@hchavers we were all really taken with those ceilings in several houses, including the one we now live in, but that and changing lights have nearly sold us a fancy scaffold ladder. It hasn’t happened yet, but I think we are probably one good sale or one bad season away from it. I love that the house has a smoke detector in every room and a couple in the halls, from a safety standpoint, but having to pull the big extension ladder inside to change four of them (and we don’t actually have a solution for several of the lights, if they go out) is really not ideal.
@hchavers Ugh, I was keeping an eye on my friend’s condo while he was away, and his smoke alarm was too high for me to reach with his stepstool (he was almost a foot taller than me) so it just chirped for weeks until he got back.
@Tadlem43 It used to drive me nuts because as soon as the new batteries were in, the alarms would start a self-test at full volume. I had to wear ear muffs or risk deafness for several minutes. Last year I replaced both alarms with new ones with 10-year batteries.
@heartny
My old car key fob would die like every six months and drive me nuts. I’d be locked out of my car bc it didn’t have a key entry on the door. That was the only good thing about wreaking that car.
@katbyter This is why I stopped wearing my Fossil watches. It wasn’t too bad when I only had a couple but I now have 7 and the batteries only last about 2 years.
@katbyter@yakkoTDI
yep… this
I f’d up a couple of different Martian watches (from here) trying to change out the battery for the analog watch (which was separate from the rechargable one for the “notifier” part.)
@TheCO2 If I was still in the habit of checking meh exactly at midnight I might have had the 1st post! But since they’ve eliminated IRK’s from their mehrathons the last 2 times (and sell them on SideDeal for $50 with the “FREE” gimmick) I only check in when I get around to it. I miss the old, fun meh.
@blaineg@detailer@TheCO2 I actually fell asleep early. I have been trying to get back on a regular bicycling schedule so I might be off my midnight game some nights.
There are multiple hardwired detectors, with battery backup, per floor. When a battery begins to fail, the detector periodically emits a short high-pitched chirp that is difficult to determine the direction. So it takes a while to track down the offending unit. And it’s always in the middle of the night.
Our bedroom has a vaulted ceiling with a detector mounted near the peak. Too high for a stepladder, I must go out to the barn for the extension ladder to reach it and stop the chirping. Again, always in the middle of the night.
@fuzzmanmatt are they on the zigbee/z-wave/etc. mesh system? I’ve heard that you can do some things to optimize the link and signal path on that and get better battery life. I only have the one client in my mesh so I haven’t read too much into it, but applying a couple of the tweaks did get it better battery life.
AirTags. We have them for the kids’ water bottles, and I think my husband must’ve bought The Worst Batteries On The Market, because there’s never a week that goes by I don’t get a notif that one or more is low.
Electric vehicle
@mehcuda67 At @ half the cost of the vehicle.
/image refrigerator
You have to rotate through all the birds until you get the hands in the right place.
High ceilings are great, especially in the heat of the summer. And then that little chirp starts. Is that latter heavier this year?
@hchavers we were all really taken with those ceilings in several houses, including the one we now live in, but that and changing lights have nearly sold us a fancy scaffold ladder. It hasn’t happened yet, but I think we are probably one good sale or one bad season away from it. I love that the house has a smoke detector in every room and a couple in the halls, from a safety standpoint, but having to pull the big extension ladder inside to change four of them (and we don’t actually have a solution for several of the lights, if they go out) is really not ideal.
@hchavers Ugh, I was keeping an eye on my friend’s condo while he was away, and his smoke alarm was too high for me to reach with his stepstool (he was almost a foot taller than me) so it just chirped for weeks until he got back.
Smoke alarms! It drives my dogs nuts!!
@Tadlem43 It used to drive me nuts because as soon as the new batteries were in, the alarms would start a self-test at full volume. I had to wear ear muffs or risk deafness for several minutes. Last year I replaced both alarms with new ones with 10-year batteries.
Actually, those coin sized locator things that are sold on that crappy deal site.
Keyfob for my car
@heartny
My old car key fob would die like every six months and drive me nuts. I’d be locked out of my car bc it didn’t have a key entry on the door. That was the only good thing about wreaking that car.
/giphy personal-massager
Always at the worst time.
Wristwatch. It vexed me so much that years ago I switched to a Citizen ecodrive so I could avoid the dead watch battery.
@katbyter This is why I stopped wearing my Fossil watches. It wasn’t too bad when I only had a couple but I now have 7 and the batteries only last about 2 years.
@katbyter @yakkoTDI
yep… this
I f’d up a couple of different Martian watches (from here) trying to change out the battery for the analog watch (which was separate from the rechargable one for the “notifier” part.)
Replace THAT batteries?
CR2032 coin cells in the Sega Dreamcast VMU (Visual Memory Unit). They last for an annoyingly short period, and there’s two of them per VMU!
Refurbished Sherman tank.
VIBRATOR!! Duh!!
/giphy vibrator
@IndifferentDude I kind of expected this to be the first comment. Mehers are slacking.
@TheCO2 Yeah…really. @yakkoTDI must have gotten locked in the trunk…would have been all over that one.
@detailer @TheCO2 @yakkoTDI Look for the glow in the dark handle.
That won’t glow because it’s always dark in the trunk, and never gets a chance to charge. Well done, overprotective government agency.
@TheCO2 If I was still in the habit of checking meh exactly at midnight I might have had the 1st post! But since they’ve eliminated IRK’s from their mehrathons the last 2 times (and sell them on SideDeal for $50 with the “FREE” gimmick) I only check in when I get around to it. I miss the old, fun meh.
@blaineg @detailer @TheCO2 I actually fell asleep early. I have been trying to get back on a regular bicycling schedule so I might be off my midnight game some nights.
@IndifferentDude @TheCO2 Maybe someone has forgotten to change the batteries at Meh and they have run down…
Remote control fireplace starter.
The ones in the refrigerator.
Definitely the smoke detectors:
@macromeh ALWAYS at night!
Grrrr.
That’s why I keep fresh 9Vs in the bedroom. Get up, stumble around the rooms until I hear it above my head.
I also used to change them every October, every year.
I end up with a metric fucktonne of good 9V that don’t have another home. Not much else in the house uses them.
@G1 @macromeh Some suggestions:
How about mounting the car battery on its side?
1:33 if the time stamp doesn’t work.
Ecobee remote sensors! Uhgh. Even “good” 2032s don’t last like they should.
@fuzzmanmatt are they on the zigbee/z-wave/etc. mesh system? I’ve heard that you can do some things to optimize the link and signal path on that and get better battery life. I only have the one client in my mesh so I haven’t read too much into it, but applying a couple of the tweaks did get it better battery life.
@fuzzmanmatt Hmm, mine seem to last long enough that I forget where I stashed the backup batteries.
Red dot
@tweezak Meow?
@blaineg I think you are thinking of a laser sight. A red dot is sometimes called a holographic sight.
AirTags. We have them for the kids’ water bottles, and I think my husband must’ve bought The Worst Batteries On The Market, because there’s never a week that goes by I don’t get a notif that one or more is low.
I amazed, that any have sold….
The UltraVibe Pleasure 2000 I found in my moms closet.
-Cartman
Definitely the atomic batteries in the Batmobile.
Have you seen the NRC paperwork?
Baby crib mobile, it was awful!
Garage door opener remotes.
OK, maybe it’s not actually the worst, but I just had to do it yesterday so it’s at the top of my mind.
Laptop.
The remote for Amazon Cube. That cover is impossible to get off!
Grammar checker. It doesn’t fail all at once, just lets little errors creep in as the batteries die…