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Neil Brown @neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
6d
I think that I am changing my opinion on "smart" appliances.

Now that I am thinking more about electricity demand shifting, and moving usage to hours when I am asleep, being able to conveniently turn something on without me being in front of it would be welcome.

On-device controls are not intuitive, and are all (in terms of the appliances that I have) delay based, rather than absolute time based.

I'd prefer local communication, with no need for a third party server, for sure.

(Smart plugs and finger bots can only go so far.)
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Neil Brown @neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
6d
I appreciate that it is not for everyone, but for me, the option of an aftermarket board from someone I trust - like @revk and his Faikout controllers - would be interesting.

But I suspect that there are just too many variables between devices, including even how one would go about installing it - to make this viable.
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Neil Brown @neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
6d
For me:

* Dishwasher: needs button pushes to activate, but no room for a fingerbot.

* Washing machine: might be doable with a fingerbot, if I preset everything else by hand when I loaded it.

* Tumble dryer: requires a twist. Not sure if this can be automated easily.
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robryk @robryk@social.wuatek.is
6d
@neil Can't you turn on the tumble dryer by switching its power off, doing the twist, and having the power switched back on when you want it to start?
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Neil Brown @neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
6d
@robryk No :(
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sijmen @sijmen@shrimp.vijf.life
6d
@neil @robryk slight variation of this might work

afaik, many machines resume their programme after a power outage, so wouldn't it be possible to start the programme, and kill the power before it grabs (too much) water using a smart plug? (possibly automatically)
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sijmen @sijmen@shrimp.vijf.life
6d
@neil @robryk alternatively, open up the machine and wire tap the communication between control panel and control board (which is often separate)

might be an insurance nightmare though
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