Comment on How I hacked my washing machine
onslaught545@lemmy.zip 10 hours agoOr just a smart outlet that can track power consumption. Plenty of options that work locally with HA.
But I’d definitely fire up the 3D printer and grab an ESP chip if I was doing this at home.
shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 9 hours ago
Thats a bad idea because of power draw overload during motor startups.
onslaught545@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
You just have to use an outlet rated for the max load.
As far as the esp chip goes, I was meaning more along the lines of using a sensor of some sort.
shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 7 hours ago
You have to use an outlet capable of handling the max instantaneous load. That way you don’t end up welding the relay in the on position.
As an example, my window air conditioner takes 600 watts to run, which is perfectly fine. But during startup, it takes 1800 watts. The plug i have can handle that quick spike, but its really not designed for it.
onslaught545@lemmy.zip 4 hours ago
Right, the max instantaneous load is the max load I was speaking of.