Detect that dishwasher arm is not spinning

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Detect that dishwasher arm is not spinning

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trig42

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#2619306 10-Dec-2020 11:57

It could happen to any dishwasher. It's just that the ones with pull out racks, you'd know if something was poking through when you pushed it back in as it would catch on the way in. It could easily happen to the top arm in a 'normal' dishwasher if something was too tall on the bottom rack or poking through the top rack though.

wratterus

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#2619353 10-Dec-2020 12:10

I just have a quick listen to ours after it's on, pretty easy to tell if the arm is not spinning. I don't see any way around with with the design - don't think it's a design flaw, just how it is with a dish drawer if it's not stacked correctly.

Perhaps they could build in some sort of sensor with magnets on the end of the arms or something, all just adds cost and complication which I guess is why they haven't done it.

People recommending to give the arm a spin obviously haven't used a dish drawer before haha. 😅

Starina

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#2619466 10-Dec-2020 14:02

There is no way you can check the arm if the dishdrawer is loaded. You need to take the dishes out to be able to try to spin it with a knife or a fork. That's what I do when I can hear that it's blocked and can't quickly find a reason.

A trained 'Human ear' sensor is what is used right now to catch 'rhythmic clonk clonk' sounds. Although sometimes I noticed that the arm can hit something, jump back a bit and hit it again. So, for an untrained ear it sounds ok, but actually this 'rhythmic clonk clonk' sounds should be a bit slower.

@Bung is correct about how it works. The pump continues to squirt and is not affected whether the arm is spinning or not.

@trig42 I don't want to do it by myself anymore! I try to check that it's loaded correctly when I am around, but I want it to work without me.

@nickb800 - reed sensor is the only solution that I can thing about right now. Thank you, I didn't know the name. Is it the same thing that is used to check if doors/windows are opened?

@Dairyxox - mic and non-invasive trained AI sounds like fun. I was thinking about something simpler :)

@eracode - We bought it half a year ago. Before that we've got a 10-years old dish drawer that I managed to fix 5 or 6 times over the last 5 years. The holes in the stand where you put dishes were smaller in the old one, so we had much less issues than we have now. So yeah, I thing the design is worse with this one.

So, two possible solutions for now: reed sensor and a mic.

nickb800

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#2619791 11-Dec-2020 05:14

Yeah, a reed switch is typically used for door/window alarms

lxsw20

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#2619797 11-Dec-2020 06:47

eracode:

Is this problem a result of bad design by F&P? Surely it shouldn’t happen so easily.

They certainly are not the best designed thing in the world. My folks got one new about 20 years ago. If you accidentally put say a chopping board in there and the lid didn't seal it would still run and then flood the control unit which sits in the bottom of the unit.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2619798 11-Dec-2020 06:49

lxsw20:

They certainly are not the best designed thing in the world. My folks got one new about 20 years ago. If you accidentally put say a chopping board in there and the lid didn't seal it would still run and then flood the control unit which sits in the bottom of the unit.

At least they have a sensor for that now. IIRC, U6 is the error displayed if the lid doesn't close properly.

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