My mother has a Black & Decker "Cafe Noir" Coffee Maker, model DCM1400,
that appears to have a problem of enabling the programmable timer on its
own. She and my father are both technically deficient, so she never even
bothers to set the clock, much less try to program it to cut on in the
morning. Both are elderly, and Mom is up with the chickens anyway, so
there's really no need to set the clock.

She's had this coffee maker for several months without any problems. The
first glitch occurred about 3 weeks ago. She had washed the supper dishes
and then as normal, she prepared the coffee maker for the morning brew.
About 15 minutes later, the thing turned on by itself. It had almost
finished by the time someone discovered it.

The next time was last night. She was in bed, but her arthritis was paining
her. She got up to take a pain pill and put some ice on her wrist. She was
sitting in the lounge chair in the livingroom about 11:45 when she became
aware of the coffee brewing. I happened to be spending the night and was up,
also in the livingroom surfing the net on my laptop. I got out the manual
for a cursory look. The "auto" light was on, indicating that the timer was
in "program" mode. I've shown my mother where the light is located so she
can check before she goes to bed at night. There doesn't seem to be any way
to accidentally set the program timer. There are too many buttons to click
and hold while setting the ON time, plus a final press of the AUTO button to
enable the timer. I suppose the best thing to do would be to go buy them a
simple coffee maker with no frills or special features. They are practical,
old-fashioned parents. A coffee maker should make coffee. Period.

Anybody had a similar experience? I would think an intermittent fault in
the programmable timer is the most likely culprit. I wouldn't think failure
to set the clock could cause the program to set itself. It has me curious
now. I'd love to be able to find a leaky capacitor or a cold solder joint
causing the problem, but it's so little money it's hardly worth fooling
with. If you can help let me know.

-robert-

rlwillis wrote:
My mother has a Black & Decker "Cafe Noir" Coffee Maker, model DCM1400,
that appears to have a problem of enabling the programmable timer on its
own. She and my father are both technically deficient, so she never even
bothers to set the clock, much less try to program it to cut on in the
morning. Both are elderly, and Mom is up with the chickens anyway, so
there's really no need to set the clock.

She's had this coffee maker for several months without any problems. The
first glitch occurred about 3 weeks ago. She had washed the supper dishes
and then as normal, she prepared the coffee maker for the morning brew.
About 15 minutes later, the thing turned on by itself. It had almost
finished by the time someone discovered it.

The next time was last night. She was in bed, but her arthritis was paining
her. She got up to take a pain pill and put some ice on her wrist. She was
sitting in the lounge chair in the livingroom about 11:45 when she became
aware of the coffee brewing. I happened to be spending the night and was up,
also in the livingroom surfing the net on my laptop. I got out the manual
for a cursory look. The "auto" light was on, indicating that the timer was
in "program" mode. I've shown my mother where the light is located so she
can check before she goes to bed at night. There doesn't seem to be any way
to accidentally set the program timer. There are too many buttons to click
and hold while setting the ON time, plus a final press of the AUTO button to
enable the timer. I suppose the best thing to do would be to go buy them a
simple coffee maker with no frills or special features. They are practical,
old-fashioned parents. A coffee maker should make coffee. Period.

Anybody had a similar experience? I would think an intermittent fault in
the programmable timer is the most likely culprit. I wouldn't think failure
to set the clock could cause the program to set itself. It has me curious
now. I'd love to be able to find a leaky capacitor or a cold solder joint
causing the problem, but it's so little money it's hardly worth fooling
with. If you can help let me know.

-robert-


I would advise your mum to pull out the plug after each use.
Paul in San Francisco

Life is getting unnecessarily complicated. Buy your mom a manual coffee
maker for about $ 9.

No more problems.

The secret of living well is not to maximize but to optimize.

--

Walter
The Happy Iconoclast www.rationality.net


"Paul MR" wrote in message
...
rlwillis wrote:
My mother has a Black & Decker "Cafe Noir" Coffee Maker, model DCM1400,
that appears to have a problem of enabling the programmable timer on its
own. She and my father are both technically deficient, so she never even
bothers to set the clock, much less try to program it to cut on in the
morning. Both are elderly, and Mom is up with the chickens anyway, so
there's really no need to set the clock.

She's had this coffee maker for several months without any problems. The
first glitch occurred about 3 weeks ago. She had washed the supper
dishes
and then as normal, she prepared the coffee maker for the morning brew.
About 15 minutes later, the thing turned on by itself. It had almost
finished by the time someone discovered it.

The next time was last night. She was in bed, but her arthritis was
paining
her. She got up to take a pain pill and put some ice on her wrist. She
was
sitting in the lounge chair in the livingroom about 11:45 when she became
aware of the coffee brewing. I happened to be spending the night and was
up,
also in the livingroom surfing the net on my laptop. I got out the manual
for a cursory look. The "auto" light was on, indicating that the timer
was
in "program" mode. I've shown my mother where the light is located so she
can check before she goes to bed at night. There doesn't seem to be any
way
to accidentally set the program timer. There are too many buttons to
click
and hold while setting the ON time, plus a final press of the AUTO button
to
enable the timer. I suppose the best thing to do would be to go buy them
a
simple coffee maker with no frills or special features. They are
practical,
old-fashioned parents. A coffee maker should make coffee. Period.

Anybody had a similar experience? I would think an intermittent fault in
the programmable timer is the most likely culprit. I wouldn't think
failure
to set the clock could cause the program to set itself. It has me curious
now. I'd love to be able to find a leaky capacitor or a cold solder joint
causing the problem, but it's so little money it's hardly worth fooling
with. If you can help let me know.

-robert-


I would advise your mum to pull out the plug after each use.
Paul in San Francisco

Years ago B & D coffee makers were recalled because of this and the fires
that resulted. I'd advise getting rid of it/returning it/researching any
possible recalls.

"rlwillis" wrote in message
...
My mother has a Black & Decker "Cafe Noir" Coffee Maker, model DCM1400,
that appears to have a problem of enabling the programmable timer on its
own. She and my father are both technically deficient, so she never even
bothers to set the clock, much less try to program it to cut on in the
morning. Both are elderly, and Mom is up with the chickens anyway, so
there's really no need to set the clock.

She's had this coffee maker for several months without any problems. The
first glitch occurred about 3 weeks ago. She had washed the supper dishes
and then as normal, she prepared the coffee maker for the morning brew.
About 15 minutes later, the thing turned on by itself. It had almost
finished by the time someone discovered it.

The next time was last night. She was in bed, but her arthritis was
paining
her. She got up to take a pain pill and put some ice on her wrist. She was
sitting in the lounge chair in the livingroom about 11:45 when she became
aware of the coffee brewing. I happened to be spending the night and was
up,
also in the livingroom surfing the net on my laptop. I got out the manual
for a cursory look. The "auto" light was on, indicating that the timer was
in "program" mode. I've shown my mother where the light is located so she
can check before she goes to bed at night. There doesn't seem to be any
way
to accidentally set the program timer. There are too many buttons to click
and hold while setting the ON time, plus a final press of the AUTO button
to
enable the timer. I suppose the best thing to do would be to go buy them a
simple coffee maker with no frills or special features. They are
practical,
old-fashioned parents. A coffee maker should make coffee. Period.

Anybody had a similar experience? I would think an intermittent fault in
the programmable timer is the most likely culprit. I wouldn't think
failure
to set the clock could cause the program to set itself. It has me curious
now. I'd love to be able to find a leaky capacitor or a cold solder joint
causing the problem, but it's so little money it's hardly worth fooling
with. If you can help let me know.

-robert-