For some time now, I’ve been automating my wet goods (dishwasher and washing machine) using smart plugs to enable them to be started (or perhaps more accurately restarted) by the HEMS at the best times. However declining performance of the dishwasher prompted its replacement which now allows for improved capability.
The new dishwasher is actually quite similar to the the old one as I suspect Bosch and Siemens brands are different sides to the same coin but has a few differences:
- It has a cutlery drawer rather than a removable canteen for cutlery which I quite like but does mean less height in the now middle drawer. That means in turn that taller glasses now need to be washed in the bottom drawer previously the preserve of larger plates and pans.
- It is more energy-efficient using water-activated zeolite technology for drying.
- It’s a connected device using Home Connect. Home Connect provides an app to configure and receive notifications from devices, but also an API. Over the next few weeks I plan to use this API to my HEMS.
It should be relatively straightforward to replace the existing script file for the smart plug with one to activate the dishwasher directly via Home Connect.