🔌 Detect and monitor the state of an appliance based on its power consumption - V2.1.1 - Updated!

[leofabri]

How do I know if there is a new version?

Easy!
Look for the current version number in the title.
Now, open one of the automations that currently uses this blueprint and notice the version tag:

To update:

• Open this page (just click the link, it’s magical) and scroll till you find “Monitor the state of an appliance - by leofabri” and delete it by clicking on the trash bin . Don’t worry, we’ll add it right back in a few sec, you can leave the automation as it is for now.

• Create the missing helpers (entities) as shown in the instructions

• Add the blueprint again and reload home assistant.

• Open your automation and add the previously created helpers (entities)
  
  

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The documentation ends here.

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[siklosi (Janoš Šikloši)]

Hi, thanks for great blueprint. I tried it and it’s working fine for my washing machine, but for drying it’s sending multiple notifications because there are periods when power meter registers 0W consumption and automation thinks that job is finished multiple times. Is it possible to add timeout for cases like this. Here is how consumption graph looks for my dryer (there are periods of little more than 30 seconds with 0W consumption… at least reported by teckin sp22 power meter).

[leofabri]

Hi @siklosi thank you for your appreciation!
Speaking about the dryer problem, I’m on it right now. It’s odd though At first, I thought that an appliance performing job would never consume less than a certain amount (definitely not 0 Watts!) but maybe, due to the sensitivity of your power meter, that gets approximated and my blueprint is unable to distinguish the states.

I was thinking about adding some sort of timer to delay the job_completed event and at the same time watch for spikes in power consumption during that period.

I already have the logic in place but I’m having some difficulties debugging this thing, as I don’t have the appliance. For now, I decided to use my toaster lol XD.

I’ll definitely get back to you as soon as I have something reliable.

[leofabri]

Big news! Version 2.0.0 is now public
There are a ton of changes!

As always, feel free to share your impressions!

@siklosi it should fix your issue

[gersilex (Leroy Förster)]

Thank you for this super-interesting blueprint! I read it through and am impressed by the work you put in there. I see a big part of the complexity is overload situations. I just cannot image what such an overload situation could be.

Do you use it to detect your circuit breaker cutting power or what could detach your appliances from the grid in those overload situations?

[leofabri]

@gersilex

Do you use it to detect your circuit breaker cutting power or what could detach your appliances from the grid in those overload situations?

Hey! I appreciate that you like it! Yeah, I put so much effort into the overload situation because appliances tend to be the main cause of blackouts in my house. My circuit breaker is so dumb and it doesn’t detach things until it’s too late
Here instead, I’m using HA_PowerControl and the smart sockets to decide when to do that, prior to a total blackout. This is just perfect when, for example, you have your dishwasher and washing machine are running concurrently (that’d be a 4KW load!).

I have a 16A breaker on the appliance line, and I’m allowing a total power consumption of 3,3KW from the grid before considering it as overload.

HA_PowerControl detaches the configured loads progressively based on a settable priority. It’s great but in some cases, it’s not flexible enough. The problem is that the appliance is not self-conscious of being the cause of an overload, so I added it here, and I’m allowing the user to bind this blueprint to whatever system they have for handling those situations.

[gersilex (Leroy Förster)]

What a great explanation, thanks. A bit “shocked” by the weird circuit breakers but I see how everything makes perfect sense for these cases and how your blueprint contributes to giving your appliances some consciousness. Thanks for letting me know!

[leofabri]

good one

[leofabri]

I’ve updated the documentation a bit, it should be clearer now. There are no changes in the code (we are still at version 2.0.0).

[Tismo]

Outstanding post!!!

[leofabri]

Thank you @Tismo

[Mio3000]

@leofabri - hello, im testing your blueprint, just finished the integration and the washing machine status is unplugged, when the socket is turned on:

any ideas what to set differently? thx for any hints

PS: would be possible to add also the door sensor to this blueprint?

[leofabri]

Hi @Mio3000,
could you please make sure that in your automation, the “Smart appliance socket” entity is selected correctly? From what I can see, it should point to sensor.washing_machine_socket.
Also, it could be that the State machine is not selected, because the unplugged state is always shown as the default one, and that can’t be a coincidence

If that doesn’t solve the issue please paste the yaml file of your automation.

# Your automation should look something like this:
alias: My washing machine automation
description: ''
use_blueprint:
  path: leofabri/appliance-status-monitor.yaml
  input:
    # Things that I saw on the screenshot you posted
    appliance_socket: switch.washing_machine_socket # <- Made a typo here, it has to be a switch
    appliance_power_sensor: sensor.washing_machine_power
    appliance_state_machine: input_select.washing_machine_state

    # Things that I didn't see. 
    # I'm assuming that the naming matches the documentation
    appliance_job_cycle: input_boolean.washing_machine_job_cycle
    delayed_job_completion_timer: timer.washing_machine_delayed_job_completion_timer
    automation_self_trigger: input_boolean.washing_machine_automation_self_trigger

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Regarding the door sensor, I think that this goes outside the scope of the blueprint. Mine wants to be a universal solution and the feature you are referring to is very targeted.
You can definitely pair another automation to mine and do what you want with it. It’d certainly be easier since you now know the state of your appliance.

[Mio3000]

@leofabri - hello, here is my automation config:

- id: 'XXX'
  alias: Monitor the status of the Washing machine
  description: ''
  use_blueprint:
    path: leofabri/appliance-status-monitor.yaml
    input:
      appliance_socket: switch.washing_machine_socket
      appliance_power_sensor: sensor.washing_machine_power_corrected
      appliance_finishing_power_threshold: 2
      appliance_job_cycle: input_boolean.washing_machine_job_cycle
      appliance_state_machine: input_select.washing_machine_state
      appliance_suspended_sensor: input_number.washing_machine_suspended_entity
      automation_self_trigger: input_boolean.washing_machine_automation_self_trigger

[leofabri]

@Mio3000 - Looks right to me.

I have a few questions for you:

1. Did your automation ever run?

2. What happens when you press the Run Actions button?
   

   
   
   Did it run?

3. Is there anything in your timeline?
   

   

[Mio3000]

@leofabri -

1. I didnt use the washing machine after i created the automation.
2. looks like run actions fixed the issue and now i have correct “idle” state:
   
   

thank you for your help, i will monitor it when i will use the washing machine again.
In case of any issues i will write here

[leofabri]

That’s why

The automation has to be triggered at least once to know the initial state

In the next release, I’ll put a couple more triggers to run the blueprint even after HA or the automations get reloaded.

[finalbillybong]

This blue print is absolutely fantastic. Thanks for all your hard work on it. I have it working perfectly with my tumble dryer and washing machine. My dishwasher however keeps sending finished alerts when only part way through the program. I have the timeout set to the max of 900 seconds but am still getting alerts before it has finished cleaning my dishes. Could you advise what I could look to change to stop this happening?

[leofabri]

Hey @finalbillybong! Thank you for showing interest in this blueprint. I’m sorry that you are facing some problems with the dishwasher. I’m finding that it is pretty difficult to debug this automation with the tools offered by HA, so, it could be that something is missing in the logic.

• Would you mind sharing a screenshot of the power consumption of your washing machine during a cycle? (something like this would be great)

• Could you also share the states of your state machine during that same period?

Thank you in advance

[finalbillybong]

Hi. Here are the screenshots you requested.

I have my starting threshold set to 10w and my finish set to 4w. (dishwasher draws 3w and idle but also dips to 3w during cycle) It looks like the state machine didn’t change during the cycle were as previously it was starting fine but ending too soon.

If you need any more info let me know.

Thanks again