How I made my washer and dryer SMART

Introduction

Have you ever set a timer to check when the laundry is ready? Do you wish your washing machine or dryer could send you a message when they finish their cycle? I’m going to show you how I made my washer and dryer smart, so you’ll never have to wonder again if your laundry is ready.

Main Points

You’ll need three devices to get the same setup that I have:

1. Smart plug with energy monitoring for the washing machine ($12)
2. Vibration sensor for the dryer ($35)
3. Zigbee coordinator to integrate the vibration sensor into your smart home ($31)

Note that this setup focuses on US electrical outlets, and assumes you already have home WiFi and are using Home Assistant for your home automation software.

I’ll also show you how to have Amazon’s voice assistant announce that your laundry is ready, so something like an Echo device or certain Sonos speakers would also be needed for this optional feature.

Washing Machine: Let’s start with the washing machine. To make this machine smart, I’ve added a TP Link Kasa Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring, which cost $12. The washing machine goes directly into the smart plug, which sits in the 110 volt outlet. You don’t have to use TP Link Kasa brand — the smart plug just needs to have energy monitoring as a feature. We’re going to use the watt consumption to determine if the washing machine is running or not. This particular smart plug connects to my home network via WiFi.

Dryer: Now let’s look at the dryer. Since this uses a 240 volt outlet, I cannot use a standard smart plug with energy monitoring like I did with the washing machine, since those smart plugs are meant for 110 volt outlets. The 240 volt outlet is also a unique shape. Instead, I put an Aeotec SmartThings Multipurpose Sensor. This thing can measure vibration, temperature, and even if door or window is opened or closed. For this use case, I’m interested in the vibration sensor. The sensor has a magnetic back, so I just sit it on top of the dryer. This particular sensor connects to my network via Zigbee, so unlike the TP Link Kasa Smart Plug, this vibration sensor does not require a cloud connection, which is nice.

Home Assistant — Washing Machine Automation: Let’s take a look at what some automations look like in Home Assistant, starting with the washing machine. I wrote an automation that sends a push notification to our phones and announces on Echo and Sonos devices that the washing machine is done, but it will only announce on those devices if it’s not during our kids’ usual sleep times. It will send the push notification at any time, since it’s delivered quietly. To know when the washing machine is done, I looked at the current consumption of the washing machine in watts before, during, and after a wash cycle using Home Assistant and data sent by the smart plug with energy monitoring. Based on the patterns, I observed that if the current consumption exceeds 5 watts for at least 1.5 minutes, it indicated that the washing machine was running.

The trigger is when the machine machine current consumption is over 5 watts for 1.5 minutes. For the action, it waits for the current consumption of the dryer to fall below 5 watts for 1.5 minutes. When that happens, send a push notification to my phone and to my wife’s phone telling us the washing machine is done. The push notification message that I created uses a template sensor so it includes a time stamp of when the washing machine completed, but you could create a simpler message in the UI without the time stamp. Additionally, if it’s not during our children’s sleep times, announce out loud on certain Echo and Sonos devices in our home that the washing machine is done.

Home Assistant — Dryer Automation: Now let’s check out the dryer automation. Just like the washing machine, this also sends a push notification to our phones and announces on Echo and Sonos devices when the dryer is done. What’s different is the trigger for when the dryer starts and stops running. To know when the dryer cycle started, the vibration sensor must detect movement for at least three minutes. To know when it stopped, it must detect no movement for two minutes. I landed on these intervals after trial and error with our machine.

The trigger is when the vibration sensor on the dryer detects continuous movement for three minutes. For the action, it waits for the vibration sensor to detect no movement for two minutes. When that happens, send a push notification to my phone and to my wife’s phone telling us the dryer is done. This one also uses a template sensor to display a time stamp of when the dryer completed, so again, you could create a simpler message in the UI without the time stamp. Additionally, if it’s not during our children’s sleep times, announce out loud on certain Echo and Sonos devices in our home that the dryer is done.

Final Thoughts

These are relatively simple automations, but they’ve added more utility for us than just about any other automation. No more time wasted trekking down to the basement only to find our laundry is not done yet. In the grand scheme of things, not a huge problem of course, but it’s a convenience that we really value, and as parents, we’re always looking to save time.

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Featured Tech

Smart Plug - TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug Mini with Energy Monitoring: https://amzn.to/3O0G9PX
Vibration Sensor - Aeotec SmartThings Multipurpose Sensor: https://amzn.to/47BIIix
Zigbee Coordinator - SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus Gateway: https://amzn.to/3vqQfmP