r/homeassistant • u/vinny0015 • 17h ago

Dryer notification idea

I'm looking for a small light up button or something I can use so my wife can see when the dryer is done. I'm going to use a vibration sensor. And was thinking of a small led sign but looking for other ideas also

19 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

8

u/biblicalrain 16h ago

I use CT clamps to monitor current of the wires in my main panel. Look at something like the Emporia Vue or similar. One benefit is that if you go this route, you can get a lot of different power info at once.

4

u/yorb 14h ago

I just started doing this with the Vue, works great except my washer and dryer are on the same circuit so I haven't figured out a good way to distinguish them yet. My notification just says "Laundry is finished" and you can figure out which it is when you get there 🤪

2

u/i_do_technical_stuff 11h ago

Vibration sensors on each, can tell them apart if it's just a on/off notification and don't need to record power draw

1

u/yorb 10h ago

Ah but they're stacked, what vibrates one shall vibrate both, unfortunately.

3

u/i_do_technical_stuff 10h ago edited 10h ago

Bummer. Well then, at least in US, dryers have high amp plugs but washers have normal plugs -- so could use a normal power monitor plug on the washer and compare it against the circuit total draw.

 

  • Circuit has amps, washer does not: dryer running

  • Circuit has amps == washer plug amps, washer is running

  • Circuit has amps > washer plug amps (both non-zero), both are running

  • Circuit has no amps, nothing running

 

I agree with another commenter tho: you can probably tell them apart by their amp draw. A dryer will pull far more amps than a washer. I plot my Vue power draw into HA and I know I can tell apart which fans are running in my greenhouse based on if I see 80 watts vs 130 watts draw (or a combined 210 watts).

2

u/yorb 10h ago

Yeah except the washer plugs into the dryer with a special plug, not easily accessible the way it's mounted either. So literally only the dryer plugs into the wall. Good idea though, if we had normal appliances.