mxx1's avatar

P-EIB146RC

The piece of shit shown below is a ceiling-mounted, wired and battery operated household smoke alarm. Possibly the worst ever product ever made. I am not exaggerating.

Issues with thing include: It’s stupidly ugly. Needs a screwdriver of the right size shoved into a slot to open it. After 4 years no one knows the instructions or has a manual – therefore it’s unclear how you open it when you need to. When it does open it drops to the floor and can break. The battery is located in the unit on the ceiling – why not in the electricty box since its wired? Starts beeping at any time of the night. The low-battery noise is unbearable.

Now imagine the actual user case.

An older person is woken at 2 am by a piercing low-battery alarm. They do not have the manual. They do not remember how the unit opens. They have to find and climb a ladder. They have to work out that there is a tiny slot on the side of the alarm and that the tiny writing (sub reading glasses font) on the ceiling-mounted unit is telling them to shove a screwdriver into it.

So now they have to find the right screwdriver, climb the ladder, insert the screwdriver into a badly explained release slot, open the alarm and try not to fall off the ladder with shock when the unit drops to the ground with a bang.

What could possibly go wrong?

In risk terms, this thing might save some people from smoke inhalation, but it also creates a foreseeable fall hazard. It may prevent some fire-related injuries while causing broken hips, broken backs or worse. A smoke alarm should reduce household risk, not transfer risk from fire to ladder accidents in the middle of the night.

Basically it’s a design and user experience disaster.

Purchased from the Australian distributor Brooks Australia, it was designed by Ei Electronics in Shannon Ireland, and probably made in China.

The idiot that was in charge of the design of this thing was Dr Mike Byrne. However, having an engineer in charge of design isn’t necessarily the engineer’s fault. It’s poor management.

That’s on the CEO at the time, Mike Guinee.

Then there’s the board that forgot to sack the CEO.

But this was an MBO team that probably were board, shareholders and senior management, all in one. Reporting to no one other than themselves.

Some blame has to go to the Australian certifying body that approved this thing as well. And the electricians that purchased it.

So basically Ei Electronics is a bunch of inbred fuckwits. They only get away with it because the fuckers that make the decision to certify it or buy it don’t have to live with the piece of shit.