Dryer & Washer Completion notifications

[tmorse305]

I have a friend who asked me if I could have a notification appear on her phone when her machines finish.  She has no automation at all in her home so there is nothing to build on.  I've been thinking how to do this with a minimum set of hardware.  At first I thought Emporia Vue would do it all.  It has a notification function built in but when I tried it the notifications took forever to arrive  sometimes more than 30 minutes.  I checked in with the Emporia folks and they confirmed that is the current "state of their art".  They are trying to improve it...

So I added an RPi with HA running and that combination works well.  But obviously a little more complicated.

Any ideas out there to do this in a simpler fashion? Thanks.

[Dub]

I recently saw a Youtube video of someone making a dryer smart like this with notifications.  Ironically I started working on this a little bit today with my setup.  I am using the AEOTEC Smart Switch 6 and POLISY.  There are some custom parameters that need to be set to get updates of the usage from the AEOTEC.

Maybe there are some cheaper solutions out there, and I will be interested if anyone else has a solution.

Below is a link to the video.  He also has another video on his channel that I haven't watched, that shows how to make any appliance smart with Shelly.  I am not sure if that has the power consumption readings on those devices, but saw the video title when looking for this video on the channel.

 

[jec6613]

If their dryers are newer, many have the ability to have a bolt-on wifi module that does exactly that - notification to the phone.  It's what I do since my laundry is in the basement and the living spaces are all upstairs, buzzes my phone and watch when a cycle is done.

[larryllix]

I used an Insteon SynchroLinc to detect my dryer was finished. SmartHome discontinued that one but mine now sits in a box as I have an electric dryer that uses 240v now, instead of the 120v my gas dryer took.

It didn't get any easier than a SynchroLinc module, unfortunately.

[hart2hart]

I used an Insteon SynchroLinc to detect my dryer was finished. SmartHome discontinued that one but mine now sits in a box as I have an electric dryer that uses 240v now, instead of the 120v my gas dryer took.
It didn't get any easier than a SynchroLinc module, unfortunately.

I’ll buy it. PM if interested in selling.

[tmorse305]

Thanks for all  of the replies. It's surprising someone hasn't come out with something simple for all of these older machines with no WiFi capability.  Emporia is close but too slow.  It's trickier if the dryer is 240V which is the case with my friend.  So far it seems like the lowest cost solution is Emporia and an RPi running HA.  But even that is in the $300 range depending on how much you have to pay for the RPi.

 

I saw another video where the person used a vibration sensor. He said it work on the dryer but the washer operation was too smooth for reliable detection.

[Brian H]

I have seen some using an AC Current Sensing Switch like a Mamac Systems CT-800 (there are many others made) to trigger a dry contact input to a module of choice for the protocol desired. Gets power through the AC current of a wire in its center and has a dry contact relay output.

If you don't want to open the unit up to put the wire theoguh the switch. I have seen some one make an adapter that plugs into the appliances power outlet and has a outlet you then plug the appliance into. With the sensor is side the adapter. Senses .5 Amps to 200 Amps.

[Dub]

2 hours ago, tmorse305 said:

So far it seems like the lowest cost solution is Emporia and an RPi running HA.  But even that is in the $300 range depending on how much you have to pay for the RPi.

Zooz USB 700 - $25.95 Smartest House

Zooz Zen 15 120V 15 Amp Hvy Duty/Appl - $29.95 Smartest House 

Aeotec 240 Volt 40 Amp - $98.58 Amazon

That would run the automations on Home Assistant, plus the cost of the Raspberry Pi.

It's a little cheaper than the $300, and would get started with Z-Wave because of needing a dongle for the smart plugs to report back.  We all know Automation is addictive and your friend might have more needs later after seeing the value of the notifications.

[Athlon]

Another video using some of the stuff @Dubsuggested. Saw this a few weeks ago and saved it mostly for the clever code this guy uses.

 

[apostolakisl]

I use a synchrolinc on the washer, but dryer is 240.  I bought a flapper (back draft preventer) and used a alarm system magnet/reed switch to tell when air was blowing out the vent.  Then an IO linc or, in my case CAI webcontrol relays the open closed status to ISY.  Or you could wire up as a non-alarm zone to a standard alarm system the links to ISY (Elk or DSC).  When flapper is open, dryer is running.  My dryer has a wrinkle guard, so I added a program in ISY to require that the dryer be on for more than 5 minutes before it triggers on the dryer shutting off.

I have a post on this from a while ago with a youtube video, but I can't seem to find it.

 

EDIT:  Here is the video.

 

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by apostolakisl

[Dub]

17 hours ago, Dub said:

ooz USB 700 - $25.95 Smartest House

Zooz Zen 15 120V 15 Amp Hvy Duty/Appl - $29.95 Smartest House 

Aeotec 240 Volt 40 Amp - $98.58 Amazon

That would run the automations on Home Assistant, plus the cost of the Raspberry Pi.

One other thought. If she has a Windows PC, you could start small and cheaper.  Buy the minimum of the dongle and the 120v adapter above, use Virtual Box to run HA on the Windows PC.  The downside is the Windows PC has to be up and running all the time. This would allow the project to start small, get some value early, and then spend more on a Pi and the 240 volt switch.

[apostolakisl]

1 hour ago, Dub said:

One other thought. If she has a Windows PC, you could start small and cheaper.  Buy the minimum of the dongle and the 120v adapter above, use Virtual Box to run HA on the Windows PC.  The downside is the Windows PC has to be up and running all the time. This would allow the project to start small, get some value early, and then spend more on a Pi and the 240 volt switch.

The problem with monitoring electric usage on the dryer is that the heating elements kick on and off while the motor keeps running.  The air blowing is very reliable way to know the unit is running.  This is also an issue with the washer, but I was able to find some values to set the synchrolinc that captured the unit being on/off through wash/rest/spin cycles.  Synchrolincs are pretty rare, so probably not going to find one, even on ebay.  The two I have are quite old as I think they stopped making them 10 years ago.

The dryer vent method is pretty cheap.  The alarm system contact and the vent flap together should be no more than $20.  You do still need to get the message to your ISY, an IO linc which I'm sure you could find on ebay would be the easiest if you already have an Insteon system, basically plug and play.  You could also use one of the little baby raspberry pi's if you know how to set up a rpi to monitor the i/o and that would have wifi built in.  CAI board requires an ethernet connection or an ethernet/wifi dongle.  I had ethernet there so, easy for me.  The nice thing about cai board is you can use a node server for it and straight up control and monitor all the inputs and outputs on ISY.  You could also get wild and monitor the temp/humidity of the dryer exhaust.  All good fun.  

 

EDIT: Also found this on Amazon.  A z-wave IO board.  If you already have z-wave on your ISY that should be a plug and play option.  https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Z-Wave-Multi-Input-Output-Contact/dp/B00B6RZ7MM

Edited August 11, 2022 by apostolakisl

[Dub]

3 hours ago, apostolakisl said:

The problem with monitoring electric usage on the dryer is that the heating elements kick on and off while the motor keeps running.  The air blowing is very reliable way to know the unit is running.

Good insights.  I don't have a lot of experience with it, but I'm thinking eliminating the moving parts eliminates failure points.  Ironically had just started testing this, with an extra plug I have and so far works good, but Im only about 36 hours in.  I don't have anything on my dryer yet, but I'm glad to know this is an option(it might be difficult for me to get something in place on my exhaust vent as its built into brick and has 4 openings and not the one big flat opening door.  I am comfortable with the electrical wiring more than I am tearing out my exhaust vent.  To compensate for the "idle"(unit not on or off), I'm monitoring a threshold on the washer slightly above idle and alert when the washer has 0 load.  Fortunately my washer doesn't have any vampire load when off so when its off there is 0 showing for the load.  I'm hoping the dryer is the same.  If not I appreciate having the vent as an option.  I will try to remember to follow back up here once I have a little more time in with current solution.

Edited August 11, 2022 by Dub
Spelling

[MrBill]

I have one sychrolinc that was purchased from SH in the last 5 years so they aren't that out of date. I just looked the date code on it is 1129 which I can't decipher unless its 29thh week of 2011 which means it was on the shelf at SH for literally years because I didn't order it until late 2017 or 2018.   (I really wish I'd d/l all my smarthome invoices, I did get a huge cache of pdf's saved off, but didn't think to retrieve all invoices).

For a more recent project I used a Shelly EM which is a slightly higher cost, but complete unit when purchased.  It talks to Home Assistant.  I could pipe the data point back to ISY if I needed it on that side, but I created the automation on the HA side instead.

[apostolakisl]

34 minutes ago, Dub said:

Good insights.  I don't have a lot of experience with it, but I'm thinking eliminating the moving parts elimenates failure points.  Ironically had just started testing this, with an extra plug I have and so far works good, but Im only about 36 hours in.  I don't have anything on my dryer yet, but I'm glad to know this is an option(it might be difficult for me to get something in place on my exhaust vent as its built into brick and has 4 openings and not the one big flat opening door.  I am comfortable with the electrical wiring more than I am tearing out my exhaust vent.  To compensate for the "idle"(unit not on or off), I'm monitoring a threshold on the washer slightly above idle and alert when the washer has 0 load.  Fortunately my washer doesn't have any vampire load when off so when its off there is 0 showing for the load.  I'm hoping the dryer is the same.  If not I appreciate having the vent as an option.  I will try to remember to follow back up here once I have a little more time in with current solution.

The vent goes directly onto the back of the dryer and leaves you with a connection the same as the original dryer, so it will always connect, but you might have to move the dryer a few inches further from the wall.  You can use the flapper at the outside of the house.  With that you will know when your flapper needs cleaning because it won't close all the way and it will look like your dryer is on all the time.  I'm assuming you are in the US since I have no idea what dryer vents might be in other countries, I have always assumed the same, but I don't know.  But no matter what, you must have a flapper somewhere in the system or outside air would blow back into your dryer.

If I were to build a house again, I would run more alarm wires so I could hard wire IO stuff around the house to the alarm panel or merge lots of IO stuff onto a single IO board.  I made that mistake on the garage doors also where I would have wanted more data on the status of my garage.  Like is the door currently in motion, which direction if so, and that sort of thing.

[tmorse305]

2 hours ago, apostolakisl said:

The problem with monitoring electric usage on the dryer is that the heating elements kick on and off while the motor keeps running.

I actually use that information on my own system to tell when the dryer has stopped heating and moved in to the wrinkle guard mode.  I send a separate notification to the wife when wrinkle guard has started.

[smokegrub]

A CAO Tag might possibly be used in this application. Set the tag in the vent to measure temperature with a range that covers maximum weather events. Have the tag notify when the max temperature is exceeded. The tag will then also notify when it returns to normal range. Some tweaking of the range should minimize the time it would take for the tag temperature to reduce. I use a Synchrolinc to tell me when a well pump turns on or off. Who knows, Insteon may bring that device back but I doubt it.

[tmorse305]

1 hour ago, smokegrub said:

 

A CAO Tag might possibly be used in this application.

 

Interesting idea!  Thanks!

[apostolakisl]

3 hours ago, tmorse305 said:

I actually use that information on my own system to tell when the dryer has stopped heating and moved in to the wrinkle guard mode.  I send a separate notification to the wife when wrinkle guard has started.

CAO wireless tag would be a great idea.  If you use the one with the temp sensor as a separate probe, you just drill a small hole in the vent and slip it in.  There is a node server for the wireless tag, then two programs.  Be sure to add some hysteresis, here I did 5 degrees, otherwise you might get multiple notifications. $39 for the tag, and $49 for the tag manager, but you can use the tag manager to manage lots of tags.  https://store.wirelesstag.net/products/outdoor-probe-basic?variant=2274020884507  Another $20 for the node server, though there is a V2 version for free.  To avoid battery replacement, you might just not close up the unit and make a fake battery (piece of dowel wood with the leads of a 3.6 v ac adapter at either end of it) for another $16 (amazon).

If
wireless tag > 105 f
Then
enable program 2

prorgram 2
If
wireless tag <100 f
Then
send notification
disable program 2

 

[larryllix]

24 minutes ago, apostolakisl said:

CAO wireless tag would be a great idea.  If you use the one with the temp sensor as a separate probe, you just drill a small hole in the vent and slip it in.  There is a node server for the wireless tag, then two programs.  Be sure to add some hysteresis, here I did 5 degrees, otherwise you might get multiple notifications. $39 for the tag, and $49 for the tag manager, but you can use the tag manager to manage lots of tags.  https://store.wirelesstag.net/products/outdoor-probe-basic?variant=2274020884507  Another $20 for the node server, though there is a V2 version for free.  To avoid battery replacement, you might just not close up the unit and make a fake battery (piece of dowel wood with the leads of a 3.6 v ac adapter at either end of it) for another $16 (amazon).

If
wireless tag > 105 f
Then
enable program 2

prorgram 2
If
wireless tag <100 f
Then
send notification
disable program 2

 

Some of the older Tags could tell position by the the earth's magnetic field. A simple small magnet glued to a dryer vent flag could likely trigger a perceived angle change on those tags quite cleanly.

BTW: Amazon Echo speakers have a CAO Tag skill that can tell you verbally any Tag's temperature by asking verbally by Tag name. So far, it reports humidity is not implemented yet. These are handy to check on cold rooms and outside temperatures by voice command, but you will get temperature readings back to one thousandths of a degree.

[apostolakisl]

3 minutes ago, larryllix said:

Some of the older Tags could tell position by the the earth's magnetic field. A simple small magnet glued to a dryer vent flag could likely trigger a perceived angle change on those tags quite cleanly.

BTW: Amazon Echo speakers have a CAO Tag skill that can tell you verbally any Tag's temperature by asking verbally by Tag name. So far, it reports humidity is not implemented yet. These are handy to check on cold rooms and outside temperatures by voice command, but you will get temperature readings back to one thousandths of a degree.

The other thing that just occurred to me, if you have an alarm system with wireless door/window contact module and you have linked it to ISY, you could monitor the dryer vent with the flapper magnet just by adding one new sensor.  Of course similarly, if you already have wireless tag hub and ISY node server setup, then adding a wireless tag would be as easy as adding the one new sensor.  If you have neither, you might consider both from the standpoint of, which would I most likely add more of in the future.

[TrojanHorse]

If their dryers are newer, many have the ability to have a bolt-on wifi module that does exactly that - notification to the phone.  It's what I do since my laundry is in the basement and the living spaces are all upstairs, buzzes my phone and watch when a cycle is done.

You sound like the perfect wife


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[TrojanHorse]

I saw another video where the person used a vibration sensor. He said it work on the dryer but the washer operation was too smooth for reliable detection.

And that sounds like the perfect GF


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[jec6613]

12 hours ago, TrojanHorse said:

You sound like the perfect wife

My own wife might object to that.

I'm just picky about how my laundry is done.

[Adolfo]

I did it with Sense.