Hi, just put my heated clothes drier into my understairs cupboard. Looking for a humidity sensor that will trigger it to switch off when the humidity drops below a certain value. Don’t want anything which I need to buy a hub. Any ideas?
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HomeKit Humidity triggering device
- Thread starter Gazzastrip
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do you have a HomePod or appleTV? (these are known as homekit home hubs)
is at least one of them the newer versions with thread?
What sort of "heated clothes dryer"?
where are you? Product availability varies by country. the different power distribution systems also affect what will work.
any homekit automation will require a home hub to run, there has to be some sort of smart device to actually run the automation. So you will absolutely need one of these.
and if you have the thread version, it opens up your options for sensors, as well as potential options to control the dryer.
Clothes dryers are typically high wattage, which will limit what you can use if you're just looking for a smart plug that will simply switch the power on/off to control the dryer.
If the clothes dryer has more than a simple on/off switch (and maybe a humidity knob), it may or may not work well with just turning it's power on or off.
You may be able to kill 2 birds with one stone, HomePod minis have humidity sensors built in, so you could just put one of those in the cupboard, you would then just need some way to control the dryer.
If you do have a home hub with thread already, the "eve home" sensor will monitor humidity, it's around $100.
Most sensors may not be rated for the heat of the heated dryer, the one from eve is rated up to 122F/50C. so that's another thing to take into consideration.
eve also makes smart plugs, but they vary in wattage from 1800 to 2900 watts depending on what kind of power grid you're connected to.
once you're got those working, making an automation is fairly painless. The only thing to watch out for is automations will only trigger when "humidity falls below 40%" (you can pick any number). Meaning if you turn the dryer on and it's 38% and it drops to 28%, the automation will never trigger, since the humidity was below 40% the entire time, and never "fell below"
is at least one of them the newer versions with thread?
What sort of "heated clothes dryer"?
where are you? Product availability varies by country. the different power distribution systems also affect what will work.
any homekit automation will require a home hub to run, there has to be some sort of smart device to actually run the automation. So you will absolutely need one of these.
and if you have the thread version, it opens up your options for sensors, as well as potential options to control the dryer.
Clothes dryers are typically high wattage, which will limit what you can use if you're just looking for a smart plug that will simply switch the power on/off to control the dryer.
If the clothes dryer has more than a simple on/off switch (and maybe a humidity knob), it may or may not work well with just turning it's power on or off.
You may be able to kill 2 birds with one stone, HomePod minis have humidity sensors built in, so you could just put one of those in the cupboard, you would then just need some way to control the dryer.
If you do have a home hub with thread already, the "eve home" sensor will monitor humidity, it's around $100.
Most sensors may not be rated for the heat of the heated dryer, the one from eve is rated up to 122F/50C. so that's another thing to take into consideration.
eve also makes smart plugs, but they vary in wattage from 1800 to 2900 watts depending on what kind of power grid you're connected to.
once you're got those working, making an automation is fairly painless. The only thing to watch out for is automations will only trigger when "humidity falls below 40%" (you can pick any number). Meaning if you turn the dryer on and it's 38% and it drops to 28%, the automation will never trigger, since the humidity was below 40% the entire time, and never "fell below"
Thanks for your reply. I have a HomePod mini, does that mean I don’t need another “hub”. I have a smart plug and currently run an automation to control it but have to guess when the clothes might be dry.
You'll just need a humidity sensor with thread. The HPmini has thread built in, you just scan the homekit code on the new device, and it will configure itself to join your thread network.
I can't personally recommend one over the other, as I haven't used one.
the one from eve has good reviews, and I've had good luck with their other products
or just found one from Onvis, I have one of their buttons, it works well, and can be configured in the home app, but their app crashes when I try to access the settings. it's $29 on amazon. Looks like it updates the humidity and temp in the background every 15 minutes, possibly more if you actually look and cause it to refresh. Make sure it says thread before ordering as there is a very similar older model without thread.
there may be other options out there also.
as an option until you get this up and running. You can add delayed triggers with siri. Offsets don't seem to work, but actual times do. So you can't say "turn off the dryer in 30 minutes", but you can say "turn off the dryer at 4pm" and siri will make a one time (self deleting) automation for you. And you must say "action at time" not "at 4pm turn off the dryer".
*thread is a new type of wireless. Think of it the same way you think of bluetooth or WiFi. It's optimized for home automation, So it can handle a large number of devices, and is a self-healing mesh. To use it you need a thread border router which is a box with wifi/ethernet and thread, that will bridge those 2 connections (newer homepods and appleTVs are thread border routers). Also any thread device that plugs in is automatically a repeater. So if your humidity sensor doesn't have a great connection, a smart plug somewhere between the HPmini and the sensor should help.
I can't personally recommend one over the other, as I haven't used one.
the one from eve has good reviews, and I've had good luck with their other products
or just found one from Onvis, I have one of their buttons, it works well, and can be configured in the home app, but their app crashes when I try to access the settings. it's $29 on amazon. Looks like it updates the humidity and temp in the background every 15 minutes, possibly more if you actually look and cause it to refresh. Make sure it says thread before ordering as there is a very similar older model without thread.
there may be other options out there also.
as an option until you get this up and running. You can add delayed triggers with siri. Offsets don't seem to work, but actual times do. So you can't say "turn off the dryer in 30 minutes", but you can say "turn off the dryer at 4pm" and siri will make a one time (self deleting) automation for you. And you must say "action at time" not "at 4pm turn off the dryer".
*thread is a new type of wireless. Think of it the same way you think of bluetooth or WiFi. It's optimized for home automation, So it can handle a large number of devices, and is a self-healing mesh. To use it you need a thread border router which is a box with wifi/ethernet and thread, that will bridge those 2 connections (newer homepods and appleTVs are thread border routers). Also any thread device that plugs in is automatically a repeater. So if your humidity sensor doesn't have a great connection, a smart plug somewhere between the HPmini and the sensor should help.
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