Laundry

Problem: Often I forget about a load of laundry. I would like to minimize the time a load has been sitting idle.

Solution: Sense that the washer or dryer is no longer in use, then contact me via SMS.

I chose SMS because, like many others, my phone is with me at all times. Interfacing with SMS is simple thanks to Twilio, especially compared to building my own phone-based client, or integrating with chat-based apps like Facebook Messenger. Email was another alternative, but I did not want to fill my inbox with more junk.

Architectural Diagram

Both the MQTT broker and subscriber live on the same Raspberry Pi device, however this is not necessary.

Tilt Sensor Wiring Diagram

Possible Future Improvements (assuming I care to improve this)

• Apply certificates for secure message transport
• Use a more robust sensor than the tilt sensor
• Use different algorithm and threshold to trigger SMS notification

Replicated from my website