Taking still pictures of washing machine display

Hardware
1

Long time reader, first time poster.

I’m trying to use Home Assistant to show on a dashboard what the washing machine display is showing. I’m thinking I could mount a camera on the opposite wall.

The challenge has been that I need a camera that is battery powered (no electrical outlet on the wall), Wi-Fi (no Ethernet either), and preferably small. (I’m US-based).

I bought a Tapo C402, but it really doesn’t want to play nice with Home Assistant. Connecting the camera to the Tapo app is fine, but getting HA to recognize the camera has been a dead-end. I then realized I didn’t even need a video feed; the ability to request a current picture from the camera would be sufficient.

What option(s) am I missing?

2

I’m guessing that you want to know how long before the washing machine finishes. I compromise and just get a message when it has finished by using a power plug with energy monitoring, and from what I can see, most others do the same.

2 Likes
3

This is the easiest way to do it. I have a zigbee smart plug that monitors the current levels of the machine when its idle, running the cycle and when its off. I combined this with a Aqara P2 Door sensor so that when I open the front loading door it turns on then all I have to do is press start to run the cycle I use with it.

Here is a copy of my automation to template for those interested:

alias: Washing Machine Automations
description: ""
trigger:
  - type: current
    platform: device
    device_id: 
    entity_id: 
    domain: sensor
    id: Washing Machine Idle
    above: 0.1
    below: 0.5
    for:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 1
      seconds: 0
  - type: current
    platform: device
    device_id: 
    entity_id: 
    domain: sensor
    id: Washing Machine Running
    above: 2.5
    below: 7
    for:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 1
      seconds: 0
  - type: current
    platform: device
    device_id: 
    entity_id: 
    domain: sensor
    id: Washing Machine Off
    above: 0
    below: 0.1
    for:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 10
      seconds: 0
  - type: opened
    platform: device
    device_id: 
    entity_id: 
    domain: binary_sensor
    id: Washing Machine Door - Opened
  - type: not_opened
    platform: device
    device_id: 
    entity_id: 
    domain: binary_sensor
    id: Washing Machine Door - Closed
condition: []
action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id:
              - Washing Machine Idle
        sequence:
          - data:
              title: Washing Machine
              message: Washing is done.
              data:
                notification_icon: mdi:washing-machine
            action: notify.mobile_app_phone
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id:
              - Washing Machine Running
          - condition: and
            conditions:
              - condition: trigger
                id:
                  - Washing Machine Door - Closed
        sequence:
          - data:
              title: Washing Machine
              message: Washing is is running.
              data:
                notification_icon: mdi:washing-machine
            action: notify.mobile_app_phone
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id:
              - Washing Machine Off
          - condition: and
            conditions:
              - condition: trigger
                id:
                  - Washing Machine Door - Closed
        sequence:
          - data:
              title: Washing Machine
              message: Washing Needs to be taken out.
              data:
                notification_icon: mdi:washing-machine
            action: notify.mobile_app_phone
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id:
              - Washing Machine Door - Opened
        sequence:
          - type: turn_on
            device_id:
            entity_id: 
            domain: switch
mode: single
1 Like
4

Thanks, Michael and Robert!

I have already set up a TP-Link KP-115 plug with energy consumption monitoring for the washing machine, and with that I can tell start/stop and even some spinning (though this LG model has an annoying tic of refilling with water if the load is uneven before the spin cycle and trying again). Robert, your automation is similar to mine!

I was just hoping to go one step further so that we could know how much time is left and to check if the machine has gone into the above-referenced “UE” mode (so we can manually adjust things and save some water).

5

You know, that washing machine minutes are the longest minutes known to man? Joke aside, I have Samsung machine and I’d never trust the timer it displays. Once I was waiting >10 minutes before cycle ended, that supposed to finish in 1 minute… :slight_smile: Thats why I use same approach as other; power monitoring plug.

1 Like
6
7

From video 0:15 “you of course need a washing machine that is integrated in Home Assistant”

1 Like
8

Yes if you have one that you can integrate that way its nice, but its the general idea, they even state you can just use helpers instead if you don’t have the same or similar options to get it to work with your setup.

Mine is just a dumb washing dryer combo that I leave on the 3hr cycle since it does the full wash and dry then and clothes are not left in a semi wet state after a shorter cycle for me.

1 Like
9

My next washing machine will be Home Assistant capable (unless there are no good models that can do that)!