So I have 3 ThirdReality Vibration Sensors on my washing machine, dryer, and dishwasher. I’m trying to create a flow for each device that essentially states that when vibration is detected for at least 15 minutes and then no vibration is detected send a notification that the machine has completed its cycle.
However, I’m having difficulty with the flow triggering when the machines are off and not triggering when the machines are running and the cycle has completed.
Example:
When:
Vibration alarm turns off
Then:
Start or replace timer “Dishwasher timer” for 15 minutes
When:
Dishwasher timer finished
Then:
Send notification “Dishwasher is finished”
When:
Vibration alarm turns on
Then:
Stop timer Dishwasher timer
You can use the Chronograph app for timers.
So I was wanting it to time how long the alarm is going for. Different cycles take different times. I wanted the flow to say dryer is detecting vibration for at least 10 minutes (to avoid false triggers if I was loading/unloading machine) and then it no longer detects vibration send the notifications.
I test the flow and it works but when I dry a load of laundry I see the vibration sensor detects the dryer as running but no notification it has stopped.
Washing Machine and Dishwasher are the same. detects vibration but wont send notification when cycle has completed
Right, what I was wanting it to do is detect the vibration and time it for greater than 10 minutes then run the rest of the flow if true so I don’t get any false notifications when I’m loading and unloading the machine.
I understand what you are trying to do. It simply doesn’t work that way. To bad you are completely ignoring the working solution @smarthomesven handed you.
So there’s something with my sensor. I watched the alarm notification go on and off while the dryer was running. It will detect vibration for a like 2 minutes, then not detect vibration for like a second, then detect vibration again restarting the timer. This feels like a sensitivity issue on the sensor itself. But then I try the same flow on the washer it will send like 50 notifications that the washer is done throughout the cycle.
Almost there. You have to start the timer when the sensor alarm turns off. And stop the timer when the sensor alarm turns on again.
So when the timer finishes there was no new vibration during 15 minutes.
How do you stop the timer from starting if the vibration sensor is off when the machine is idle?
You described that, during a washing cycle, the vibration alarm is on for 2 minutes and it takes a few seconds to detect that there is still vibration.
So when you start the washing machine vibration will be detected and the vibration alarm is turned on. When the vibration alarm is turned on the timer is stopped. But there is no timer running yet.
Then after 2 minutes the vibration alarm is turned off and the 15 minute timer is started.
After a few seconds the sensor detects new vibration and the vibration alarm is turned on again. And when the vibration alarm is turned on the timer is being stopped. And so on.
When the cycle is done there is no vibration to be detected. So the timer will not be stopped and will end after 15 minutes. And when the timer ends a notification is send.
NB1 If there’s always only a few seconds between two alarms a one minute timer is long enough.
NB2 at the beginning of an idle period the vibration alarm is turned off only once. So the timer is started only once.
So here’s my flow. I get like 20 notifications when I start the washing machine…There’s obviously something I’m not doing correctly. Perhaps the washing machine just does too much stuff for a vibration sensor to be a viable option to determine if it is complete. Some cycles run 40 minutes while others can take 3 hours.
Replace the ‘timer is stopped’-card by ‘timer has ended’
Most people just implement their smart washer and dryer with a smart switch instead of a vibration sensor. You can just measure the power usage and when the power usage becomes less than 5W, the laundry is ready. It will be way easier with less chances of false positives.
Another advantage of using a smart switch is that most washing machines will actually continue their program when a power interruption occurred. This will allow you to even program the start of your washing program by homey. You can build a flow that whenever power usage becomes higher than 20w, you calculate wether the washing program should continue, or weather it is better to run it at a later time (taking solar, wind, electricity prices into account). If so, you just turn the switch off, and turn it on again when you want it to run.
So I got a smart plug with energy monitoring and was able to implement a flow which accurately tells me when the washer has completed. However, the dryer has a crazy 30A 250V plug so I’m stuck using a vibration sensor for it. Unless someone makes a huge dryer specific smart plug that I am unaware of.
I am wondering about the Aqara vibration sensor versus the ThirdReality one. If they are similar in accuracy or one was more adaptable than the other? Or if I should wait for the new Aqara multi-purpose sensor to come out? I even bought a cheap ThirdReality hub to update the firmware on the vibration sensors and still not getting accurate readings.
There are no smart plugs that can do that, but there are plenty of smart circuit breakers that could work even at that current.
P.S. 7.5kW at 250V might seem crazy in the US, but are quite normal all throughout Europe where 250v is the standard and most houses have either 1x40A or 3x25A connection. A 1x40A connection would mean you will have 32A circuit breakers.
I’ve not heard of a smart circuit breaker. I know doing some research I know Aeotec has a heavy duty Z Wave switch for large appliances and EV chargers. But those have the be wired between the circuit breaker and the appliance. With 30+ amps possibly running through there I might need an electrician for that. But a smart circuit breaker might be easier.
So I think I figured it out:
I switched to an Aqara vibration sensor and found out it has a vibration value that I assume is to show the intensity of vibration. So using that intensity value I watched it as I did some laundry to determine the proper thresholds. With the washer running and the dryer idle it never got above 70. With the dryer running it hovered above 90 but could get as high as 115. Therefore, if the dryer was running the intensity would be above 90 for a good portion on time and if it was below 70 it has stopped even if the washer was running next to it.
So tested my flow and it worked beautifully…once. The second time the vibration sensor did not check for a new vibration intensity value for over an hour so it hung at 105. Tweaking the flow I decided to have it check for a new intensity level every 15 minutes. If the intensity was above 90 start a 5 minute timer then if the intensity was still above 90 set that the dryer was running. Then once the intensity fell below 70 set a 3 minute timer and if the intensity was still below 70 and the dryer running is true then set dryer running to false and set dryer finished to true and send out the notifications and change an indicator light to purple. Lastly I can turn off the indicator light with a double press of a button and reset the dryer finished variable.
I tested this new flow and everything worked. Except I forgot to reset the dryer finished value with the button. When I went to run a load in the dryer I didn’t get a notification. But figuring out that I forgot to do that I tweaked it yet again to reset after a 20 delay on sending the notification. I was thinking 20 seconds was enough time to reset because it’d take longer to unload and reload the dryer if I were to forget hitting the button again while actually doing chores.
I just know the 15 minute rate on the sensor will eat up battery but I couldn’t figure out a way to just check every 15 minutes after the door was open and closed using some kind of door and window sensor. If anyone has any other ideas I’m open to hear them on trying to save battery life. Additionally, I’d like to set reminder if the door hasn’t been opened like 45 minutes after the dryer has finished but if the door has been open and closed within 45 minutes skip the reminder and don’t remind me after 11pm.
