On Thu, 2008-05-08 at 02:37 -0700, David wrote:
> Dear All
> 
> We've just moved house and are now the proud owners of a Smeg hob and
> oven.  Problem is, we have no idea how to work them.  Can anyone help?
> I would post a pic, but the camera is in one of 17 boxes...  Today
> I'll deal with the hob. I can find no model number.
> 
> The "Ceran" glass-ceramic electric hob is plain black glass with four
> rings and sensor controls for these rings on the RH side. Each control
> has a pic of where the ring is situated on the hob and a plus and
> minus sign.  At the front there are two further sensor controls - a
> circle with an I in it and a circle with a key in it.

Sorry for the late reply, but this sound a bit like the hob in my old
flat. IIRC:
Press the "I" (maybe press and hold) - this activates the controls, and
a light should come on by the button.
Press "+" for the ring you want to use. A number will appear, and you
can use "+" and "-" to change the power.
If you don't press anything for a while, a light by the "key" button
will come on, and you need to press the "key" button (the light will go
off again) before you can use the other controls. This is really
irritating when you want to turn the ring down quickly!
If you set all the rings to 0 and leave it, the light by "I" will
eventually go out, and the hob will be off. 
There should also be a warning light for each ring - this means that the
ring is hot (even if off), and the hob will not switch itself off while
these are lit.

Mike

Dear All

Thanks for all the suggestions. I finally cracked it by ringing the
vendor (once we found his number in one of 15 boxes), who was happy to
help.

For the archive - the way to turn this hob on is to press the I button
twice.  This turns on the LED next to the I button and you can then
select a ring by pressing the symbol indicating which one you want and
then the + and - switches.

Yours with boiled potatoes

David