My dishwasher automatically selects it’s Eco program when powered on. The Eco program uses more water and more energy than the Auto program while also taking almost twice as long. So I have an automation that triggers when my dishwasher is powered on and then selects the Auto program for me - because pressing a button to change the program after loading the dishwasher would be too much to ask.
Thanks for that. Now I need a new dishwasher.
Thought of another one…
I bought some TP-Link wifi bulbs that were flaky from the start. After some investigation I discovered that these particular bulbs felt it important to phone home to China every few seconds and became very, very unhappy if the lines were down. After a short tantrum they would reset their wifi connection before regaining consciousness. What that meant in my 3 bulb fixture was that when my “lights off” scene was triggered and my firewall was blocking their corporate masters, one or more of the bulbs was often in a stupor and would remain on indefinitely.
Did I just go spend $25 on some new, decent bulbs that actually worked? Nope - no way some stinking TP-Link bulbs were going to win! Instead I spent hours creating multiple redundant automations that checked for each possible failure state, kept polling the bulbs until their tantrum ended and they regained consciousness, and then turned off whatever bulbs were left on.
Every time I turned off the lights I was able to declare victory. After I felt they had learned their lesson I bought some Zigbee bulbs that actually work.
You’re my spirit animal.
I’ve got a led strip on my toilet door. It turns red when someone is inside (mesured by the wasp in a box principle.
Suggestion for enhancement: Have the LEDs start out yellow and after a couple of minutes turn them red because entry has likely become hazardous.
You should set up a speaker in your toilet and start to fade in orchestral music when the occupancy time is getting too long.
I replaced my fridge light with an RGB zwave light and door sensor. This concept has been solved for decades and my solution is worse. But it also turns green…
Oh that’s interesting! What bulb did you use?
What a wonderfully ridiculous waste of time and effort. I hope your daughter knows how lucky she is.
My house’s fridge has a horribly designed freezer that is just a huge drawer with a smaller drawer inside. It wastes a huge amount of freezer space.
It also doesn’t close all the way periodically. If you’re not paying attention, it freezes up the coil, and melts all your freezer food.
I mounted a door sensor switch to the side and it sends my phone an email if the door been open for more than five minutes.
Modern fridges just…do that.
My fridge sends a push notification if the door is opened too long.
So instead of adding a door sensor I should have bought a new fridge?
I don’t understand your point …
Maybe not but I’m surprised yours doesn’t. It’s been a common feature for a while, and how long do modern fridges last? Like 5 years?
Mine does that too, but LG’s app required fine location permissions to be always on. No way in hell I’m going to let LG track my every move so I can be alerted when the fridge door is open or the washer’s done. They’d have to buy me dinner first.
What brand?
Would the phrase “Never by a household appliance from a cell phone company” apply in this case?
Whirlpool it’s about 15 years old now.
Not sure this belongs, but my most proud automation is an automatic water bowl for my dogs. It automatically drains, rinses, and fills 16 times per day so they always have fresh water. They deserve a better life than my lazy ass can give them.
:O it’s hooked to the tap and a drain I assume? How big is that?
Correct! It connects to a sink drain the same way a dishwasher does. It is actually a bathroom sink, the kind that sits on top of the counter. We have had three Great Danes at one time so trying to keep up with a clean water dish was really impossible. We no longer have large dogs but the desire to keep them in clean water persists.
Super cool. I’ll have to keep that in mind for behind my kitchen wall 🤔
What a clever idea! Is the dirty water drained from the bottom of the bowl or is it pumped out?
Pumped from the bottom. The basin sits on a raised box that holds the internals, including a pump for draining and a water valve for filling. Basically it uses a timer that commands the pump and a sump circuit for the fill valve detecting high, low, and overflow conditions.
The pump runs for three minutes every hour for sixteen hours between 0600 and 2200. The three minutes is enough to drain the entire thing with enough time for the clean fill water to rinse the basin and be drained away before stopping the pump and letting the fill top it off with clean water.
Mine is turning on a fan when an exercise video is played. Pressing a button is way too difficult.
I have an announcement play every 30 minutes to yell at me in a harsh voice “Drink Water God Damn It!” I forget to hydrate a lot. I’ve tried many other reminders, but none of them worked well. Turns out I just need someone to yell at me.
My son also has ADHD and my wife and I are that voice for him. I’m not sure where he gets it from. On an unrelated note, the days where I forget to eat are my most productive, so it’s a good thing you don’t need an 'eat God damn it" reminder.
I started drinking more water when I got a sport bottle with one of them built-in sipping straws. It’s just near me most of the time, so I take some sips just to occupy myself for a few seconds.
Previously I drank a lot of tea, wherein the sign that I need to get more tea was when the cup was empty. But I’m off caffeine now.
My kitchen has 4 different lights in it, and often a random one will be on.
One light is on a 3 way switch with a switch at either entrance, if I hit that switch (then realize I turned on an extra light, instead of turning off one of the other lights) and turn it back off within 2.5 seconds then it will turn off and other of the the lights in the kitchen that happen to be on.
Every time I accidentally trigger this automation it makes me smile because it’s silly
Thanks for that. You reminded me of something similar I posted here.
I made an automated sandwich maker. The automation turns it on, sets a timer, shows the timer on tv, turns it off when the timer goes off, pauses the tv and turns lights in kitchen on, if after sunset. Ridiculous? Jup. But also super cool.
“It’s dark in here” sets a scene where all the lights in our living room are set to bright white.
Salesman at the door button and routine exported to HomeKit. My doorbell camera shows a PiP of a person detection on my AppleTV. If I say “Siri salesman at the door” then HA will briefly turn on the flowerbed sprinkler zone to chase it away. Never gets old.
Mostly the ones that send a post from one social media app to another.
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