You just have to use an outlet rated for the max load.

As far as the esp chip goes, I was meaning more along the lines of using a sensor of some sort.

You have to use an outlet capable of handling the max instantaneous load. That way you don't end up welding the relay in the on position.

As an example, my window air conditioner takes 600 watts to run, which is perfectly fine. But during startup, it takes 1800 watts. The plug i have can handle that quick spike, but its really not designed for it.

Cory Doctorow's 'Unauthorized Bread' is about exactly that scenario.

Am old, don't get any of this. 4-5 hour dry times? Did I read that wrong? Mine does a load in 50 minutes, tops. The end of the cycle is fairly easy to figure, since you set the minutes yourself.

I saw this when I had to get new machines 7-8 years ago. However they were an extra like $300 for each machine. wtf.

I would kill for some sort of audio out or usb, but even better would be Zigbee/z-wave/thread, and you can do it for less than $20 in parts.

Now that Matter/Thread has standard profiles for laundry machines and has a chance of building interoperability, I hope my next machines will, for a reasonable cost and no cloud requirement

That sounds like a great read, thanks for the information

Yes, but a couch doesn't stop functioning as a couch if the smart functions stop working.

Right, the max instantaneous load is the max load I was speaking of.

Neither does a smart washing machine.

Oh yeah, as long as it can handle that, then you're fine.

I feel like a lot of people wouldn't necessarily know the difference and might end up starting a fire or something without meaning to.

Every dryer I've ever had, you also set the time for it... But it still did whatever the fuck it wanted. Set it to 50 minutes? It takes 2 hours. And none of them have even been modern "smart" devices.

I overclocked my clock and now I'm never late!

That's weird! I've had a dozen dryers over the years, all timed exactly as they said.

I suspect it's because they had moisture sensors so it would extend the dry time if it was still wet inside beyond a preset minimum of moisture. Most laundrymats this hasn't been an issue. The ones in my apartment are, tho. The washer runs exactly for 25 minutes. The dryer says it will run 45 minutes, but when I come back an hour later it's still going and now the timer says it has 20 minutes left.

Interesting read, really like their writing style.

I've got one coming and really can't figure out any meaningful benefit to having the WiFi enabled

Cool.
Would love to dee this done for all the "Smart" appliances.

Nox King Knows What’s He’s Doing

i like it

If the motherboard takes a shit? A washing machine will absolutely stop functioning entirely. A couch is still a couch.

That could happen to the washing machine whether it's "smart" or not.