Fridge door open warning beeper - how to get one?
Discussion
Just got home to discover the fridge door has been open 2cm for the last six hours, so a bunch of top-shelf food is warm (from the light bulb). I'm not blaming anybody... but my wife had jammed too much into the bottom shelf again. Second time in three months. 
I can't find an easy solution on the internet, so can anybody think how I could add a device to the fridge that detects an open door and beeps after 30 seconds? There's an ambient light sensor thing on Amazon but the reviews are mixed and anything that sits on the shelf with the food is just going to get displaced all the time. There's a build-it-yourself thing on instructables.com but I'm not going to start programming a microcontroller for this.
Something that uses the bulb power supply?
I can't find an easy solution on the internet, so can anybody think how I could add a device to the fridge that detects an open door and beeps after 30 seconds? There's an ambient light sensor thing on Amazon but the reviews are mixed and anything that sits on the shelf with the food is just going to get displaced all the time. There's a build-it-yourself thing on instructables.com but I'm not going to start programming a microcontroller for this.
Something that uses the bulb power supply?
For retrofit I'd probably install a battery temp alarm eg http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fridge-Freezer-alarm-therm...
Otherwise, you could rig something up with the right circuit diagram: http://m.instructables.com/id/Open-fridge-alarm/
Otherwise, you could rig something up with the right circuit diagram: http://m.instructables.com/id/Open-fridge-alarm/
threadlock said:
Just got home to discover the fridge door has been open 2cm for the last six hours, so a bunch of top-shelf food is warm (from the light bulb). I'm not blaming anybody... but my wife had jammed too much into the bottom shelf again. Second time in three months.
I can't find an easy solution on the internet, so can anybody think how I could add a device to the fridge that detects an open door and beeps after 30 seconds? There's an ambient light sensor thing on Amazon but the reviews are mixed and anything that sits on the shelf with the food is just going to get displaced all the time. There's a build-it-yourself thing on instructables.com but I'm not going to start programming a microcontroller for this.
Something that uses the bulb power supply?
All the fridges that I have ever owned had a built in warning buzzer for when the door is left open. I wasn't even aware that fridges were available without such a simple system as standard.I can't find an easy solution on the internet, so can anybody think how I could add a device to the fridge that detects an open door and beeps after 30 seconds? There's an ambient light sensor thing on Amazon but the reviews are mixed and anything that sits on the shelf with the food is just going to get displaced all the time. There's a build-it-yourself thing on instructables.com but I'm not going to start programming a microcontroller for this.
Something that uses the bulb power supply?
Perhaps you need to buy a better fridge.
Mandat said:
All the fridges that I have ever owned had a built in warning buzzer for when the door is left open. I wasn't even aware that fridges were available without such a simple system as standard.
Perhaps you need to buy a better fridge.
None of the fridges I've ever owned have had one...Perhaps you need to buy a better fridge.
We have inherited one of those under-the-counter fridge and freezers (two separate devices) in a house we've just moved into. The fridge's self-closing hinges are shot and we find the bloody thing open all the time. We press the door closed but, we've subsequently learned, it can pop open again if we have impeded it even slightly. Sometimes we struggle to even find any impediment - it's just crap.
Solution would be to replace the hinges to give the fridge a more positive close I guess, however we're binning the whole thing, replacing the units with standard cupboards, and replacing them both (freezer too) with a "normal" fridge/freezer sited elsewhere in the kitchen.
Solution would be to replace the hinges to give the fridge a more positive close I guess, however we're binning the whole thing, replacing the units with standard cupboards, and replacing them both (freezer too) with a "normal" fridge/freezer sited elsewhere in the kitchen.
Get one of these http://www.soundexpressiongreetings.com/musical-gr... record a message like shut the f
king door. or something soothing like Greensleeves pop it in a small Tupperware place in fridge ??
king door. or something soothing like Greensleeves pop it in a small Tupperware place in fridge ??
Mandat said:
Perhaps you need to buy a better fridge.
Seems overkill to buy a new fridge just for this issue. Should we need to replace this 12 year-old built-in one then a door warning would certainly be a good feature. I'm a sucker for gadgets 
cahami said:
Get one of these http://www.soundexpressiongreetings.com/musical-gr... record a message like shut the fking door. or something soothing like Greensleeves pop it in a small Tupperware place in fridge ??
Ooh that's interesting. The interior light could easily trigger that, I expect. Thank you.king door. or something soothing like Greensleeves pop it in a small Tupperware place in fridge ??Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff