Hi all, I am trying to set up a very simple notification based on outlet's power monitor. When power moves from above 10W to below 10W, I want Hubitat to ping me.
Notifier app doesn't seem to support power monitors and Rule Machine seems to have limited trigger options - only when value is below certain value or when 'decreased'. However, neither of these two gives me what I need - the first one produces infinite false positives and the second one is sensitive to tiny changes, so not good enough either.
How I use power notifications is via a global variables.
These are in a separate rule.
If power >10 then set var powerabove10 true.
Else set var powerabove10 false.
Then in my rules I use
IF false send notification.
Just a thought.
You might want to read the thread on Better Laundry Monitor referenced above. It isn't likely that a simple threshold rule based on power consumption will be sufficient, although I don't know your specific washing machine. There are issues such as 1) a washer with digital controls will likely never show zero energy usage, 2) usage fluctuates wildly based on cycle activity, and 3) there could be times such as filling a top loader where virtually no energy is consumed, yet the cycle is not complete.
Next time you wash a load of laundry, look at the energy events over the course of the cycle. The Better Laundry app gives you lots of options that you can tune to fit your washer's typical patterns.
Here's my washing machine rule... Same rule, and it affords the user the option of having unique power thresholds for 'on' and 'off' just like the dryer rule. The delay statement is what is used to prevent false early notifications of a completed cycle.
It's also important to correctly set the device's power threshold reporting. Too low and it floods the system, to high and it does not report. Currently I use a 10W threshold. As @HAL9000 says runs some cycles and monitor the results.
WOW, I did not expect such a response rate on this. Seems like laundry is something we all do!
@HAL9000 -- I think a dedicated app might be a bit of an overkill for me. My washing machine notification needs are fairly basic and so far I've noticed that when off, it's at 0W, when it's on, but not working it's between 1-3W, when doing any sort of movement, it's above that.
So given this, I copied with pride @ogiewon's rule. The laundry is on as I write it, so it will be put to test in less than an hour.
Believe me, you don't want your stuff to poke you. See, my cat when he wants something (go outside, food, some love), he butts me with his head. This gets real tedious real fast. Now after I got an Apple Watch and set alarms, the alarms get real tedious real fast. I get real tired of things poking me.
Absolutely! The key point I was making was that a simple threshold (which is what you were starting with in the original post) wasn't going to work. The rule would have to be a little smart so that a single low power observation won't trigger it. @ogiewon added those smarts with a cancellable delay.
Looks like you got something figured out already. In case anyone finds this by searching and wants to see yet another option, I thought I'd share mine. This uses a "new" paradigm staff began suggesting a while back where the trigger is a specific event and the actions use "Wait..." to subscribe to something else after that (rather than a single "changed" trigger and an IF THEN/ELSE), but either should work:
@bertabcd1234, I was really hoping that you'd chime in with this 'new' simpler method! I am going to try your design, as I believe it to be more elegant. What is less obvious to many users is that the triggering of this rule again, will cancel any pending 'Wait' actions, correct?
looks good want to try this with a zooz zen15, a couple of questions the one minute wait for event would seem to imply that your fill cycle only takes one minute? That seems a little low to me?
You may have to adjust the time for your washer, but this is what I figured out worked for mine. Either the usage does not report as below 20 W during that time or any such usage (e.g., while filling for the rinse cycle) lasts less than 1 minute. I don't remember what I actually figured out for mine, just that with my particular washer and the power reporting settings on my plug, this is what my event history suggested should work. The washer is a small front loader (literally only two possible models that could actually fit down my basement stairs...) so <1 minute wouldn't surprise me...
I'm using a ZEN15 for mine, too! Also note that I updated mine to firmware 1.05 to prevent it from sending power reports every few seconds when the level hovered near 0 and the change was less than the specific watt or percentage threshold I had configured (I was actually the one who reported this bug to them and was amazed that they fixed it so quickly)--less chattiness on my Z-Wave network, which I like. If yours is new, it may already have come with updated firmware. And as mentioned by others above, you may need to tweak the reporting settings (I did the minimum I could get while still getting the data I needed, which took a couple cycles to figure out).
This is messing up with my head (in a good way). I think I will try your way as well and then watch logs to really understand what is happening in the background. Thanks again!
That's a good example of tailoring the logic to your particular washer and what cycles you commonly use. A one minute delay wouldn't work for a top-loader, but a front-loader doesn't fill (well, it does sort of, but the motor is still is active during that time).
Of course all the best-laid plans and logic go out the window when your spouse decides to do a pre-soak.
This uses a "new" paradigm staff began suggesting a while back where the trigger is a specific event and the actions use "Wait..." to subscribe to something else after that (rather than a single "changed" trigger and an IF THEN/ELSE), but either should work:
