This seemed like a simple automation to construct, but I am having issues and would appreciate some help. I am trying to use a motion sensor as the sensor to trigger the automation to notify me via a notification to my cellphone when the clothes dryer is done.
Logic - trying to take into account two events:
1 - when the clothes dryer door is open to load the clothes: no notification. (basically - if the dryer moves for a few seconds, door open/close - take no action)
2 - when the clothes dry runs through its dry cycle and stops: send notification to cellphone.
So I thought:
If dryer moving for less than 1 minute then
Take no action (basic door open/closes…taking dry clothes out of the dryer.)
Else If dryer moving for more than 2 minutes and stops moving for 2 minutes then
Send notification to cellphone - dryer done. (Basically, the dryer completed its dry cycle.)
This my latest code attempt - which did not work - I have tried several different versions. I seem to be stuck on the “dryer moving for more than 2 minutes” in the Else If part of the statement. I can not get the >2 minutes parameter.
Hi, I think your trigger should be Dryer on for at least two minutes, then create a ‘wait for trigger’ in the ‘Then do’ section. In there, wait for dryer to turn off, with a timeout that is longer than your dryer cycle. Then the notify step.
I tried to use my vibration sensor on my dryer too but it was no sensitive enough to reliably detect if it (dryer) was running or not. I redployed to one of my doors since the motion & angle changes involved were big enough to be reliable in that setting.
I have instead opted for a energy monitoring plug (on all my appliances actually) to identify when something is in use or not.
your code will never work. if checks if some thing is true at that moment. so right when your code is triggered, the state is off for 1 minute. therefore the if will never be on, much less on for 2 minutes.
i don’t really get all the nuance of everything. but if you’re going to take this approach, why isn’t it as simple as this:
alias: Clothes Dryer Stopped Notification Everywhere In The House.
description: ""
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- binary_sensor.dryer_vibration_sensor_moving
to: "on"
for:
minutes: 3
condition: []
action:
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- binary_sensor.dryer_vibration_sensor_moving
to: "off"
for:
minutes: 2
continue_on_timeout: false
- service: notify.mobile_app_cellphone
metadata: {}
data:
message: dryer stopped
mode: single
note that this is not resilient to ha rebooting in the middle and such.
Perhaps it’s better to monitor power consumption. I monitor my central heating stove with Shelly PM Mini power monitor (it’s really tiny!) and so i can detect states like “firing”, “burning”, cleaning", “off-state”, etc… each of these states has a different wattage. In your case: when wattage drops to zero, or, if it’s electronic model, say a couple of watts (for x minutes) then it’s done.
Ok - so I would have to wire it up - no issue there…but issue: We are talking about an electric clothes dryer that is 240V, 1 phase, fused at 30 amps. I think the wiring (8 or 10 GA) would fit in the Shelly device lugs. Shelly refers to 22 - 16 GA.
And the website states up to 16A for the Shelly device. But the house circuit is fused to 30A (some safety factor here I am sure…but safety is a real concern at this volt/amp level.)
I use Shelly mini Pm . This one doesn’t have a relay inside, only power metering (There is a model with relay, too, though: shelly 1 PM mini).
It can withstand up to 16A, so it’s definitely ok, and it’s really super small, you can put it just about anywhere.
I use esphome firmware on all my shelly’s, but it also works with original shelly FW in HA, if you’re not familiar with esphome.
Hm… I kinda doubt that you have a 30A fuse just for dryer, because running at 240V this would result of having 7.2kW heater in your dryer. So unless it’s some kind of industrial model it’s definitely not that powerfull.
You better look specs of your dryer model - many of them have specs label, usually on the back - those parameters are max values, usually a bit overrated.
16A at 240V is enough for up to just under 4kW of power, so i bet it’s enough for pretty much all household machines.
Man, o man… that’s a powerful beast… In our country many houses even doesn’t have 30A fuses for complete house… (standard is 3x20A or 3x25A if using 3-phase system).
Well, in this case i can only think of contactless measuring, like you already found out, like the model you found, or THIS ONE from shelly, or THIS ONE from iammeter…etc…
It’s more pricey, but it will get the job done. Here you only put a sensor around a wire (like a ring), connect to 240V and it will measure all needed data. I have iammeter 3080T (3-phase) for monitoring my complete house power.
ok - quick update. Have run a couple of test…and all seems to be working as expected. Have a couple more scenarios I want to test…but in the mean time…
Question: Through the Automation UI, how did you select “Wait For X Trigger”?