Hello, and welcome to my instructable for a washing machine countdown timer. The timer is operated with the very popular Arduino micro controller. See here for more information.
Aim
The aim of this project is to be able to delay the start of the washing machine by a few hours. This is to provide a cost saving and a convenience.
Purpose
1) To be able to take advantage of off peak electricity.
The electricity supply to my home is via a "Time of Use" or ToU meter. This means that I am charged in 3 different bands which are "Peak", "Shoulder" and "off Peak" The details are as follows:
Peak = 2pm to 8pm Mon-Fri 51c/kWh
Shoulder = 7am-2pm & 8pm to 10pm Mon-Fri & 7am to 10pm weekends 20/kWh
Off Peak = all other times 11/kWh
These are prices effective from 15th Sept 2014 for Origin Washing Machine Spin Motor Energy supplied via AusGrid. The prices are in Australian cents and include tax.
As you can see it is considerably more expensive to use "Peak" electricity as opposed to "Off Peak". This project is fairly useless if you are still on the old style of 'whirling disc' single tariff meters. However, each year there are less and less of those types and ToU metering will become ubiquitous over time. FYI and comparison if you are still on an old style meter then the current tariff is 25c/kWh all day every day.
2) To be able a load of washing to be completed by the time I get up in the morning.
Rather that having the wet clothes sitting in the China Washing Machine Spin Motors Manufacturerswashing machine for several hours, a delay timer allows the machine to come on, say at 5am and be finished by the time your up.
Whilst my instructable has been applied to the machine that I own (a Miele W310) I believe that many modern electronic machines rely on a 'start' button to energise the machine programme so it should be transportable to your own washing machine with a few modifications.
Please watch the video to show how it works in practice. Comments and advice are always welcome.
