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I'm still trying to figure out my network settings so that I can have my IoT one one network while still being able to access my home assistant from the other network.
Unfortunately, my ISP is also my cable company, and I have to use their modem/router combo else the cable boxes won't accept the cable signal. I'm using my own wireless access point (which also doubles as a switch for the handful of Ethernet devices I have), and it can split off a separate SSID, but that's not really doing much.
I have a separate IoT network. It's basically just a guest wifi for IoT. Anything coming in on that network gets a VLAN tag and only previous & established connections can get out. Honestly, it's kinda a pain in the ass with homeassistant because I keep HA on the other network so I have to manually find devices. It might be easier to just block it at the ip level or blacklist outgoing ip ranges to Tuya or whatever.
But does it have AI?
You joke but my dehumidifier has an automatic comfort mode of some sort.
I guarantee that next run will have that button with screen print AI something something above it instead.
If I can turn it on remotely, that's a good feature. I have solar, I want it to work when the sun is out and I'm producing excess energy.
Yes, I know I can use other peripherals to do this (sometimes) but its always nicer if its just built in so I don't need to waste carbon on other things.
The only thing I want when manufacturers add wifi to these things is to appeal to open source principles like allowing us to connect to it and communicate with it openly and not tie it down to some cloud service they run.
Why not plug a dumb dehumidifier into a Home Assistant controlled outlet?
Yes, this is generally what can be done. Disadvantages include:
I got new appliances a couple weeks ago and they're all "smart". Turns out a smart microwave just sends you a phone notification when it's done. By default.
As someone with multiple people living in the house, I can confidently say this is the dumbest "smart" feature ever. Promptly disabled.
How long are people microwaving things to the point where that is useful??!
My appliances are ‘smart’ but I didn’t bother actually connecting them to my WiFi. I guess preheating the oven remotely could be cool(?) but nah.
The stuff I do use…
The microwave above the stove can talk via Bluetooth(no app or phone involvement at all). Turn on a burner and you can set it to turn on the light and/or vent fan. Another nicety is being able to set the clock on the stove with the full keypad and it just syncs to the microwave.
Remote preheating sounds like a terrible idea. What if you mistakenly left something in there?
The only smart thing I'd want an oven to do would be to turn itself off. That's it, really. Did I leave the oven on after I left the house? Easy fix. Otherwise everything else is pretty much useless.
I don't know, I wouldn't mind also being able to tell it to start to preheat while I'm on my way home. Would save a chunk of time if I could literally walk in the door and throw the food in the oven without the extra wait for it to preheat which is usually long enough to be annoying but not long enough to do anything else.
Any appliance with IoT is a value-subtract.
They do it so in the future they can monetize you in perpetuity in some way
Most people tend to stay in the same room (or a neighbouring room) when they're microwaving something. They could probably save on the cost of having a full-blown computer with wifi inside the microwave by just having the noisy thing from an alarm clock. But, ah, the fuck do I know?
Some 90's microwaves actually used some chips to measure humidity and using a little reference table adjust how long certain foods need to cook for, for instance, popcorn can be popped perfectly without burning and almost without leftover kernels if you can measure how much water is being released. The same goes for cooking frozen meats, vegetables, and so on.
But what we get in modern ones instead are horrendous touchscreens, simple timers that never quite match the food they promise to work on, and Wi-Fi.
You gotta spend for the moisture sensors and other fancy shit that actually works. We moved into a place with one of those microwaves and we are dreading when it breaks (I think it's like 3k for a new one)
I’ve looked into many WiFi dehumidifier’s and the one thing I wanted from it was to notify my phone if it’s full. None of them do that. All they do is let you change speed and stuff. Nothing that is important to me. I just want to know if I need to go to the basement and empty it or not.
I put mine on a zigbee plug into my home assistant (docker on nas), and created an automation to notify me when the power consumption drops below 1 W or so (lower than when it's only running the fan when the hunidity is near setpoint). All local, works so far.
Right? Like half of what I want from these things is when is the battery low? When is the outbox full? When is the feeder empty? And metrics to verify the device is generally operating safely.
Controlling the device? We've known how to do that for 50+ years. Help me maintain the device.
I feel you, trying to find a smart gadget that is actually smart in 2025 and not just a data collector is nearly impossible. Learning to DIY a lot of these projects. Throw one of these or similar in there with a little control board set to email you if 0 changes to 1 or w/e
Meanwhile here I am installing ESP32C3's into everything in my house to automate everything.
I can turn on my floor heat, hallway light, or even open a vent from an app on my phone. And bonus, no shady manufacturers to spy on me. Just China.
welll........ devils advocate.. i could see the wifi being used so the device can be incorporated into the home automation system [climate control]. its not about dehumidifying, its solely about engaging the dehumidifying as needed.
Yeah, or the manufacturer bricks the device bcz they want to sell you a new one.
That's why projects like this are great: https://github.com/Hypfer/esp8266-midea-dehumidifier
My Midea Cube dehumidifier can never be bricked and will never send data outside of my home. It talks to Home Assistant via MQTT and nothing else.
Dehumidifiers already do that. They're equipped with hygrometers that kick the machine on or off depending on the relative humidity. It's old tech and it's pretty reliable, wifi isn't really necessary for it.
I feel like I'd benefit from a smart dehumidifier.
I'm on a Time Of Use tariff where my electricity is very cheap at night. I'd like to be able to schedule for it to come on for those 5hrs in the winter to take the moisture out of my shed-office. It achieves nothing to put it on a smart meter as you have to physically press go on the dehumidifier
Just use a smart timer with a dehumidifier that either doesn't have a switch, or has an analog one that can stay in the on position when power is off
Unless you have an even dumber dehumidifier that starts working the moment you plug it in.
