Jeremy is an engineer with 10 years experience at his full-time profession, and has a BSME from Clemson University. Outside of work he’s an avid maker and experimenter, building anything that comes into his mind!
The buzzer on a washer or dryer may be OK for most people, but what if you would like something a little more versatile to tell you when your laundry is done? Here’s an interesting solution involving an Arduino Yún that sends a text message when the washer or dryer is done.
Rather than hacking into your equipment, this device simply uses a dual-axis accelerometer to sense when a washer or dryer is no longer vibrating, thus not spinning. It’s powered by a 5 volt DC inverter, but a battery pack can also keep things running. Optionally, you can print a case for the Yún, and the source code for this project is available here.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
To get things running via text message, you’ll also need an account with Temboo for getting your “real world” data online, and Twilio to help with the SMS portion of the communication chain.
This device is envisioned for use with laundry, but I could see something similar being used for many other applications. If you wanted to track whether a car was moving or not, this should be able to be done with no modification. With a little more work, it should even be able to glean something’s acceleration. I suppose the big question would be whether or not there was WiFi available, which could be a problem in a moving car!
Jeremy is an engineer with 10 years experience at his full-time profession, and has a BSME from Clemson University. Outside of work he’s an avid maker and experimenter, building anything that comes into his mind!
Our websites use cookies to improve your browsing experience. Some of these are essential for the basic functionalities of our websites. In addition, we use third-party cookies to help us analyze and understand usage. These will be stored in your browser only with your consent and you have the option to opt-out. Your choice here will be recorded for all Make.co Websites.
Allow Non-Necessary Cookies
Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 16th iteration!