Washer and Dryer Notifications for Home Assistant

[@ResinChemTech]

UPDATE: Due to discovered inconsistencies over time with a photoresistor and the analog (ADC) pin on the D1 Mini that would require a rebuild of the sensor to restore original sensitivity, I designed and implemented a new and improved sensor for the dryer notifications. You can see how this new sensor is build and used here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hma7nmCCha15iLs

[@kg4gav]

If your dryer does not have indicator lights, you could use air flow sensor or temperature sensor in the dryer vent tube. Airflow may get fouled by lint over time, so a temp differential would likely be easiest. The temp sensor could be taped to the side of the vent with foil tape so no permanent modifications needed. It would just need to see that the vent temp is higher than ambient.

[@ResinChemTech]

That's a great idea! My solution was pretty specific to having a dryer with some sort of indicator lights, but your solution should work for just about anyone. While I haven't tested it, I wonder how long it would take (or how big of temperature variance occurs) from the time the vent heats up enough to note that the dryer has started, and how long it takes to cool (or how much) after the dryer stops? And how might it work in a situation where the dryer is just running on "tumble" mode... basically just tossing the closes around and passing unheated air (our dryer has that mode... don't remember what's it called). But it might be possible to deal with those scenarios via the automation. Have you given this a try? Just curious. But it is a great alternative idea. I love it when my viewers come up with ideas on how to improve one of my projects. Thanks for watching and taking time to pass along a really good potential solution for those without indicator lights.

[@kg4gav]

@@ResinChemTech No, I have not tested this, I was just brainstorming how to do dryer notifications and came across your video. My current automations are limited to what Alexa can do with cheap smart plugs and smart LED light bulbs. I really want to step up my game and integrate HA so I can have more options. What I am contemplating is having 2 temperature sensors, 1 on the vent and one as an ambient, and then you could code in whatever differential you wanted based on your particular dryer personality. I would guess that it would not take long to sense a significant delta between the sensors. Using a delta would also help offset any seasonal heating or cooling that may happen to the vent tube if it is close to the outdoor exhaust point. I was also thinking about the 'wrinkle guard' or cooldown cycle, and I think it would be a good idea to announce the cycle complete before the dryer fully shuts down, so that clothes can be removed during that wrinkle prevention part of the cycle. My dryer actually sounds the (annoying) buzzer at the start of that cycle and again at the end. Remember in your stair lighting video where the TOF sensor is taking measurements all the time, but it only reports to trigger the automation if the variables align to make it 'True'. I think a similar coding would work here so the automation logs are not flooded with unnecessary readings. Again, I am just brainstorming, and being Thanksgiving, my thoughts are clouded by tryptophan and pumpkin pie. :) Hopefully the idea will spark someone that knows how to create the code. If I get there first, I'll update.

[@gmichie1]

@@ResinChemTech I used this method by placing a Dallas temperature sensor in the the bottom of the dryer, against the exhaust tube. I also added a Home Assistant automation to monitor and to send a message if the monitored temp goes above 100. This I hope will notify me if a blockage were to develop.

[@matthewchristianmaso]

I know you didn't go down the road of internal relays on the buzzer due to martial bliss reasons. If you could, what would be your setup? What relays would you use? controller ? etc.

[@ResinChemTech]

Well... until I opened up to see what I was working with, it's hard to say for sure. Assuming that there was DC voltage present (highly likely since there are indicator lights, two 8-segment numeric displays and a buzzer... it's unlikely these all run off of AC), I'd likely use the DC voltage stepped up/down to 5V and use an ESP8266. I'd then likely use either the buzzer or the cycle complete indicator light as the trigger for the automation. Voltage would be applied, for example, to the buzzer when it sounds that the dryer cycle is complete. I could take this voltage (stepped down to 3.3V max) and connect it to a pin on the ESP8266. It would watch for a voltage change... and that would trigger the voice notification via Home Assistant. A challenge might be a reliable wifi signal to the ESP8266 board, since it would be inside the metal cabinet of the dryer. But since the front panel is plastic, I could probably position it so that it would get an OK signal, as I have a access point just a few feet away in this case. Again, all this is hypothetical based on what I found inside the control panel. But those were my initial thoughts. As long as there is DC voltage present within the control panel, there would be a lot of ways to tackle it... likely with just something like a D1 Mini/ESP8266 and maybe a buck converter and a few resistors. I might convince the wife someday to let me try, but to be honest the current install is working fine, so she is less likely to let me try it as long as the present system is meeting her needs!

[@GrimmGX21]

Can you find a way to get error codes from all appliances to get sent to a Niagara Jace

[@pr19580]

Very nice solution, thanks. Your dashboard for the Washer & Dryer looks good, could you post the code for it, or even a brief description?

[@ResinChemTech]

Glad to help. As far as the Lovelace dashboard, the top two voice notification status buttons and the bottom two dryer status buttons are custom button cards (installed from HACS). Everything else is standard... the status text cards are entity cards and the power row are simply gauge cards. Everything is kept "aligned" using a combination of a vertical stack card and horizontal stack cards for each row. You might be able to use the new grid option instead of the vertical/horizontal cards. I'd be happy to post the yaml, but in all honesty, it would probably be more work to try to copy/paste that and edit for your entities, script names, etc. that it would be to create it from scratch. But let me know if you have an questions about how a particular card is setup and I'll be glad to try to help.

[@pr19580]

@@ResinChemTech No, that's perfect thanks. I was mainly curious about the status text cards, so I'll have a play with that and try to reproduce your layout.

[@boopeshkumarprabhakaran]

Great job.. But cant we use two photosensors(LDR) in same d1mini in different Gpio pins?

[@ResinChemTech]

Actually, not with the D1 Mini or an ESP8266. The photosensors use an analog pin to measure the light level and there is only one analog pin (A0) on the D1 Mini. I suppose if you upgraded to an ESP32 that had multiple analog inputs, you could use a single board.

[@boopeshkumarprabhakaran]

@@ResinChemTech yeah esp32 mini board looks promising.. Thanks for your reply 🤩

[@gtsialis]

Nice video! I am new to HA and I am trying to build an automation like this one. I am having difficulties in creating sensor.washer_state in order to use the “from ‘washing’ to ‘idle’” state. Any help appreciated

[@ResinChemTech]

Well, I'm guessing you have the MQTT integration installed and configured in Home Assistant? This 'state' is really nothing more than an MQTT message published to a given topic. The automation in turn, watches for the MQTT value to change as the trigger. Note that in this particular case you wouldn't absolutely have to use MQTT states like 'idle' and 'washing' but could simply use the power (amp) values from the power monitoring plug as the trigger for the automation (e.g. when amps drop below 5"). I only use those MQTT states because I like to show "Washing" or "Idle" on my dashboard. But you could alternatively do the same thing using a templated sensor or text input helper instead of MQTT. For a templated sensor, the value of the sensor would be based on the current amps (Washing when > 5 and Idle when < 5... or whatever power value you need). Similarly, you could update the value of a text_input helper to Washing and Idle via an automation when the amp are above of below your threshold. Then you could simply display the template sensor or text_input helper on the dashboard. I just opted for MQTT because I was already integrating all the Tasmota info via MQTT (this was done before the Tasmota integration and MQTT discovery existed, so it had to be done manually via YAML). I don't know if any of that was helpful... or more confusing! But if you are trying to use my code examples to create the state sensor, then assure you have MQTT integrated and setup properly in Home Assistant.

[@gtsialis]

@@ResinChemTech I have MQTT installed. I will give it a try copying your code. Thanks again!

[@gtsialis]

@@ResinChemTech I have copied/pasted your code in my automations.yaml and edited it for my tuya socket entity, but still having difficulties in seeing that washer_state sensor. Before seeing your video, I used the power sensor of my tuya smart plug (notify when power drops below 3 W), but I kept getting false notifications. That’s why I need a sensor to show the status and use it ex. from state ‘washing’ to state ‘idle’, then notify. MQTT seems to work fine. It seems that I’ve reached a dead end with MQTT and I will try to use template sensor.

[@ResinChemTech]

Well the "washer" status was nothing more than my own sensor that I created in YAML that published a state based on the watts. It is not coming from any outside source (smart plug, washer, etc.). It is really just a "middle man" that gives me a text value to display on the dashboard. So it's technically a "fake" state that is just based on the watts. When the watts are above 5 (in my case), I publish a "Washing" state... when it drops below 5 W, then I just publish the "Finished" value. Even if you had it working, you'd have the same issue with the false notifications, as the state of washing, finished and idle are simply based on the wattage from the smart plug. But yes, you could create a templated sensor that does the same thing without publishing the state to MQTT. To prevent the false notifications, assuming your washer drops below some threshold during the cycle but before it is complete, is to first determine the maximum time it is in this temporary lower value. So, for example, if you washer goes into a soak cycle for 3 minutes where the watts fall below 3 (or whatever value) before rising again, then you automation should add a "for: " clause to the trigger to say that the watts must remain below the given value for a time that is longer than the temporary state (say for example for: "00:04:00" minutes). This means the notification won't happen for 4 minutes after the cycle actually completes, but at least it will eliminate those false notifications during the cycle. Then if you really want to use those "Washing", "Finished" and "Idle" text labels, you can publish the appropriate MQTT message based on the wattage with the appropriate delay. You can then create an MQTT sensor as I've done for displaying the state and using the state change as a trigger for the automation notification.... or create a templated sensor with the text values. Both can provide the same sensor text value.

[@d0nkilluminat1]

I'm interested in doing this project for my dryer. What gauge of wire are you using for soldering on the Wemos?

[@ResinChemTech]

I believe I used 24 gauge wire. I opted to use solid core, just because it was easier to bend things into place and keep them where I wanted them, but you could use stranded wire as well. Hope that helps. The washer and dryer notifications are a couple of my wife's favorite automations.. and some of the first ones I did after I started using Home Assistant. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

[@davelaurendeau3104]

Great work. I would like to do the same for my wife. I passed for the washer, but for the dryer, I may have missed something. What code did you put on the Wemos mini? It's the only thing I miss. Thanks!

[@ResinChemTech]

Hi! For the dryer sensors, I used ESPHome. You just need to define an ADC sensor (with the photoresistor connected to the A0 pin of the D1 Mini). You can see an example of the code on the ESPHome website here: esphome.io/components/sensor/adc.html?highlight=adc The code at the top of this page is almost exactly what I used (well, I did change the name and shorten the update interval to 30 seconds). But also see the "Note" under this sample code about adding a filter for the D1 Mini. So, I don't know how well it will come through here in the comments, but the sensor I added for each of the dryer sensors looks like this: sensor: - platform: adc pin: A0 name: "Dryer Indicator Level" update_interval: 30s filters: - multiply: 3.3 # for D1 Mini Only I think I also showed this code at around the 18:00 mark of the video, so you might take a look at that section again. Naturally, I used two of these sensors, each with a different name. But otherwise, the code was identical. Naturally, the ESPHome code will contain your wifi info and other stuff that gets generated automatically when you create a new ESPHome node. You just need to add the above sensor to that code and then flash to the D1 Mini. I hope that helps! (by the way... these two automations for the washer and dryer are my wife's favorites !).

[@davelaurendeau3104]

Thank you very much, I'll try that immediately

[@davelaurendeau3104]

And it works!!! Hooray!! My wife will be very happy. Thank you so much. 🥳🎉

[@ResinChemTech]

WooHoo! That's great. Glad I could help out... and increase the WAF in the process. Let me know if I can help out again in the future.

[@carltonwbrooks]

Thank you for the video. I have flashed two S31 plugs, calibrated them and placed them on my washer and dryer. I also watched Digiblur video as well. The question I have is that neither one of them show a sensor with the word watts in them the entity that is shown that is associated with watts is listed as (sensor.washer_energy_power) followed by unit_of_measurement: W device_class: power friendly_name: Washer ENERGY Power Might you be able to tell me what step I missed to name it watts Thanks

[@ResinChemTech]

Hi! I'm guessing you are using the default Tasmota integration in Home Assistant? I think both my and Digiblur's versions were done before the Tasmota integration existed, so we had to define the sensors via MQTT in YAML. In that case, you specify both the entity and friendly name as part of the YAML. I'm still not using the integrated Tasmota, but you should still be able to change the entity name. It's a little hard to show/describe here in the comments, but I'll try to get you started: Assuming you are using HA 2021.12.x, go to Configuration -> Devices and Services. Locate the Tasmota integration and select 'Entities' (or select the device, then entities). From there, you can click on the entity 'sensor.washer_energy_power' and under those settings, change the entity name to whatever you want, e.g. sensor.washer_watts. Also note that you can specify whatever name you want in the front end of Lovelace when creating your cards, regardless of what the entity is called on the backend. Let me know if this works for you. If we need to proceed any further, you might consider dropping me an email (you can find my email address on the 'About' page of my channel... I don't like to list it here in the comments because it gets picked up by bots and leads to a bunch of spam!). Sometimes it's just easier to assist via email where I can include screen shots, etc.

[@carltonwbrooks]

@@ResinChemTech Thank you so much for the assistance. I modified what you told me in that I went into the core.entity_registery and edited the information there. It no works well. Again thank you and keep continue to make videos. And most of all thanks for the tips on using the colored boards for soldering, that has been a lifesaver.

[@ResinChemTech]

Great... glad I could help! Yeah... I stumbled across those Electrocookie boards when searching for a way to replace the breadboard versions I was using before. I try to hide my controllers in various locations (like the back of cabinets), but kept running into issues when something would bump the board and knock a wire loose from the breadboard. I now use those prototype boards for nearly all my projects.

[@mattriding5588]

This is exactly what I am looking for. I have a table top humidifier where I want notifications when the water level is low. Going to try this. GREAT job. Small ask...Where did you find the sensor case to 3d print? Can you share?

[@ResinChemTech]

Thanks! It's great that you found another potential use for the dryer sensor. I designed the enclosure in Tinkercad... it's not overly professional, but it works! I've thrown the .stl files up on Thingiverse for you: www.thingiverse.com/thing:4972121 You may have to use an Exacto knife or similar to 'clean up' the opening for the photoresistor. Threading the leads from the photoresistor through the tiny holes can be bit of challenge as well. Let me know if it works for you with the humidifier. Good luck!

[@mattriding5588]

@@ResinChemTech Thanks! I'll give it a try and let you know my results

[@calebjpryor]

Considered CT clamps on the dryer instead?

[@ResinChemTech]

I did talk about the possibility of using a CT clamp in the video (~13:40) and this was my first thought. But because this would have to be placed on the motor leg (and not the heating element or I'd get false positives on the amp drop), it would require pulling out the dryer and opening it up. My wife wanted the notifications but told me I couldn't take the dryer apart to make it happen... hence I had to pass on the idea of the CT clamp! I could have also considered the idea of a CT clamp at the breaker box, but honestly, the solution I used was actually easier and cheaper than other alternatives. But of course it does require the indicator lights on the front, which I'm sure many models may not have.