Quiet Dryer Notification for Home Assistant – Home Automation for Babies

My wife and I are new parents. We have an older GE Eterna dryer with a buzzer that can wake the dead. Home automation is all fun and games until you can use it to make major annoyances go away, then it’s no longer a frivolous hobby!

My wife complained about the buzzer on the dryer. I popped the back off and found a repair diagram attached to the cover! The buzzer is actuated by 110v AC, same as a standard North American outlet. I can work with this.

Requirements:

• Home Assistant
• Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5, Z-Wave Plus USB to create gateway
• GoControl Z-Wave Door/Window Sensor – WADWAZ-1
• Functional Devices RIBU1C Enclosed Pilot Relay, 10 Amp Spdt with 10-30 Vac/Dc/120 Vac Coil
• GE Super 7.0 Cu. Ft. Capacity Electric Dryer

Note: Product links above are affiliate links

I’m using the RIBU1C relay’s NC normally closed output to trigger the external sensor on the WADWAZ-1 Z-Wave door/window sensor.

I renamed the z-wave device in home assistant to s_dn_dryer (sensor, downstairs, dryer). This created a handful of entries in Home Assistant. The customize section hides these entries.

Next there’s a template binary sensor that indicates when the buzzer relay is activated.

My dryer sounds the buzzer twice at the end of every load. I only want an alert on the first. I use a 5 minute timer to stop this.

The automation is pretty straight forward. When the binary sensor is activated, trigger the rule. If the timer isn’t running, speak an alert, push an iOS notification, and start the timer.

packages/laundry_notification_dryer.yaml

homeassistant:
  customize:
    binary_sensor.s_dn_dryer_sensor:
      hidden: true
    sensor.s_dn_dryer_alarm_level:
      hidden: true
    sensor.s_dn_dryer_alarm_type:
      hidden: true
    sensor.s_dn_dryer_burglar:
      hidden: true
    sensor.s_dn_dryer_sourcenodeid:
      hidden: true
    timer.dryer_notification:
      hidden: true
  binary_sensor:
    platform: template
    sensors:
      dryer_buzzer:
        friendly_name: Dryer Buzzer
        value_template: '{{ states(''sensor.s_dn_dryer_alarm_level'') == ''255''}}'
  timer:
    dryer_notification:
      duration: '00:05:00'
  automation:
    - id: notify_laundry_done
      alias: Notify when laundry buzzer triggered
      trigger:
        platform: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.dryer_buzzer
        to: 'on'
      condition:
        condition: state
        entity_id: timer.dryer_notification
        state: idle
      action:
        - service: tts.google_say
          entity_id: media_player.mpd
          data: null
          message: Dryer Completed
        - service: notify.ben_and_anna
          data: null
          title: Laundry Completed
          message: Dryer Buzzer
        - service: timer.start
          entity_id: timer.dryer_notification