This automatic faucet that need the hands to be between the wall and the water to turn on.

LazaroFilm@lemmy.world to Mildly Infuriating@lemmy.world – 541 points –
73

I fucking hate motion-sensing faucets so much. We can edit the human genome, but are unable to make a motion sensor that actually fucking works?! Fuck outta here.

I actually prefer the old-school “push-down and have limited time” type at this point.

I just want a foot pedal to press. Public toilets should also have those just for hygienic reasons.

I really miss these hand washing stations we had in elementary school.

Holy shit that memory just hit me like a sack of bricks

These were in several of the trades buildings in my post secondary. often stocked with fast orange and sunlight industrial.

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I'm not sure if this is ADA compliant. It might be the reason why we don't see these very often. I had one of these at work though.

I can only see wheelchairs being an issue, but you need special toilets and sinks for that anyway. Any foot pedal should be able to be activated with a crutch or prosthetic.

ADA compliancy is such a BS hurdle sometimes.

"Hey we made this improvement that will help 99.99% of all people!"

"What about the remaining 0.01%?"

"Well, no, unfortunately it won't work for those edge cases"

"Ewww.... Well it's not allowed then. If a blind man in a wheelchair with a service dog can't use it, then no one can!"

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Why not both? Automatically sense when to start your limited time.

Isn't that how every automatically sensing faucet works?

I think typically they only turn on when they actively detect something near the sensor. Once they no longer detect the object, they shut off.

I don't think so.

If they only relied on the sensor it would constantly turn on and off which is something I have never seen on that kind of faucets. I think there is always a delay before shutting down but sometimes that delay is set so low that it feels like you need to constantly activate the sensor.

Edit: clarification: What I meant is that if you just move once your hand in front of the sensor it should remain ON longer than just the time your hand was detected. I have never seen a sensor that literally activates only to the millisecond when something is moving. Even just to prevent false activation for half a second you kind of need a delay in there. If not you could have a 100ms activation that doesn't even have the time to let the water out by opening the faucet and you create unnecessary wear on the valve system. My point being it never really makes sense in engineering to have a button or sensor direct output used. Usually you have mechanisms to prevent "bouncing" and so on. But I'm no plumber so it is just assumptions.

This one does that, it stays on only when I move my hands.

That’s how this one works. If I stop rubbing my hands the water stops. It detects motion, not proximity.

You have correctly identified that it's not a lack of technological advancement that is holding our society back.

Now go solve social sciences, economics, psychology, and neuroscience. Come back and we'll talk about how to design a world where nobody happens to install a motion sensor with a wrong range.

I've actually encountered a properly designed one once in my life. The sensor was in the faucet spout instead of in the base.

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This and most washroom faucets have too little space for washing hands. The space from the spout to the back and bottom of the sink doesn't allow for rinsing whilst scrubbing without touching the sink. Infuriating.

They're not actually intended for washing your hands but rather for ticking the 'customer hand-washing facility available' box and providing jobs for interior designers nephews.

You should be scrubbing before you rinse, not both together.

Okay, you tell me how to wash my hands......

I wet my hands, get soap, scrub, and continue to scrub as I rinse. Not going to stand there for 2 minutes for all the soap to rinse off on its own. Your way is actually worse because you end up having to maneuver your hands a lot more to get all the soap off to the wrists. And good luck trying to wash your forearms.

It shouldn't take 2 minutes to rinse soap off of your hands. It takes me like 5 second.

How much soap are you using?

at the office we have the ones you have to push down--and hold for the water to run. i've encountered them elsewhere and you get 10-20 seconds before the water shuts off... ours doesn't. by the time you get your hand down to the water, it's shut off.

We had "sink bricks" to solve that problem, somebody was tired of those so they went to the hardware store and bought a couple bricks to hold the buttons down. Eventually the faucets were replaced with proper ones with normal valves.

LPT: For faucets like this (or if you just want running water to wash something) get a paper towel. Wet it under the water and then put it over the sensor.

Toilet paper also works but it's messier.

I have seen something like this a lot. Many more that work fine but but they certainly don't seem to be at the five 9's or two nines or maybe even one nine. maybe one nine.

five 9's or two nines or maybe even one nine. maybe one nine.

This is the first time I hear this expression, what does it mean?

"Five Nines" typically refers to something that works 99.999% of the time, which still allows for 1 screw-up out of 100,000.

::: spoiler spoiler asdfasfasfasfas :::

I learned it working telecom. For example, if you wish to offer 911 service, your service has to be operational 99.999% of the time.

It's more casually used to mean a service or operation is insanely reliable.

yes as dhork mentions its related to a concept of 6sigma which is an airline/telephony thing about things that must not fail. My little quip is suggesting they work like 90% of the time which is not great.

Finally learned what DFSS actually means rather than just a breakdown pf the fucking acronym lol

It means HubertManne had a stroke while typing.

You just need to loosen off the grub screw, which is now in a data center in Ireland.

This automatic faucet that need the hands to be between the wall and the water to turn on.

Perfect to get your long sleeves wet!

I think they intend for you to wash not only the hands but up to the elbow as well

I hate the ones with such a short spigot that you can only wash the tips of your fingers.

How else could it work? Otherwise it will detect the water flowing and never switch off.

"How could this badly designed thing work if it wasn't so badly designed?" Sometimes, if you can't make a thing work, the solution is to use something else that does. And sometimes the solution is just to make it better, like directing the IR detection beams just to either side of the water stream.

No, it works under the faucet. You're just impatient because it didn't turn on after 1ms, so you move your hand closer and it turns on so you think it's nearsighted.

Incorrect. It detects motion. waving my hands under the spout doesn’t do anything no matter how long. Waving the hand 1.5 in further makes it work only while I shake my hands. It stops immediately after I love my hands. I need to have one hand further activating the sensor while I rinse the other then swap.