[RELEASE] Laundry Manager

Yet another laundry app! I've actually had a version of this for quite some time now (ST days), and none of the others I've come across did exactly what I needed.

Features:

  • Subscribes to a power monitoring device for the washer and dryer
  • Creates a child device for the washer and dryer
  • Child device has a status attribute: idle, running, finished
  • Setting for min threshold (in watts) to trigger running
  • Setting for min time below threshold to trigger finished
  • Child device is a momentary switch that when finished is "on" (good for use in a dashboard to highlight active state, tapping on dashboard tile will reset status to idle)
  • Will send you a notification when finished, with repeat notifications if desired (I often don't attend to the laundry after the first notification)
  • Can assign a button to reset status to any finished status to idle (I have a Samsung button mounted near the W/D to quickly reset the status)

I hope that is useful for someone!

v1.0.0 Initial release 2019-12-30
v1.0.1 Made washer, dryer, and reset button optional 2020-01-07
v1.0.2 Allow multiple notification devices 2020-02-15
v1.0.3 Added support for contact sensors, TTS, time-based auto reset,
device labels, and time on threshold
2021-01-17
v1.0.5 Bug fix 2021-01-18
v1.0.6 Support for overriding machine labels, removed min time on logic 2021-01-21
v1.0.7 Added min time on support, and fixed tts modes bug 2021-03-21
v1.0.8 Fix for finished to idle, added support for dishwasher 2021-08-29
v1.0.9 Fix for auto reset 2023-08-16
v1.0.10 Fix for repeat notifications toggle 2023-09-28
16 Likes

Sounds good, thanks for sharing.

Currently I have a pair of LG's with their remote monitor. It can't be connected to Hubitat (at least not with reasonable effort). However the wife likes it. So I'll stay with that for now.

I always thought it would be good to have some logic that if the dryer didn't start within so many minutes from the washer stopping we would get a signal. It would stop from leaving wet clothes in the washer all night :frowning: which I've done.

I've got the LGs--using IFTTT is the way to go here. I've got audible messages/announcements when the loads are done coming from Alexa.

Is there any way to have the app NOT require a power meter for both the washer and the dryer? my dryer is 240v electric, so I cannot use a power meter for it. I would like to use your app for my washer, though.

@murray.sean.d I think that should be pretty easy to do. I'll try and get to it in the next few days.

I currently use a Sonoff S31 to monitor washing machine power and an Aeotec Heavy Duty switch to monitor power to the electric dryer. Both trigger individual virtual motion switches to run Alexa routines for voice announcements. The switches are momentary so resetting is not required. Can the app trigger those switches. My rule for the washing machine works perfectly but the dryer is a problem because it triggers whenever the dryer door is closed and the light goes off. Sounds like your app can do what I've never managed to get right with the dryer rule.

@bbrannon You could write a rule that triggers your virtual switches when the state is finished.

If Alexa is a notification device you could just use my app to send the notifications directly. If you didn't want to deal with resetting the state, you could just leave it at finished and disable repeat notifications. The next time you run the dryer it will go from finished to running.

As long as you set the min watt threshold high enough the dryer light shouldn't trigger a running and then subsequently a finished state (I have mine set to 10W).

The virtual switches are essentially the notification devices. The Alexa routines run almost instantly when they are activated. Turned out to be much easier than my adventure with maintaining the Alexa cookies.

@bbrannon Would it be possible to allow a vibration/acceleration sensor to be used instead of a power meter? That's the only way I've found to keep track of whether my 240v dryer is running.

1 Like

I tried vibration first. The nearby washer also set it off. Aeotec Heavy duty switch does 220. There is a custom driver for it that reports power. It works very well. I have a rule that works but it is not well constructed. Right now it reports via a virtual motion switch which triggers an Alexa routine announcing "The dryer is done" whenever the switch goes to 0 watts. So opening and closing the dryer door triggers the dryer is done. I need to define it so it only reports 0 watts after it has run for some defined period. It isn't really much of a problem because the person loading the dryer can't hear the announcement in the kitchen Aeotec Heavy Duty switch driver

@murray.sean.d Code has been updated to make washer, dryer, and reset button optional. Hopefully that works!

2 Likes

@augoisms, Hi Justin, cheers for your codes!
I'm just wondering (as I'm new to hub, please excuse my silly questions), how can I create them on dashboard. which template can I use so that they're showing as what you've got on the screenshot below?

thanks

@j2hdwd I'm actually using SharpTools for my dashboard with the Hero Attribute layout. I don't think that the Hubitat dashboard can do multiple attributes out of the box. However, to get just the status you could use the attribute template and select status. Hope this helps!

1 Like

Thanks. I've been trying to get this working for sometime. But not having any luck. I'm using a tuya converted plug that gives me some attributes or power monitoring. What I found is that the plug doesn't refresh hence not getting any alert. Any ideas? Thanks

@j2hdwd Unfortunately Iā€™m not familiar with Tuya or other WiFi plugs. Iā€™m currently using Aeotec Z-Wave switches. I also have Zooz switches that work well and report power similarly.

Are you using the firmware Markus maintains for HE?

yes I am. I'm using his flavour of drivers and firmware on those plugs.

You were running the unmodified version of Tasmota as you found out, hence no updates... I'll add a check for that in the future...

1 Like

Thanks @markus.

@at9 - So, just for my understanding, from you question.....given the fact that I'm using markus' firmware & drivers, do you actually have the same setup and have good success in getting them working?

Yeah I did have the same setup and it was working.

I did have to delete this app as I'm pretty sure it was the cause of issues with my hub i.e. hub kept crashing then only change I made was to remove laundry manager and no issues for a week then reinstalled it issues then returned within a day.

Has anybody else had issues like this?