I bought my first home in 2024, and since that time, my wife and I have spent a lot of time modernizing and refurbishing this 1940s abode. It was a fixer-upper in every regard, and a lot of work was needed. But one particular part of the house has been the bane of our existence — the basement. It’s moderately creepy down there, without a doubt, but something we have little to no control over makes doing laundry more difficult than most would imagine.
My wife is only 30, but suffers from something called ankylosing spondylitis, which is an inflammatory arthritis that makes her incredibly stiff and sore. Seeing as our washer and dryer are downstairs, fewer trips up and down the stairs to see if they’re done is a necessity. That’s where these vibration sensors come in clutch. Happy wife, happy life, I suppose!
The setup was the hardest part, by far
Maybe I should learn how to read before I tackle a project
In eager “helpful husband mode,” I decided that I needed to jump into the world of Google and YouTube to try to figure out what I could do to make life a little easier for her. That’s when I discovered an excellent channel called Reed’s Smart Home. Reed has been turning specific “dumb” electronics into smart home-capable devices for quite some time, and I decided to check it out. He slapped a few vibration sensors onto a washing machine and a dryer, added NFC tags, and was ready to call it a day. I thought this was all I needed to do, too, but I didn’t realize he’d been doing this for much longer than I had.
I made the trek to Amazon, purchased a THIRDREALITY vibration sensor, and got ready to get everything up and running. In my defense, every other smart electronic I’ve purchased in the past has been app-enabled, and I figured that this little vibration sensor would be the same. Oh, how wrong I was — I needed to dive in and prepare for a busy weekend ahead before I could utilize this vibration sensor to its full potential. Did you know that Zigbee isn’t a brand, but a connection type? I didn’t know until I bought this, which was my own fault.
- Dimensions (exterior)
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2.21″H x 0.5″W x 2.21″L
- Compatibility
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Zigbee, Echo, Smarthings
- Colors
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White
Home Assistant is now a part of my daily life
But I had to first create a server and everything in between
After getting a quick reality check about Zigbee and what it is capable of, I realized that I had gotten myself into something a bit deeper than originally planned. I needed to either purchase a Smart Home Hub, a Home Assistant Server, or start creating something myself. So, I grabbed my Chromebook, jumped back onto Google, and got to work creating my very own Home Assistant Server. It was a long and arduous process, but now that I’ve got a Linux-powered Chromebook with a VM version of HAOS, I couldn’t be happier. Now it was time to get everything up and running.
I paired my vibration sensor up with the Zigbee antenna that I purchased for this experiment, and got to work. Following the same channel as before, I got a crash course about input and output booleans, as well as setting up notifications when my laundry has been completed. If you’re interested in setting this up for yourself, you can follow the exact YAML code that I used from Reed. Now, rather than needing to play the guessing game as to when the laundry is done, both my wife and I get notified when it’s done.
I dug out my old Android tablet, and it replaced 3 expensive gadgets
I dusted off an old Android tablet and it quietly replaced three gadgets I was ready to spend serious money on.
Now I’m looking for more vibration sensor use cases
This project has inspired me to try out more fun smart home projects
Now that I’ve discovered the joys of both Zigbee and Home Assistant, as difficult as HA can be to decipher at times, I’m already eager to start experimenting with other projects. Vibration sensors can be used for a variety of different things, not just for turning a washer or dryer into a smart device. They can be used on garage doors to notify you if a door has been opened, or on cabinet doors so you know when someone is trying to sneak snacks. In a much more serious matter, they can also be used for home defense, notifying you if someone is trying to open a door late at night. There are tons of Reddit threads that have great ideas for future projects for folks like you and me.
But at this point, I think I’m going to continue to try to find ways to help my wife in her daily struggles. Having notifications for our laundry has been surprisingly helpful, as keeping her off her feet when she’s sore and having me jump in when needed has been fantastic. Plus, we don’t forget that we have laundry inside the machine for an embarrassing amount of time, due to distractions and just general life.
It’s a surprisingly complicated little experiment
I do have an Eero lying around here somewhere
If you’re not eager to dive into the Home Assistant side of things — which I seriously can’t blame you for, it can be complicated and cumbersome — you could also look into getting a Hub or Zigbee-capable router. Using a device like an Eero router can allow you to connect directly to these vibration sensors and eliminate a lot of the manual work. Seeing as I was trying to utilize as much tech as I had randomly lying around the house, I went the more complicated route overall.
I learned a lot, but also spent a lot of time devoted to this when there are much easier routes available. Unless you’ve got a weekend available to devote to turning a Raspberry Pi or old Chromebook into a Home Assistant Server, or you don’t need all the bells and whistles that Home Assistant brings to the table, I would strongly suggest purchasing a Hub or Zigbee-capable device.
Notifications make the world go round
All the work turned into something great
I know this may sound sappy, but I’d be willing to do whatever I can to make life a little easier for my wife. She got dealt a rough hand, and if something as simple as a notification on her phone to alert her when laundry is done makes that happen, I’ll make it happen.
These vibration sensors have turned out to be incredibly helpful after all, and I’m very eager to see what other use-cases I can discover to maximize their potential. Who knows, maybe I’ll automate our coffee machine next with a couple of knocks.
