Monitor electric dryer

How would one monitor a 220 dryer outlet power? I’d like to monitor load to notify me when it’s done but to the best of my knowledge no one makes a dryer compatible outlet

You can use one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Security-controller-electricity-consumption/dp/B00MBIRF5W/

It does power reporting and works with HE. To do this right, you'll need:

  1. Two feet of 10/3 SOOW cable (or 10/4) - depending on whether your 220V is L-L-G or L-L-N-G.
  2. A dryer outlet and surface mount work box to mount it in
  3. A dryer plug

You'll use the SOOW cable to connect the new dryer plug and new dryer outlet to the Aeotec heavy duty switch.

Plug the plug into your existing dryer outlet, and your existing dryer plug into the new dryer outlet. Pair the Aeotec switch to HE and turn it on. When the dryer runs, you'll monitor power consumption.

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If your dryer has an led that shuts off or turns on when the dryer is finished then the HomeSeer Flex Sensor is a perfect solution.

https://www.amazon.com/HomeSeer-HS-FS100-L-Temperature-Programmable-SmartThings/dp/B07NQS38JZ

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I have to agree with @krlaframboise I have both but really have not had luck with the Aeon Heavy Duty Sensor. I then brought the HomeSeer HS-FS100-L Z-Wave Plus Indicator Light Sensor and it been working good and it has never missed a beat.

One of the complaints I've seen from some users is that it doesn't report the LED change immediately, but I personally don't care if it takes an extra minute to report that my laundry is finished.

If users are concerned about the reporting delay they can always keep the device plugged in because the delay only happens when it's powered by batteries.

The other complaint is that when powered by batteries it's a pain to save the settings because the device doesn't use the wake up command class so you basically have to press the button on the device and click the save button at the same time and watch logging to see if the settings saved. I think it's at the same time, but if that doesn't work try one of them about 1 second before the other.

Likely not directly able to integrate with HE but possibly indirectly through Alexa https://www.amazon.com/s?k=SmartDry&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

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For whatever reason that link wasn't working for me, but this one does:

https://www.amazon.com/SmartDry-Wireless-Laundry-Clothes-Electric/dp/B07GQBW2KS

Same product, correct?

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I have a SmartDry. It currently does not have any local web page to query for Hubitat... But I have been asking them about it and even offered to write a driver for them if they did expose the data for me somehow.

So far it has been pretty responsive using their app, and of course it does not matter how the dryer is powered.

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Yes Sir!

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Will you keep us posted? I am interested in this product. Thanks!

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I just emailed them again and made sure to highlight my offer of a driver. If it becomes possible I will, of course, make one available.

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:+1::+1:

Also, it took me a bit, but I found their email address and send them an email as well indicating my interest especially if they integrated with smart home platforms such as Hubitat.

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Purchased! I decided to forego the $150 installation.:laughing:

@snell
Have you had any issues with the unit becoming "un-mounted"? I'd hate for it to go for a tumble.

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We run ours... Maybe 4+ times a week on average. It has never even shifted position from what I can tell.

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Do you mind elaborating on this a bit? I have one of them in use here and am considering buying a few more.

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I installed one of these for a friend and wrote a rule to monitor their water heater power consumption. Seems to work really well. So, I too would like to know what doesn't work for @leeonestop. Maybe it is fixable?

I've got one on a 220V (ancient) electric heater for turning it on/off and monitoring power usage too. It seems to work well so far... other than gobbling up energy to run the heater.

I have a Homeseer Flex for my very difficult to monitor Washer and it works well.

However, for my dryer I got my hands a little more dirty. My dryer starts with a push button. When you press this button it engages a 110v solenoid. All 220v dryer’s have a 110v circuit internally for timers and other stuff. The 220~240v is just for the heating element. The actual drum motor runs on 110v too. So when my dryers cycle is finished, that 110v solenoid releases.

What I did was added a 110v relay to the power going to that solenoid. To the contacts of the relay I added (which isolates any voltage from its own contacts), I connected a door/window sensor that has wires soldered to the reed switch of the sensor. The net result is, when I press the start button the solenoid engages and 110 V is sent to the relay. The contacts of the relay open, and the door/window sensor registers in HE as closed.

When the cycle completes, the 110 V solenoid turns off, closing the contacts on the relay, and the door/window sensor then registers in HE as opened. My rule is configured so that when the door/window sensor opens, one minute later (cancel on truth change), that sends a message that the dryer has finished.

This works 100% of the time. No false message, ever. I also added a power supply for the door/window sensor so I’ll never have to change its batteries either.

Alternatively, if that sounds a little bit too much for your liking, what I did before that also worked very well was, using an Aeon home energy monitor with one of its clamps attached to one of the wires in the panel that goes to the dryer. then you can just monitor when the wattage drops below a threshold, and send a finished notification.

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As you state, this was my experience only while on battery power (so were quickly-dying batteries--not super quick, but only a couple months, likely due to the fact that my dryer flashes a light when it's done instead of just turning one on or off). I think in the manual Aeon states what this delay is, but I don't remember of the top of my head. USB power made my reporting nearly instant, though I confess I only switched because I had power nearby and wanted to stop needing to worry about batteries if that life was going to be the norm. (It took a bit of playing around with the "detect blinking" parameter in the driver to get it to detect a blinking LED vs. the solid one it shows when running, and now I also need to be careful to remember to turn the dryer fully off when I'm done, or it will keep blinking even after I open the door to remove the laundry.) In any case, it made me much happier with the device and encouraged me to finally use it to create a "dryer done!" automation instead of just letting it sit on my dryer for a few months while I tried to figure out what the heck it reported and when (again, my flashing light probably didn't help here, especially when the "off" part of the flash is very quick and the state while operating is on).

@aaiyar and @billmeek I have had this for about three years now and it has never been able to do anything except turn off and on. I have also change the driver and have try different drivers and still get the same results. I try it again about a month ago and still had the same problems no reporting except off and on? If either of you have a driver for it I would be willing to try it. Thanks