Laundry Monitor w/ST Multi-Sensor

I’m new to the ST platform, and after successful installation of my homes security system, I learned just how much ST can really do. Like MONITORING the LAUNDRY. Or, is this a joke? Because after using an Extra Multi-Sensor from ST, I mounted it on our Washing Machine. I thought I’d followed the instructions on how to set everything up? But I must be doing something wrong?
I’ve asked it to notify me by flashing light, Philips lights which are in the ST App.
Note: I didn’t use both pieces of the sensor, thinking that the smaller part wasn’t needed, since I’m not using it for a door or window sensor. It’s being used for vibration, movement sensitivity. So, it does show up as Contacts OPEN all of the time.
Regarding settings: Fill setting is 8 and Run Time is set to 45.
Are these where I’m going wrong?
Does anyone know why I’m not getting any readings at all?
What’s the secret? Do I have to turn it on each time, click on my heals, flap my arms and kick the dog?
Help please, and be explicit with your description, I’m such a dummy.

Thank you way in advance.

You need to play around with the settings to get it work. The refill time is important. This is my setup.

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A lot of people ended up not using these because it senses the vibration of the washer/dryer and lets you know when Vibration stops. As you could guess it doesn’t work always because of this. A work around is to use a aeon energy monitor to give you current power usage and have it let you know when power drops below a threshold. Imma do this for my dryer and get an iris smart plug to monitor my washer because it is a normal plug.

I’ll second that. I scrapped the multi and just used a metering socket and a basic core piston:

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FYI, my ST multi purpose sensors (with CR2032) are too sensitive to rely on for laundry monitoring. They detect imperceptible activity at any time.

Power monitoring has been reliable.

Sound like your house is constantly vibrating :thinking:

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The laundry monitor app actually works well for me on both my washer and dryer; I did have to fine tune where I mounted the sensors. I stuck them on the vertical side panel (rather than the top) of the appliances. The ‘oil drum’ effect of the large sheet metal panel was necessary to pick up the vibrations. I also fine tuned the ‘fill time’ setting to keep it from indicating ‘done’ prematurely.

Can someone explain to me the minimum cycle time and time to fill tub? I can see the device detecting vibration but it doesn’t notify. Screenshot attached

I’ve never seen any documentation for the app but I think the fill time would be the longest ‘quiet time’ expected during a cycle which would inhibit the app from detecting the end of a cycle prematurely. I’d assume the app ensures that it has detected multiple shock events during the minimum cycle time so as to prevent triggering another ‘end of cycle’ when a single event occurs, like opening and closing the lid/door when a cycle has completed.

With my washer, 12 minutes cycle / 5 minutes fill time seems to work. Many shock events would be recorded during a cycle; with a lot less time between them than your screen shot depicts.

Where is the Laundry Monitor SmartApp? I can’t find it in my Android SmartThings app. I looked through all the categories. And why isn’t there a search?

Sim

See this thread, it was recently removed from the marketplace. In there you will find a link to the source code that you can install manually

Yeah, I found it on Github. I installed it and published for myself. Haven’t tried it yet to see if it works for my washer. I might switch to using a power drain detector since some people seem to think that works better. Here is what I am trying from Github:

Sim

@pstuart, can you comment on your version of the Laundry Monitor where you added number of cycles? Is your code counting washing and rinsing cycles separately? I thought the cycle time was inclusive of tub fill time in the original code.

Hi @burd,
New to ST and struggling to find the laundry monitor app. I want to use the multi-purpose sensor as well to track when my washer stops. Any way you could point me in the right direction?
Thanks
Michael

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Hi Michael, the code is here (copy from the ‘raw’ screen once you choose the .src link): https://github.com/SmartThingsCommunity/SmartThingsPublic/tree/master/smartapps/smartthings/laundry-monitor.src

Have you installed an app from code before? There are other threads that describe the process in more detail but in a nutshell you’ll need to log into the IDE and install it there (once logged in, choose My SmartApps, then +New SmartApp, then ‘From Code’ where you paste it into the window and hit the ‘create’ button. Then Save & Publish ‘for me’. It should then show up in the Classic SmartThings app when you choose ‘Marketplace’ (the SmartAps heading) in the ‘My Apps’ section.

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Old thread new simple solution. Not exactly using ST devices atm but while I’m trying to implement a more elegant solution I did this:

I had an echo dot in my garage. It’s used primarily to control lighting in garage (Kasa) and zwave timers (exterior lights).

I had an echo show in my kitchen which I use a lot for interior lighting, smart locks, SmartThings Button when hands are knee deep in a chicken interior, lights in ceiling, Lifx bulbs etc.

I decided to listen in on the garage with the echo show. Usually when the weather allows I leave door from house to garage open so I can hear the appliances running and when their wimpy ass buzzers go off. It’s annoying when it’s cold tho — stuff gets forgotten and time is wasted. So…

My virtually free solution? Tell echo show to drop in on garage echo dot. I turned down the echo show’s volume to match the sound level of the machines if the door was open. I.e. pretty faint. It’s working flawlessly. I’m so impressed with my self LOL.

I followed the instructions you put here, and the Smartapp shows up in my IDE list, but doesn’t show up on the Smartapps/My Apps section of the classic app.

Any suggestions?

It’s been a while since I’ve done this but as I recall when you install an custom app from the IDE it will first appear in the “Marketplace” section of the classic ST app. Go there and then select the SmartApps tab, then scroll down to the My Apps section where all your custom added SmartApps will be listed. Select it and save it from there; then it will appear in the SmartApps tab of ‘Automations’ where you would expect it.

Good morning. Can someone provide a code to add a smart speaker notification to work with the laundry monitor to announce a cycle is finished with three flashing lights?

Thank you in advance.