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Entry 4: It's Been Two Weeks

A project log for The Wash-Is-Done-inator

I'm tired of wasting time between when the washing machine finishes, and when I notice it's done. Time to build a gadget!

jorj-bauerJorj Bauer 02/20/2018 at 00:260 Comments

No, not the Bare Naked Ladies. We've been living with the sensor for a couple weeks, and I thought I'd post a quick update.

First: here it is, tripping after a cycle...

I've gutted that old Altec Lansing speaker for parts. Long ago. The speaker used to be embedded in Dalek Bob; when Bob was retrofitted with old laptop speakers, I put the speaker back in this enclosure; waiting for the right opportunity to be hot-melt-glued to a spare Arduino Uno and wired up to a sensor for our washing machine, apparently!

Speaking of the sensor board: the two status LEDs are blinding. I plan to move them to PWM output pins so we can turn them down a smidge.

The sensor itself seems to randomly trip occasionally - rarely, but always at some ridiculous time like 2 AM. I think it's just the analog nature of the sensor; if it's floating just below the threshold of a digital "high", and some random high energy particle hits it, then maybe it trips long enough for it to register as being on? No idea; that's not my kind of physics. Or electronics, really.

So instead of fixing up the hardware, I've built a longer delay in to the alarm priming so the door has to be latched for a good 2 minutes before the alarm is primed. (It's not working, but that's just a code issue. Nothing to see here, move along.)

The next version of this will be built on a Moteino – if I can manage to jam this on to pins that don't conflict with the RFM69 radio. Then I can build a partner remote with a more high-tech LCD display and put it in our dining room; less travel time when you're in the middle of a business call and suddenly *diddle-diddle, diddle-diddle* there's the Gravity Falls theme music! Fun the first time. Not so fun thereafter...

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