Home Automation

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Discussion about general home automation ideas and projects, home automation protocols like Z-wave, Zigbee, Matter, etc, and home automation software and hubs like HomeSeer, Home Assistant, OpenHAB, Homey.

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Relay and sensor for ice maker (self.homeautomation)

submitted 9 months ago by Ecclestoned to c/homeautomation

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I recently bought a portable ice maker, and want to be able to set it to a schedule/make it smart. Unfortunately, it does not power on when plugged in, and the power on is operated by a momentary push button.

I'm trying to find a relay that can send a power on/off pulse, with a voltage sensor that can tell if the machine is currently on. It would have to accept a variety of voltage supply, because I don't know exactly what the internals operate on yet.

For technology: I don't have zigbee/zwave hub, but am happy to buy one. Currently doing automations through Google Home, and plan to switch to home assistant at some point, so it would need to be compatible with both.

I've been looking at some of the Shelly relays (1, uni), but I've seen mixed reviews if they can operate a momentary switch without flashing tasmota, and if they would be able to sense if the machine is on.

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[–] rouxdoo 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

The shelly 1 is inexpensive and can absolutely be used as a momentary button controller out of the box (an advertised use case is garage door opener). For power sensing you will need something that monitors the input power - perhaps an Eve energy plug?

[–] Ecclestoned 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

My concern is that the Shelly won't be able to tell if the ice machine is on or off. The automation would be something like "toggle the ice machine" vs "turn the ice machine on".

If there is some way I could wire a Shelly sense pin to the ice machine controller and tell it to use that to tell whether toggling would turn it on or off. IDK

[–] rouxdoo 4 points 9 months ago

The ice maker will have a dramatically different power draw if it is on or off. The Eve energy plug can monitor its draw and you can write logic to differentiate on/off. The Shelly can turn it off or on based on your needs.