.

2) Adjust the thermostat, turn the HVAC fan on/off.

3) Vacuum my house.

4) Turn the ceiling fan on/off

5) Monitor activity around the house with webcams.

6) Open/close the garage door, and get alerts if I leave it open more than 15 minutes.

7) Monitor the progress of the washing machine and get an alert when it’s finished.

8) Schedule TV shows to record on TiVo.

9) Adjust the position of my bed for reading, watching TV, or sleeping.

10) Wash and dry my butt with all in one bidets.

11) Make my coffee in the morning

12) Charge my Tesla, update car software, remotely warm/cool the interior

13) Find out where DH is through the Tesla app to know when it’s time to prepare dinner.

I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things. But I can’t imagine going back to life before I had all of these conveniences. Technology works great when you use it to make your life easier.

 

[timo2]

The primary benefit I see is the diagnostic feature. We have WIFI on our LG dishwasher. I just connected after having it for two years.
But our LG Washer and Dryer also have a non-WIFI diagnostic feature if I connect them to the LG app.

 

[CRLLS]

It is potentially worse than that. I bought a Rachio sprinkler controller and it discusses the weather with the mother ship and does not sprinkle when it's not necessary. A nice money saver. I emailed tech support asking what would happen if the mother ship went away and got a fairly evasive answer.

In general any of these things that contact the mother ship in order to function are at risk of being functionally impaired by problems or marketing decisions made by the current owner of the brand.

A few years ago Garmin started selling GPSs with free "lifetime" database updates. A real knee slapper: "Lifetime" turned out to be the lifetime of the product as determined solely by Garmin.

I agree 100% and have a real life example to back it up. My $35,000 2015 Ford Escape has a feature that runs a "Vehicle Health" which includes the oil life condition. Like many newer cars, it determines the % of life left before an oil change is due. Every once in a while the system asks if I want to run a Health Report. There is no other way to get that info. When I say yes, the vehicle runs the algorithms, then sends it off to Mother Ford using my connected cell phone. Mother Ford then saves the info and then sends me an e-mail with the report. Sometime in 2017 Ford dropped Microsoft for there infotainment supplier and decided not to maintain the older system so they discontinued it. But my vehicle doesn't know that. The car still occasionally asks me if I want to run the report. If I say yes, it fails. Now I have to change oil based only on mileage driven.

So far, TomTom still is updating my lifetime maps.

 

[RunningBum]

Our house has become highly automated and I find it very convenient to use the technology. I can use the internet to:

I do a couple of those (1 & 8) and would like to do a couple more (2, 5, 6). But do you really use the internet for these two?
[quote

9) Adjust the position of my bed for reading, watching TV, or sleeping.

10) Wash and dry my butt with all in one bidets.

[/QUOTE]
I can also adjust the position of my bed, but it's via a wired controller. Even if it was wireless it's probably not actually using the internet, just like the old standard TV remote doesn't use the internet.

The bidet?? No thanks! And I also doubt that one.

In any case, I get your overall point, there are some neat new things, and some very handy new things.

 

[T-Minus]

Gimmick. That said, if you can find the features you want for a great price - and the unit has Wi-Fi - buy it. Without your Wi-Fi password, it just operates normally without the potential security risk.

 

[Alan]

Gimmick. That said, if you can find the features you want for a great price - and the unit has Wi-Fi - buy it. Without your Wi-Fi password, it just operates normally without the potential security risk.

If our washing machine is typical then you have to actively turn on wifi from the front panel, so there is zero security risk if you don’t want your machine to transmit a wifi signal.

 

[mpeirce]

...Without your Wi-Fi password, it just operates normally without the potential security risk.

If you want to use the features enabled by WiFi, put it on your guest network (assuming you have one set up). If the device is compromised, it won't be able to access your main network.

And no, the LG washer and dryer doesn't have a camera or microphone built in.

I'm no saying that IOT devices can't be a security risk. But with some precautions, you can minimize your expose and still use them.

 

[Car-Guy]

We have wi-fi on our Roomba cleaner and our Washing machine... Never use them but I see them all the time on my PC's wi-fi settings.... My DW asked me about it once since she saw it too on her PC... I told it they were used to help keep our Internet connection cleaned up. Sorry, I could not help myself.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Our house has become highly automated and I find it very convenient to use the technology. I can use the internet to:

I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things. But I can’t imagine going back to life before I had all of these conveniences. Technology works great when you use it to make your life easier.

You forgot:

14. Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

 

[Alan]

There is an app called IFTTT (If This Then That) that can be linked to other devices in the house plus our electricity supplier so you can set up rules such as “Turn on the washing machine when the price drops below xp/kWh”. If our solar panel inverter was smart then I would program it to force charge the solar batteries when the price drops below xp/kWh. Last night I got an alert from our provider that we were going to have 6 hours of negative pricing overnight. (Windy weather) I would have loved to be able to program a forced charge manually from my recliner. Instead I had to go into the garage and manually set the inverter to charge between 1am and 6am, getting paid to do so. With IFTTT I could then have a permanent rule in place that says “charge the batteries whenever the price is negative”

 

[homestead]

I agree 100% and have a real life example to back it up. My $35,000 2015 Ford Escape has a feature that runs a "Vehicle Health" which includes the oil life condition. Like many newer cars, it determines the % of life left before an oil change is due. Every once in a while the system asks if I want to run a Health Report. There is no other way to get that info. When I say yes, the vehicle runs the algorithms, then sends it off to Mother Ford using my connected cell phone. Mother Ford then saves the info and then sends me an e-mail with the report. Sometime in 2017 Ford dropped Microsoft for there infotainment supplier and decided not to maintain the older system so they discontinued it. But my vehicle doesn't know that. The car still occasionally asks me if I want to run the report. If I say yes, it fails. Now I have to change oil based only on mileage driven.

Actually Ford has a solution to that issue. Just update your Sync 2 software in the car to version 3.10. The Health Report has been removed in that version.

 

[Walt34]

So I programmed a little micro-controller ( ESP8266/Node-MCU ~ $5 ) in Micro-Python, to monitor on/off times of the pump, saves them to its built in 1MB Flash drive, and uploads them to my computer over WiFi in the background every hour, and then deletes the previous day's file. My computer emails me a summary each day, and if the ON or OFF times are outside of limits I set (too long OR too short), I get an email alarm that hour.

-ERD50

You do realize, of course, that this classifies you as a genuine, certified, class A NERD!

 

[W2R]

You do realize, of course, that this classifies you as a genuine, certified, class A NERD!

Pretty cool, huh! I love how nerdy many of our members are, especially the retired engineers among us.

 

[MichaelB]

And we wonder why Skynet happens.

 

[Koolau]

We're still nursing along our 30+ year old washer. I'm afraid the bearings are going and I'm guessing that will be IT. BUT for now, we're wearing very few clothes (no need in the apartment, heh, heh.) What with Covid around, we don't dress up (or dress?) so we can get by with a couple of loads a week.

When the time comes, the very LAST thing I want is WiFI enabled washing. If I had my choice, I'd look for an old washer that's still serviceable.

What's next, WiFI enabled cars? I hope not but YMMV.,

 

[Alan]

What's next, WiFI enabled cars? I hope not but YMMV.,

For sure. Can’t wait for the car announcing over my Alexa, “Good morning Alan, I hope you are enjoying your breakfast. It is cold today, would you like me to start warming the car and move out of the garage onto the driveway?”

 

[braumeister]

Wifi cars are already here and have been for years.

 

[Alan]

Wifi cars are already here and have been for years.

When we lived in the USA we had a VW Golf that was wifi connected. From the app I could see where it was and also a summary of its status. The annoying thing about the app was that I could see where I had parked the car and it would show if it was locked or unlocked, but there was no feature to lock it if I had forgotten to lock it.

 

[braumeister]

When we lived in the USA we had a VW Golf that was wifi connected. From the app I could see where it was and also a summary of its status. The annoying thing about the app was that I could see where I had parked the car and it would show if it was locked or unlocked, but there was no feature to lock it if I had forgotten to lock it.

That's probably the thing I like best about mine -- I can lock it remotely, and have many times. It will also tell me if the windows are open, and let me know when the battery is fully charged (it's a PHEV).

 

[Alan]

That's probably the thing I like best about mine -- I can lock it remotely, and have many times. It will also tell me if the windows are open, and let me know when the battery is fully charged (it's a PHEV).

Those are definitely good features to have.

 

[ERD50]

You do realize, of course, that this classifies you as a genuine, certified, class A NERD!

And proud of it!

edit: On second thought, this was actually useful and practical. The real NERDs do it just because it can be done!


-ERD50

 

[meleana]

Have it on mine and never use it. Don’t see why I would need it.

 

[FIREarly]

Remember iRobot?
Are you ready to fight your washer AND dryer?