Washing machine, door monitor

Hardware
1

So i was thinking of using a LDR on the door lock LED on my washing machine.

But then i thought i could also use a Hall Effect Sensor or even a Reed Switch to detect when the door lock magnet is energized.

Has any one used a Hall Effect or Reed in this way ?

2

I haven’t done this yet, but I had the same idea. My thought is to use a zwave door/window sensor mounted between the washer door and body. Then have an automation to notify me when the washer has been left closed too long. The idea being to keep the rubber seal from getting all gross and mildewy.

My thought is to use an automation like…

automation:
  - alias: 'Yell to open the door'
    trigger:
      platform: state
      entity_id: binary_sensor.my.zwave.door.sensor
      from: 'open'
      to: 'closed'
      for:
        hours: 4
    action:
      ... do something
1 Like
3

I’ve run cat5 to the washing machine, so will have a play. I want to leave the machine as untouched as possible. So prob be taped or hit glued to the side of the machine.

4

I don’t do it for my washing machine, but I have reed switches mounted on my garage fridge and freezer.
The switches come with adhesive tape for mounting, so stick the magnet on the door and the wired switch on the body, and you’re good to go.
I used an ohm meter to make sure it would work where I was going to stick them, before I mounted them with the tape.
I mount on the bottom of the door, so you really can’t tell they are there.

I get an alert if either door is left open for more that a couple of mins. Has been a really useful feature.

My reed switches are connected to esp’s, and I get the switch status over mqtt.

5

i was thinking of having a sonoff inline with the washing machine power and having it set an alarm when the power reaches a certin level, after the washing machine starts and then have the sonoff monitor the power usage as the machine goes through its cycles , then after the power stops , then it would tell me that the washing machine has finished

i am totally new to this and i dont even know if what i propose is possible but i look forward to implementing it

6

That’s what quite some people did. Easy to find examples online.

1 Like
7

Hold your horses there, They are only rated for 10 AMP (i think) I’m sure a washing machine will pull more than that…

8

I ended up putting a LDR if front of the door lock LED and a reed switch with a magnet on the integrated door for it.

9

i stand to be corrected , but as i understand it sonoff are rated to 16 amp and a washing machine only draws 10 amps, i saw somewhere that the only thing a sonoff cant handle is the oven, but then you know what the internet is like, and i like your solution

10

The led for door locked flashes in the last few minutes of the cycle.
Think I’ll have to up the sample rate of the ldr or add a delay (not ideal as a wash spin has a shorter delay than wash spin dry)
Or directly monitor the door lock or power of the machine :thinking:

1 Like