The CFO approved my purchase order for a new air conditioner for the living room a few weeks ago. This weekend I was sitting on the couch like a vegetable this weekend when it turned itself on. I mustered up the energy to get up off the couch and see what was going on. I stared at the thing for about 5 minutes, unable to figure out what was going on and fearing that I’d have to remove it from the window and return it to Target. Finally, I figured out that the stupid remote control that came with the A/C was using the same signal for “Power” as the “Select” button on the Tivo remote. I laughed for about 10 minutes straight, and eventually covered the IR receiver on the A/C with some electrical tape.
Who actually needs a remote on their A/C? I have never had to adjust my A/C so much that I felt a remote was in order. As Ron Popeil says, Just set it, and forget it!
RECYCLER
heh.
I used to have this little $10 device I got at Radio Shack that had a button on the top and an IR sensor on the front. You plugged it in the wall, and plugged a lamp into it. The button, with a tap, would turn the light on or off. Pressing and holding the button would dim the light.
or, you could point any remote at it, and press any button on the remote to do the same thing.
As you might expect, this stopped being useful once i had a few things with IR remotes. heh.
The weird thing, was that i put some tape over the ir window, and just used the button to dim/switch a lamp, which worked great… but the thing is that for some reason the receiver was still sensitive to various RF and magnetic crap. If you put it near any other electrical device (monitor, clock radio) it would just continuously dim and brighten the lamp. I think it’s in a box in my basement right now. heh.
i seem to recall a certain someone lying in bed next to me one summer evening using the remote the make the a/c cooler, and commenting on how nice it was not to have to get up
But if it wasn’t there, I wouldn’t use it, and I wouldn’t complain….
Remotes seem almost standard now. I have 4 units scattered around my house. A couple of them have remotes with temperature sensors in them so you can set a temp and use either the sensor on the A/C, or the remote. The remote is nice because you can put the remote in the area of the room you occupy so that area controls the A/C – not over by the window, which can be several degrees different.
But it is certainly a luxury and not a necessity.
Hi, I run.
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