Hi everyone, I wanted to share my experience with setting up washer and dryer monitoring using OpenHAB. It’s been a bit of a learning curve, but I’ve managed to get it working pretty well! 
I’ve been trying to track when my washer and dryer are running using power meters. The idea is to send a notification when the washer starts or stops, and similarly for the dryer. It sounds straightforward, but getting it to work reliably has been a challenge!
Here’s what I’ve tried:
- Using a power meter for the washer: I set it to trigger when the power goes above 10 watts. After that, I wanted it to send a notification if the power stays below 4 watts for 2 minutes. This is to account for the soaking phases during the wash cycle.
- For the dryer, I’m using a multisensor attached to the vent to monitor temperature instead of power. The logic is similar: trigger when temperature rises and then send a notification if it stabilizes for a certain period.
I initially tried using an IF-THEN rule, but it didn’t work consistently. The notifications either didn’t come through or I’d get too many. After some research, I found that using a combination of rules and delays helped stabilize things.
One thing I’ve learned is the importance of testing each part of the system individually before putting it all together. For example, making sure the power meter readings are accurate and that the temperature sensor on the dryer is responding as expected.
If anyone has tips or suggestions for improving this setup, I’d love to hear them! Maybe there’s a smarter way to handle the delays or a different type of sensor that could work better.
Happy automating! 