Zwave sensor to detect washer/dryer vibration

Hello:

Just got my HE and am switching from Wink. Under Wink, I used a WiFi device called a Spotter to detect when the washer and dryer were done. The Spotter has an accelerometer, so I'd receive a notification 5 mins after vibration ended.

What's a good zwave replacement that works with HE?

Thanks!

The SmartThings branded multisensor is great for this. You can pick them up locally at Best Buy or Amazon. These are Zigbee though.

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@ritchierich

Is this the correct one?

I don't know how good my zigbee mesh is under HE, but I can add a couple centralite appliance modules between the HE and my laundry room.

Xiaomi work. Again, Zigbee, but confirmed to work. I'm going to do something like this with the one I have, when I have the time.

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I love it!!

It's these sensors, right?

Yes that is the one. As @SmartHomePrimer mentions there are other options too. Zigbee works well on HE.

Looks like I have to beef up my zigbee mesh. Unfortunately, the line-powered zigbee devices I have (Quirky Outlink outlets, Osram Lightify A19s) aren't well-behaved with HE.

Have you considered a heavy duty power outlet like this:

It is rather expensive though.. but you can monitor power output and detect when done.. There are some other discussions about vibration sensing for laundry.

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If you're thinking about getting Xiaomi, I advise you to read some of the forum posts about them before buying. They might be cheap but you're going to have to use VERY specific repeaters or they won't stay on your network. I won't use them. But a lot of people love them.

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@Ryan780
Thanks for the heads up.

@erktrek
That's pricy, but basically doable. Here's my concern. All the 240V circuits in my house are L1, L2, and G (so ground is basically being used as return path for the current).

The wiring diagrams I've seen for the Aeotec heavy duty switch use L1, L2, N, and G. Can it be used with the three-conductor wiring my house has?

I do not know the answer you might have to check with Aeotec.

Also there is another way as well:
https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Aeon-Labs-ZW095-ZW095/dp/B00XD8WZX6

Here is the thread about it:

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You have to put one of the clamps around one of the 120 lines going into your dryer. The other can be uses for the hot 120 to your washer. But you can't but the clamp around the whole wire. I was able to separate the lines going into my dryer quite easily as it was flat and had about 1/4" of insulation between the lines. But just unplug it before you try to separate them. PLEASE! :slight_smile:

If you're looking for a DIY solution, I just built one of these using an ESP8266 board and a Split core Current transformer. But if you're not into that kind of stuff you're going to spend more on getting all the needed other "bits" to do it than you would on the HEM. But it is an option if you wanna look at it.

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Yes, I have Sense CTs for one of panels and Efergy CTs for the other one.

I'm going to look into the heavy duty switch first, and the Smartthings multisensor second.

Sense has an IFTTT trigger. You can just have it send you a notification when the washer or dryer turn off. You could use Pushover for the notifications and just add delays before notification for the washer if you have issues with it detecting a pause as off. Although I believe Sense should be able to differentiate between the two.

Sense had picked up my dryer, but in two years it hasn't picked up my HE washer.

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Does your dryer have a "Done" LED? That's how I'm "sensing" my washer being done. A photo resistor over the done LED reports to a contact sensor.

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Surprising. They claim to be able to identify anything. Even show it in this TOH interview @ 5:00

It's not a cheap system. I would reach out the them for help with that if you haven't already.

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Reached out plenty of times. It comes down to their claim that my house is more electrically noisy than their algorithms can cope with.

It also doesn't pickup newer fridges with linear compressors. Lots of niggling issues.

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The washer does. I could do that for the washer. Good idea!

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