I have an LG washer and dryer and they both play a cute little tune when they're done with the load. However, unless you're standing next to the machine, it's so quiet you won't hear it. I'm looking for a way to trigger an event in HE at that point to notify me.
I've looked at the SmartThings Multipurpose Sensor on my Zigbee mesh but vibration sensors would be iffy since the washer stops intermittently during its cycles. I heard about some energy reporting outlets that I could use to detect usage. Are these things a reasonable approach to the problem?
Have a read through this thread for an app that handles this very well, and there are many side discussions of different approaches.
Washers are easy with something like the Zooz ZEN15 power monitor, assuming your washer is 120V. It takes some experimenting to set the right thresholds. Just because your usage drops to near 0 doesn't mean your laundry is done (it may be filling with water if a top loader, for example). Tweaking thresholds is what the app is good for. Also, don't use just any old energy monitoring plug. It needs to be rather heavy duty.
Dryers (electric) are typically 220V. There are some solutions discussed in the thread. Personally, I have Miss Alexa listen for appliance beeps and trigger an announcement (and flip a virtual switch) that the dryer is done.
As HAL mentions, for 120v appliances, the Zen15 is the right (and safest) choice... It's not the most svelte plug solution, but it's designed expressly to handle all the motor-related start-up-isms inherent to 120v appliances like washing machines.
The Z15 is an oldie-but-goodie -- it's a well-documented device that's been around a long time & is very reliable.
ETA - sorry @aaiyar -- I unintentionally replied to you -- my post was obviously intended to OP
Personally I try to keep power monitoring devices off my zwave mesh. I have my washer on a TP-Link Kasa KP115. It connects to wifi, but you can control it locally. It does mean you have to rely on polling, but it's been very reliable for me.
I think it depends on how often the z-device is configured to report power. I have my washer and dryer-blower plugged into Samsung zigbee power outlets. The outlets are configured to report power changes that are in excess of 60 watts. For 4 years, they have accurately reported the status of my washer/dryer, without affecting the hub or other automations.
Polling (especially frequent polling) can also become CPU intensively, especially if the device doesn't respond, and the polling automation doesn't have a back-off timer for less responsive or unresponsive devices.
An ideal solution would be WiFi outlets that report to Hubitat without requiring polling.
Developers - Hubitat
