You can use the IoT friendly Adafruit FunHouse board, combined with a fast-vibration switch, to set up an a smart washing machine timer, triggered by the spin cycle, and never forget to hang out your clothes again!
Get a notification at a set time after the spin cycle is detected, along with being able to glance at the onboard display for details.
Get reminders until the washing is hung out, signified by pressing one of the onboard buttons (or remotely), updating the display message and stopping the notification routine.
Although not required, you can setup a "Start Cycle" button action to avoid any false starts, which can also be used during testing to help establish the time between start/spin/end points of the wash cycle.
Don't have the FunHouse board? You can instead use any WiFi enabled board supported by WipperSnapper (see io.adafruit.com/devices/new). Just adjust the pin numbers and cables/wiring.
Grab appropriate cables or wires, for simplicity the JST-PH connectors are the most robust, but quite short.
Either use the JST 3-Pin ports on the FunHouse and an appropriate JST-PH 3-pin cable, or jumper wires with the 2.54mm female sockets at the top of the board designed for the PIR sensor.
Here is the recommended alligator/crocodile clips version of the JST-PH 3-pin cable:
Or, instead of the JST-PH to alligator/crocodile clips, you might prefer to solder some header pins onto the vibration switch, and then use female-male DuPont connectors to the female PIR headers or a JST cable.
Next pick up one or two Fast vibration sensor switches, although one should be enough for this project.
If your washing machine has poorly balanced feet, or just vibrates a lot when spinning, then you might find the Medium level vibration switch more appropriate, as it will fire less often avoiding accidental throttling of data. Alternatively try balancing the front feet of your washing machine to reduce vibrations.
If unsure, then maybe grab a couple of both the Fast vibration and Medium vibration switches.
Ladyada suggests always get two of things, as shipping + time are often the most expensive bits!
Additional Tools
- Mounting tape - Double sided adhesive tape, or some other way of attaching the switch to the washing machine (or to the FunHouse as it'll vibrate too).
Finally, the FunHouse includes a built in display and buttons, which we'll take advantage of, but if using another board, then you'll ideally want a button or two and a compatible display.
Now to move on to setting up the board with the WipperSnapper firmware, configuring the components on the device page, and then setting up Actions to automate the notifications and reset the state.
Page last edited December 03, 2025
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