Help needed - Wife wants an automation, I can't figure out how

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So does mine, but I was wondering if the OP’s is different?

(new at this, can’t work out how to quote a previous post - do I just copy n paste?)

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If select then you get a quote option

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Thanks

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@Bigegg @Hellis81 Yes, mine works the same, just opens a bit to let the steam out.

One thing I haven’t mention is that the dishwasher is almost “fixed” in the kitchen bench, I only have access bellow (and that’s if i remove a small piece of wood that hides the bottom front) and in front of the dishwasher, I can’t use the top and the sides to place a sensor.
I don’t think the microswitch is an option since I can empty the dishwasher without the door being fully open, with 90% open I can empty it. Something that could track the whole door movement and spit out values in percent, like shutters, could be an option with an automation like if the door is opened over 60% for more than xx seconds the dishwasher changes straight to dirty, no need for an empty state. But what could track the whole movement? A step motor at one hinge could do the job but I think its too much of a work and if I change my dishwasher I can’t just transfer the sensors to the new one…

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Would a vibration / tilt sensor work maybe? https://www.aqara.com/us/vibration_sensor.html

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You can get a microswitch with a lever that can be bent so it activates at the correct angle.
Or a piece of conductive foam between two metal plates on the bottom of the door could be used as a pressure sensor - the further open the door, the higher the pressure.
Or a rotary potentiometer on the hinge?
or a linear pot that is moved by the bottom edge of the door.
Or a hall effect sensor that detects how far the outer bottom edge of the door is from the base of the dishwasher.

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good call :+1:

multiple tilt sensors at different angles could give an idea of how far open the door is?
A 3d printed enclosure + a small ball bearing with multiple contacts at various angles would be an “all in one” solution.

oooh: could you glue an aqara “cube” to the door?
or use an accelerometer module?

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Hmmm that looks interesting, I haven’t thought about a Tilt Sensor. This one says that needs the aqara hub, I have a sonoff zigbee hub and WiFi of course. Do you know any other tilt sensors that could work either with zigbee (sonoff hub) or WiFi? If I can find an off the shelve solution it would be Ideal!!!

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The aqara one is Zigbee, I have one integrated myself (zigbee2mqtt). I have mine glued to the back of the washing machine to tell me when the laundry is done, so I don’t use the tilt part. But I can see that it reports angles.

tilt
tilt688×748 23.6 KB

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Have a look at mpu6050 and an ESP then.
It can very accurately detect angles of the door.

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Man you’re awesome!! I was just thinking how to place a tilt sensor (where and at what angle) but as I can see in your screenshot it reports all three angles!!! that’s great!!!

I already have an automation that reports when the dishwasher is finished using the energy sensor

type: power
platform: device
device_id: 5402eedf4f87ca06ee87f63af3a0718f
entity_id: sensor.sonoff_10015f5fe0_power_2
domain: sensor
below: 1
for:
  hours: 0
  minutes: 0
  seconds: 30
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They don’t cost too much so if it doesn’t work as expected you could always repurpose it to being a temperature sensor or something like that :slight_smile: I bought mine of aliexpress, but here (Norway) you can also get them over the shelf from the electronics stores.

Quite small and easy on the eyes too.

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Someone needs to invent the smart plate, with tilt sensors and a camera to inspect cleanliness.

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If anyone that would be xiaomi…they have smart everything… :joy: :joy: :joy:

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There are usually some space that taken up by the adjusting of the feet, so the could be set differently.
Here is an example of a loaf sensor.

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LOL :slight_smile: I like the door tilt idea…I may test that vs. the solution my wife decided upon (many years before HA existed, btw):

clean-dirty magnet
clean-dirty magnet1500×1344 124 KB

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:rofl:
Same here, this thread gave me more ideas to new automations hopefully still keeping the peace of mind in the house intact.

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Interesting problem. Maybe a contest to who can develop the “fits all” solution. I can see a technical failure for every solution presented so far.

In my home, we have a simple, but manual solution.

  1. If the detergent door is open, the dishes are clean.
  2. Before loading with dirty dishes, fill the detergent container and close the lid.
  3. Go to step 1.
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That is exactly what I was thinking in the beginning, but then I would have to create the whole hardware/software myself, not a lot of work and interesting too but on the other hand an of the shelf solution like a tilt sensor that @fleskefjes suggested is a lot less of a hassle in every aspect.
If I was 15 years younger I would def go down the “load sensor road” just for the fun of it!!!

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A tilt sensor is easy, but also error-prone.
You can not see if the dish washer was actually emptied when the tilt sensor detected an opening of the lid. It could be that someone just needed a single thing from it and had no time to empty it all.
A load sensor should be able to detect when the load is at the normal for an empty dish washer.