@rsjaffe's post about automating his wife's coffee maker prompted me to post about this - it's definitely my favorite automation right now. Initially, I just wanted to be able to turn off the grinder remotely so that it wouldn't run forever if I walked away to do, umm, something else that I always do first thing in the morning , so I plugged it into an old Iris Smart Plug I had sitting around. I thought I was done...
...But then I noticed that the power draw had a very consistent drop when the last beans were clear of the burrs - the grinder draws somewhere between 35 and 50 watts when there's actually material in the burrs, but once they're gone, that drops to just under 27 watts. So now I have an RM rule that triggers on changes in the power draw of the Iris Smart Plug and shuts it off 10 seconds after the draw drops below 27 watts. So far it works very consistently, and every time it shuts off, I feel an almost entirely unwarranted sense of personal accomplishment.
The coffee automation threads should be combined! Not so long ago I plummed in a 1/4" hose to my Keurig with a float that comes off my RO watermaker. So now...no more filling the hopper with water, it's automatic. As a failsafe I got a 1/4" water solenoid that plugged into an old Iris smart plug. That solenoid opens when there is motion in the pantry and shuts down a minute after. Therefore the only time that float can fill is when someone is in the pantry making coffee. It's the little things that feel good...
Plus your 1/4" plastic line and whatever else you may want. Of course you don't need the solenoid part...I just thought that was a really nice backup if anything went south with the float.
Really it's just drill a hole in the top of your Keurig fill lid. Getting that hole in the right location is important though. You want to test the float and the angle and make sure you are drilling the hold where the float won't contact the sides of the water container once installed. Otherwise this is a really easy project.
Damn...that is the best example of automated Keurig water hopper filler CGI work I've ever seen.
Clearly the work of a genius, or maybe a mad genius. I know what you mean, though, I was making my coffee the other day and didn't know there was no water in the machine (resevoir is on the back)...a short but concerning period of great confusion until I realized what was missing. My machine's on my island and I have no way of getting a water line to it that would pass muster w/my wife, so I'm sentenced to a life of refill-drudgery.
Oh I highly disagree...it has an electric cord...I'm pretty sure you can sneak that line with the cord if you really wanted. But I understand. It was actually a pretty big win for the cost and time it took. Which really was less than an hour.
Hmmm...no, I don't think I'll be trying to run a water line along side the electrical lines going through the slab and up into the bottom of the island...that just seems like something that you'd only try in a Three Stooges movie.
To me it is a backup. I have a ball valve shown above behind the keurig for clean n such. The solenoid is tied to the motion lights routine in my pantry where the Keurig resides. The solenoid is only open while those lights are on. The thought process was if anything were to ever go wrong with the float while no one was home or in the kitchen then no water would be flowing.
I would have put it in front of the splitter for the fridge line too but...the fridge does make ice while no one is around...so that wasn't an option.
, so I plugged it into an old Iris Smart Plug I had sitting around. I thought I was done...
But I understand. It was actually a pretty big win for the cost and time it took. Which really was less than an hour.
