Laundry Sensors with NodeMCU and Home Assistant

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29

Hi Kem, I have posted all the required config files onto this thread: Laundry Sensors with NodeMCU and Home Assistant - #19 by SpikeyGG. I did use template sensors to set the state of the washer/dryer, it’s also in the list of config files, called laundry_sensors.yaml.

I put both sensors on the back of the washer and dryer toward the top so I could easily reach the doors between the two units for the reed switches. I used caulking to adhere a piece of fridge magnet I cut to the bottom of the PCB. It wasn’t nearly strong enough to hold the device to the washer/dryer so I used more caulk to glue four neodymium magnets to the corners of that. They stick pretty good now.

Here are some photos I just snapped of my setup.

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1 Like
30

awesome thank you again

31

SpikeyGG seriously thank you you made this really easy :slight_smile: i copy and pasted your esphome code and just changed D8 to something, as well as adjusted the offsets and it works great. i ended up using the gyro as the accel sensors weren’t working too well.

i used your templates too for the sensors and they worked great as well.

i did up a simple automation in node-red for the actual laundry stuff and it works fantastic. it basically waits for washer to turn on…once on it waits for 1 minute. if laundry sensor stays “on” for that entire minute it sets input boolean “stage1” to on. once laundry turns off (end of first rinse cycle), it waits again and when back on it sets stage2. once that turns off (if stage1 and 2 are on) it sends the notification and resets the booleans :smiley:

I can finally get rid of the last piece of my old smartthings setup!

1 Like
32

Thank you for sharing your project! Would you please answer the following questions?
Why is that you need to connect 3V from the MCU to the ADO of the second MPU-6050? Could you connect the 5V instead of the 3V?

Thank you in advance

33

If the mpu-6050 supports 5v then sure, you should be able to

36

Even thought I really like seeing all the raw stats for the washer and dryer solution, I didn’t like how all the decision making was pushed to Home Assistant. I always felt like this was a cop-out when I should have written the ESPHome solution to determine the state of the washer and dryer… so I did!

The benefit of this is that it’s independent of the position of the MPU6050. Previously, I had painstakingly calibrated all my dimensions (accel_x, accel_y, accel_z, gyro_x, gyro_y, gyro_z for both dryer and washer!!). Now the solution is independent of the actual value because it watches for a difference of 1 on accel (movement). I’ve tested it for the last few days and it works great.

This solution keeps all the raw accel and gyro values behind the scenes (saving on database size) but you can always send them out if you want to. I figure: as long as it’s working correctly, no need to send out the raw data.

I use a set of globals to temporarily store the difference from the current value of the accel to the last value. The vibration template binary sensor takes those deltas and checks them against the threshold (in my case 1.0). If they’re all less than the threshold: no vibration and the unit is idle. If any of them is more than the threshold: there is vibration and the unit is working.

The text sensor was added so I could set the state. I wanted to include the door in the calculation like I did previously but I haven’t been able to get it to work the way I want it to and it doesn’t appear that I need it. If you happen to play around with this and find a way to improve it, please share back.

globals:
  - id: dryer_delta_accel_x
    type: float
  - id: dryer_delta_accel_y
    type: float
  - id: dryer_delta_accel_z
    type: float
  - id: washer_delta_accel_x
    type: float
  - id: washer_delta_accel_y
    type: float
  - id: washer_delta_accel_z
    type: float

i2c:
  sda: 4
  scl: 5
  scan: True

sensor:
  - platform: mpu6050
    update_interval: 0.25s
    address: 0x68
    accel_x:
      accuracy_decimals: 1
      name: "Dryer Accel X"
      id: dryer_accel_x
      internal: true
      filters:
        - lambda: |-
            id(dryer_delta_accel_x) = fabsf(id(dryer_accel_x).state - x);
            return(x);
    accel_y:
      accuracy_decimals: 1
      name: "Dryer Accel Y"
      id: dryer_accel_y
      internal: true
      filters:
        - lambda: |-
            id(dryer_delta_accel_y) = fabsf(id(dryer_accel_y).state - x);
            return(x);
    accel_z:
      accuracy_decimals: 1
      name: "Dryer Accel Z"
      id: dryer_accel_z
      internal: true
      filters:
        - lambda: |-
            id(dryer_delta_accel_z) = fabsf(id(dryer_accel_z).state - x);
            return(x);
    temperature:
      name: "Dryer Temperature"
      filters:
        - heartbeat: 600s
  - platform: mpu6050
    update_interval: 0.25s
    address: 0x69
    accel_x:
      accuracy_decimals: 1
      name: "Washer Accel X"
      id: washer_accel_x
      internal: true
      filters:
        - lambda: |-
            id(washer_delta_accel_x) = fabsf(id(washer_accel_x).state - x);
            return(x);
    accel_y:
      accuracy_decimals: 1
      name: "Washer Accel Y"
      id: washer_accel_y
      internal: true
      filters:
        - lambda: |-
            id(washer_delta_accel_y) = fabsf(id(washer_accel_y).state - x);
            return(x);
    accel_z:
      accuracy_decimals: 1
      name: "Washer Accel Z"
      id: washer_accel_z
      internal: true
      filters:
        - lambda: |-
            id(washer_delta_accel_z) = fabsf(id(washer_accel_z).state - x);
            return(x);
    temperature:
      name: "Washer Temperature"
      filters:
        - heartbeat: 600s
      
binary_sensor:
  - platform: gpio
    device_class: door
    name: "Dryer Door"
    id: dryer_door
    pin:
      number: D7
      inverted: True
      mode: INPUT_PULLUP

  - platform: gpio
    device_class: door
    name: "Washer Door"
    id: washer_door
    pin:
      number: D8
      inverted: True
      mode: INPUT_PULLUP

  - platform: template
    device_class: vibration
    name: "Dryer Vibration"
    id: dryer_vibration
    lambda: |-
      if (isnan(id(dryer_delta_accel_x)) or isnan(id(dryer_delta_accel_y)) or isnan(id(dryer_delta_accel_z))) {
        id(dryer).publish_state("Idle");
        return {};
      }
      else if (abs(id(dryer_delta_accel_x)) > 1.0 or abs(id(dryer_delta_accel_y)) > 1.0 or abs(id(dryer_delta_accel_z)) > 1.0) {
        return(true);
      } else {
        return(false);
      }
    filters:
      - delayed_off: 120s
    on_press:
      then:
        - text_sensor.template.publish:
            id: dryer
            state: Drying
    on_release:
      then:
        - text_sensor.template.publish:
            id: dryer
            state: Idle

  - platform: template
    device_class: vibration
    name: "Washer Vibration"
    id: washer_vibration
    lambda: |-
      if (isnan(id(washer_delta_accel_x)) or isnan(id(washer_delta_accel_y)) or isnan(id(washer_delta_accel_z))) {
        id(washer).publish_state("Idle");
        return {};
      }
      else if (abs(id(washer_delta_accel_x)) > 1.0 or abs(id(washer_delta_accel_y)) > 1.0 or abs(id(washer_delta_accel_z)) > 1.0) {
        return(true);
      } else {
        return(false);
      }
    filters:
      - delayed_off: 120s
    on_press:
      then:
        - text_sensor.template.publish:
            id: washer
            state: Washing
    on_release:
      then:
        - text_sensor.template.publish:
            id: washer
            state: Idle

text_sensor:
  - platform: template
    icon: mdi:tumble-dryer
    name: Dryer
    id: dryer

  - platform: template
    icon: mdi:washing-machine
    name: Washer
    id: washer

The simplified output looks like this (much less chaff going into the database):

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4 Likes
37

@SpikeyGG THANK YOU!!! for sharing your updated ESPHome code. I’m running separate ESP8266 modules, one each for washer and dryer. Simple, straight-forward, and an absolute piece of CAKE.

1 Like
38

@SpikeyGG - I have a washer-related question for you. How do you account for the drain/re-fill cycle before rinse? During this time, there is typically no vibration from the washer, and in my case, drain/refill requires a few minutes. I don’t want the automation going off during these few minutes, only after it’s completely done with the spin cycle. Thank you!!

39

Hi Fred!

You really need to collect some empirical data on how long it might take and set the delayed off value appropriately. Also, I put my vibration sensors close to the water lines on the washer and I think it may be sensitive enough to pick up the vibration of the water flow because I don’t have that problem.

40

Okay, that’s what I thought I might have to do. I’ll try to relocate the sensor nearer the hose connections as you describe. Thanks!!

41

Okay, I think I’m going to have to extend the basic YAML a bit, include global variables for cycle 1 (wash), cycle 2 (rinse), and cycle 3 (spin) to nail this down. Has anyone here done anything similar, perhaps with a different device? Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated!!

42

I found keeping things simple vastly improved reliability.

My washer now only has two states: washing and idle.
I don’t particularly care whether it’s washing/rinsing/spinning, as long as I can consistently tell when it’s finished, I’m happy.

To this end I’ve recently moved from vibration to power sensing as I was unable to reliably temperature compensate the vibration sensor.

43

In my case, I want to alert the spouse the washer has completed a cycle. With no discernment, the three vibration cycles are all pretty much the same, only grouped together with segments of idle time between them. Adding a minor bit of intelligence to the ESPHome YAML would make it almost perfect for me. Just gotta think, ask, figure it out. It’s definitely possible, I’m just not experienced enough to toss a few lines into it and have it work. :frowning:

44

This works pretty sweet, had to change the sensitivity down on the washer (0.35 seemed to do the trick) and increased the time to 5 minutes. Thank you!

1 Like
45

I’m planning to use an MPU-6050 to monitor the movement of an outdoor structure sitting on concrete footings over time.

So using this solution I should be able to get gyro readings that have to be calibrated as a reference point and then from there look at the delta across time (weeks, month, years). The ESP sends the values regularly to Home Assistant for reporting (or creates “movement alerts”) as part of the ESPHome code and sends these to Home Assistant. How sensitive is the MPU-6050? Didn’t really understand the gyro specs shown in the data sheet.

Could I adopt this for this use case?

46

unless the structure is literally collapsing or being pushed with a bulldozer, I dont think you are going to get any useful data

1 Like
47

Yeah, also the sensors do tend to drift. Originally, I was using absolute values for determining vibrations and found that I had to recalibrate the values periodically (like monthly) because of the drift. I now use a delta value so I don’t have to deal with that anymore. For you, if the structure is going to be in the same place day after day the drift will likely make it look like it moved when it hasn’t.

48

Ok so sounds like a bit of a sledgehammer approach to an instrument I can’t keep constant.

Any delta I pick up can be because of the drift or actual movement but given I have no way to conclusively determine which of the two it is it’s kind of pointless to build it.

Is the drift a function of age, temperature, humidity or possibly a combination of all?

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You’re asking the wrong guy. I’m just looking at empirical data I collected because I was trying to trust the absolutes. I haven’t done a correlation study on the drift. I just changed my methodology and moved on. I think you’ll need to ask the engineer who designed the MPU6050 or do that study yourself…

50

Fair enough.

Weighing up the benefits vs the effort in this case means I’ll have to park this as an idea. Many more other important projects in the pipeline