Trying to figure out the best automation in ST that will trigger a virtual open close device in Echo
The virtual open close is fine, I don’t need help with that but it’s the actual ST automation I cannot unravel in my head
The washing machine which the anouncement is for has a power sense plug, if I set an automation to trigger a virtual open close to close position on 10w equal or below the Echo routine and subsequent anouncement just keep running
The automation is simply to announce the washing machine has finished
I had the same problem because I have a modern top loader washer that starts, stops, slows down, and speeds up numerous times during the cycle.
It was semi easy with WebCore but with the impending Groove shutdown I wanted to move it Automations.
I had to use 2 separate automations with an extra virtual switch which is used like a WebCore variable. The 1st automation tells the system the washer is running and 2nd automation tells the system the wash is done and notifies Alexa.
My automations are shown below. The 2nd automation got split into 2 screen shot s. You will need to adjust the walls amd minutes to suite your washer.
I am doing the same thing. I use a v/switch along with 2 automations to do the job. This sends a notification and also plays a voice message on my Kitchen Sonos.
We have Sonos throughout and tbh I never thought of using Sonos for the anouncement
I know many moons ago I tried anouncements on Sonos for other things but we had volume issues, how are you finding the volume Simon, is volume configurable for a Sonos anouncement in ST ?
Yes. But the times you use could vary depending on your washer. I watched the power consumption during a load to get some ideas. I than had to tweak it to prevent false alerts and/or no alerts.
Very interesting. I tried using Sonos for notifications a while ago but the notifications were at the loudest volume. Even if I manually set my sonos volume very low the notification sounded like it was at max volume.
