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Is It Dry Yet?

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Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#111

Post by calfuris »

msrenee wrote: post #88
reyostallenberg wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working, but so boring. For some of us it's nice to build needles stuff instead of using a better (but boring) solution ;) I like the needles stuff, you like the mechanical 'easy' solution

I was wondering what was going on in their life that the alert sound from the washer and dryer weren't sufficient for the purpose. My GE dryer sings a happy "laundry's dry" song when it's finished. You're right though, this way is more fun.

Laundry machines are not always positioned where they will be easily heard.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#112

Post by chongli »

wtallis wrote: post #110
chongli wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dryer (I live in Canada) has a 240V plug with a heavy-duty cable, no exposed wires. My dishwasher is wired directly into the mains (I installed it myself) but neither the laundry washer nor the dryer are hard-wired.

Your dryer may have screw terminals at the other end of the power cable: those are often sold separately and installed when you take delivery of the dryer, because there are multiple types of outlets your home could have for an electric dryer.

If there are screw terminals they are internal to the machine. The power cable goes directly into the machine with no exposed terminals.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#113

Post by valicord »

fragmede wrote: post #96
valicord wrote: post #87

Not to knock other people's hobbies, but our dryer plays a loud jingle when done, no Internet connection required. Do other models not have this feature?

How loud is that jingle, and how small is your house? for some, the dryer is located in a basement, far away enough that no such jingle, or buzzer can be heard in the rest of the house.

Fairly loud and fairly large (can be heard on another floor), but I'll admit I didn't consider the basement scenario (since I don't have one)

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#114

Post by chongli »

jchw wrote: post #72

I've wanted to do this sort of thing for a while, but I am a bit concerned about using many of the smart plugs on the market with large motors, and I assume most dryers contain a fairly large electric motor (not sure how large.) I'm in the midwest U.S., so my dryer is a gas dryer; so presumably, the only real thing being driven off the electricity is indeed a micro-controller and a fairly large motor of some kind. I…

I don't think it's an issue for this application with a dryer because it's not cutting power to a running motor.

The problem with switching an inductive load using a small relay (like the ones in smart plugs) is that the magnetic field collapses in the motor as soon as the relay contacts open. This causes a very large flyback voltage to build across the contacts as the relay is still in the process of opening (mechanically driven by a spring) and so you get arcing which damages the contacts and results in carbon deposits (with higher resistance than clean metal).

In this application the smart plug is already switched on (contacts closed) when the dryer is started and the smart plug doesn't switch off while the dryer is running. Instead, the smart plug's only job is to monitor the power usage of the dryer and send a notification when it drops below 10W.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#115

Post by pixl97 »

chongli wrote: post #112
wtallis wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your dryer may have screw terminals at the other end of the power cable: those are often sold separately and installed when you take delivery of the dryer, because there are multiple types of outlets your home could have for an electric dryer.

If there are screw terminals they are internal to the machine. The power cable goes directly into the machine with no exposed terminals.

I mean, no not really. Take off the plate where the wire goes into the machine and there is a terminal block at that point. Unless you have some very odd machine I have never (and I've installed quite a few machines) seen one that comes with the wire.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#116

Post by marcinzm »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #83
marcinzm wrote: post #70

I did something similar except I used a vibration sensor since we have shared laundry for the floor. When doing laundry we take the sensor and then stick it, using the magnets glued to the back, onto the dryer/washer. The distance drops the signal strength of the sensor which is what tells the automation that clothes washing/drying is in progress. Once vibration has stopped it knows that the laundry is done. Alexa th…

Is that a product you bought or something you made yourself? I've been wanting something like that but haven't figured out how to get it

I used a YoLink vibration sensor. The lack of a local mode for YoLink is a big negative but there's also Zigbee vibrations sensors. The positive is that in my experience YoLink has been very reliable across the board while Zigbee has been hit or miss. Also unlike other cloud based services (ie: Kasa for example) they provide a MQTT integration so there's very low latency.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#117

Post by jchw »

chongli wrote: post #114
jchw wrote: post #72

I've wanted to do this sort of thing for a while, but I am a bit concerned about using many of the smart plugs on the market with large motors, and I assume most dryers contain a fairly large electric motor (not sure how large.) I'm in the midwest U.S., so my dryer is a gas dryer; so presumably, the only real thing being driven off the electricity is indeed a micro-controller and a fairly large motor of some kind. I…

I don't think it's an issue for this application with a dryer because it's not cutting power to a running motor. The problem with switching an inductive load using a small relay (like the ones in smart plugs) is that the magnetic field collapses in the motor as soon as the relay contacts open. This causes a very large flyback voltage to build across the contacts as the relay is still in the process of opening (mechan…

Hmmm.... That's a valid point that I didn't consider. I guess if the relay remains closed all the time, inductive loads shouldn't really be any trouble. It still does seem a little sketchy, though.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#118

Post by numpad0 »

williamcotton wrote: post #109
BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the free clipart or stock photos were 8.3 megabytes for two images on the web that don't add any meaning to the page? Yes.

That’s not the context of the original comment. The subtext with which to understand both of our comments is the clearly recognizable generative image from an LLM. For some reason it is completely acceptable on these forums to trash talk people who use LLMs, or even more problematic, to disparagingly accuse someone of sounding like an LLM. I assume because it is based on the idea that using an LLM is low effort which…

For me personally it just gives me the uncanny valley effect. That's also a succinct and plausible explanation to GenAI objections, than the idea that using LLMs are ..., it's just that it's not there yet.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#119

Post by hinkley »

JohnTheNerd wrote: post #102

If you are scared of messing with electricity like I am, instead of using power monitoring, another viable but less reliable option is to use vibration sensors. I picked up a simple Zigbee vibration sensor for less than 20$, taped it on top of the washer/dryer, and connected it to HomeAssistant using Zigbee2MQTT. After creating two automations to detect start/stop based on continuous vibrations over a few minutes, I…

I don’t know about economical but there are devices that sense current flow in a line without a tap, just from the EM fields. People with wood shops use these to automatically turn on the dust collection system when any power tool is turned on.

Between small production sizes and the relay there are probably cheaper DIY solutions. OP is just using a smart plug, so no real electronics involved.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#120

Post by hinkley »

jchw wrote: post #72

I've wanted to do this sort of thing for a while, but I am a bit concerned about using many of the smart plugs on the market with large motors, and I assume most dryers contain a fairly large electric motor (not sure how large.) I'm in the midwest U.S., so my dryer is a gas dryer; so presumably, the only real thing being driven off the electricity is indeed a micro-controller and a fairly large motor of some kind. I…

Gas dryers often run 120V because they’re only running a small blower and a motor to spin the drum. You’re probably in much better shape to find an inline unit that can handle that amperage.

First gas dryer I could find at best buy: LG 7.4 cu ft (beefy boy) needs 11.5 amps. I’d be shocked if you can’t find a 15A smart plug.

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