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Why do my LG smart fridge and my GE washer and dryer all have DNS servers? And is there a way I can control them without the manufacturer's miserable apps? (lemmy.radio)

submitted 1 day ago by early_riser@lemmy.radio to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world

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First thing I do when I get a smart appliance is scan it with nmap. This has revealed some interesting Easter eggs, like my Davis instruments air quality sensors having a local REST API.

Doing the usual scan against my GE washer and dryer shows that port 53 is listening. What could that be for? Is there a way I can at least query their status locally or something?

When I got the washer and dryer I was excited about the smart home features because getting an alert when my laundry is done or starting the washer remotely so the clothes are done when I get home are genuinely useful features. However, last time I checked the app none of that was available, so I just have these Trojan horses in my home spying on me with no benefit in exchange. Their app wanted my freaking mailing address when I signed up for their mandatory account, so the features mentioned above are the least they could offer in exchange for my digital soul. But I digress.

My fridge is in a similar situation. It commits the additional cardinal sin of ONLY being controllable via the app, with no on-board temp or filter status indicators whatsoever.

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[–] KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The only issue I see is that getting most sensors to work in the fridge/freezer is difficult for 2 reasons, the cold fucks with the batteries and the metal body of the fridge fucks with the signal.

[–] sramder@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I just used zigbee and put a repeater right next to the fridge. The big ass coin cells in the sonoff temp sensors are lasting around 6 months. Would probably be longer but I have the sensor with a screen in there.

Obviously YMMV if you have a SubZero or something, but in my jankey LG it works fine.

[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Simple, just drill a hole into the fridge and use a probe from outside.

/s just in case

[–] KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

It is a legit strategy.

Or just use thin enamelled copper wire connected to the sensor and tape it down where the door closes, no drilling required.

[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 3 points 1 day ago

Yeah I've got a multimeter that could do it, but you would need to be careful drilling through to not hit any of the cooling jackets

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Home brewers are looking at you very oddly right now.

[–] southernbrewer@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Yep my beer fridge is exactly this :)

Home brewers just set the fridge thermostat as cold as it goes and set the temp externally by turning the power off when it's cold enough.

Not sure i'd drill a hole into my nice-looking kitchen fridge though. Probably rather than connect it to WiFi, but... I don't currently see a need to connect it to wifi anyway?

[–] claude_flammang@dju.social 2 points 16 hours ago

@southernbrewer
I‘m not a Home brewer but three of our fridges get the same treatment as their primitive „thermostats„ are so crappy. Two simply were either too cold or not cold enough with a ridiculous amount of variation while the third one, an outdoor fridge-freezer combo has the thermostat in the fridge compartment and during cool nights sees no need to cool while the freezer compartment gets close to thawing.

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

We use a kegerator so the probes just run through the pre-drilled hole for the gas. But really the cables are so thin a standard door seal would close over them

I can see where a temp would be useful to detect failure , but a power draw monitor would do the same