You may have a lot of devices in your home that don't have any smart features.That doesn't mean that they can't become part of your smart home.There are plenty of clever ways to make dumb devices smart without too much cost or effort.
Add How-To Geek on Google Add as Preferred Source Follow on Google Discover Turn your ordinary water meter into a smart meter Monitor water use without replacing the meter Smart meters are incredibly useful.My electricity prices change every 30 minutes based on demand, allowing me to load shift things such as running the washer or dryer to the cheapest times of day.My smart meter allows me to track my usage, so I can ensure that I'm not using too much electricity when the rates are at their highest.
The same isn't true of my water meter, however.It's a dumb meter with a display of rotating digits that show my water usage, and there's no native way to hook it up to my smart home.One clever Home Assistant user has figured out a way to do so.
Rather than reading the numbers off the meter, it uses an ESP8266 board and a proximity sensor.The proximity sensor tracks the movement of a magnet on the dial of the water meter, which rotates one full circle to represent a specific unit, such as one liter of water.By tracking how many times this magnet rotates around the dial, it's possible to accurately track the water consumption as shown by the meter.
The parts can be bought for around $10, and the right proximity sensor doesn't require any soldering.There's a full guide to setting up this water meter on the creator's blog.Related DIY Zigbee sensors still beat Thread and Matter, but nobody talks about why I'm not giving up on Zigbee yet.
Posts 3 By Tim Brookes Make your ceiling fan smart for under $10 An ESP32 can control your fan through the remote Close The temperatures in my home this summer were almost unbearable.We don't have AC because it's never been hot enough in the past to need it, but this summer was the first time I'd considered it.Unfortunately, so had everyone else, so AC units were in high demand, and prices rocketed.
Ceiling fans are no replacement for air conditioning, but they can make a room far more comfortable in hot weather.The problem is that many ceiling fans are dumb, so there's no simple way to automate them.One Home Assistant user solved this problem by wiring an ESP32 to the buttons of their fan's remote.
ESPHome can then simulate button presses and control the fan remotely, allowing the user to integrate it into their smart home so that they can control the fan with voice commands or add it to automations.The creator estimated that the total cost involved was about $9, so even if you have multiple fans that you want to make smart, it won't cost a huge amount.Home Assistant has added native RF support, and it may be easier to go down that route with compatible fans.
Some fans, such as the one used in the project, use 403 MHz rather than the 433 MHz supported by products such as the Broadlink RM4 Pro, so this project may still be the better option for your needs.Make your washing machine smart without any modifications A few sensors are all you need There are plenty of smart washing machines on the market these days, but often these models turn out to be more frustrating than useful.Many smart appliances use cloud-based services to work, so in order to find out if your washing is finished, your washing machine has to talk to a server on the other side of the planet.
If the internet goes down, your smart appliance suddenly becomes dumb again.There are plenty of ways to make a dumb washing machine smart, and combining multiple sensors can give you features that even a smart washing machine can't match.You can determine when a washing machine is running and when it's finished in a couple of ways.
An energy-monitoring smart plug that's rated to support devices with heavy draw, such as washing machines, is one option, or a vibration sensor that can detect when your washing machine is shaking around is another.Knowing if your washing machine is running or finished is only the start, however; you still need to remember to take it out.A motion sensor in your utility room can trigger a spoken reminder on a smart speaker when you enter the room, so that you don't forget to take out the load once it's finished.
Adding a contact sensor to the door can help you monitor when the washing has been removed, so that your smart home can continue to nag you until you do it.With just a few cheap sensors, your dumb washing (or dryer) can become smarter than most smart appliances, and it can all run completely locally, even when the internet is down.It also means you don't end up paying a premium for a smart washing machine with inferior features.
Making dumb devices smart doesn't have to cost a lot All of these projects can work with cheap sensors that you can buy for just a few dollars.It's a small price to pay for being able to monitor and control devices in your home that would otherwise remain dumb.
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