Smart Plugs

Smart Plugs

WashData only sees what your plug reports. A good plug, set up right, gives cleaner cycles, earlier program recognition and quicker finishes.

1. Pick a plug that can carry the load

A washer, dryer or dishwasher heats water or air for an hour or more. The plug carries all of it.

• Check the appliance's peak power (often over 2500 W) against the plug's rating.
• A 10 A plug is about 2300 W at 230 V and about 1200 W at 120 V. Use 16 A or more, or a hardwired relay / metering module.
• Cheap or under-rated plugs can overheat, melt or catch fire. Check yours regularly.
• One plug per appliance. A plug feeding two appliances mixes their power curves, so WashData can neither separate the cycles nor recognise the programs.

2. Choose the right entity

In the setup dialog, pick the plug's power sensor (unit W). Not the energy counter (kWh), not current (A).

Two power entities that look the same (Matter, Eve Energy): some plugs added through Matter show every entity twice. One stays at 0 W. Pick the one whose value changes while the appliance runs, and delete the stale one in Home Assistant so it cannot be picked by mistake.

Your sensor reports kW: WashData reads the value as watts, so 2.1 kW looks like 2.1 W and no cycle ever starts. Changing the unit in the entity settings only changes the display. Create a template sensor in watts and use that:

template:
  - sensor:
      - name: "Washer power W"
        unit_of_measurement: "W"
        device_class: power
        state_class: measurement
        state: "{{ (states('sensor.washer_power_kw') | float(0) * 1000) | round(1) }}"

Optional energy counter: if the plug also has a kWh counter, set it as Energy Meter Entity (Settings). Cycle energy is then read from the counter, which is more accurate on a slow plug.

3. Make it report often

Plug reports	What you get
Every 1-10 s	Best: clean curves, early recognition, quick finishes
Every 30-60 s	Works; short programs are harder to tell apart and ends come later
Only on change (Matter, many MQTT and KNX devices)	Works; WashData fills the silence itself. Keep the change threshold small (1-2 W)

The slower the plug, the longer WashData has to wait before it can be sure a cycle has ended.

Zigbee2MQTT: open the device, Reporting tab, and for the active power attribute set:

• Min reporting interval: 1-10 s
• Max reporting interval: 1200 s
• Min reportable change: 1-2 W (default is often 5 W)

This adds a little Zigbee traffic.

Tasmota and similar: lower the telemetry period (Tasmota TelePeriod) so readings arrive at least every 10-30 s.

After changing the plug, set Sampling Interval (Settings, internal) to the plug's interval or lower. A higher value only throws readings away.

4. Standby, displays and power-off

• Minimum Power (default 2 W): readings below it count as 0 W. Raise it only if the plug itself reports a phantom load when the appliance is off.
• Display left on: many appliances draw a few watts after the program ends. WashData shows idle then, and off only when it is really off. It learns the standby level from your cycles; to set it yourself, put Power Off Threshold above the switched-off draw and below the standby draw.
• Start Threshold and Stop Threshold both belong above the standby draw: a Start Threshold below it starts cycles on standby, a Stop Threshold below it keeps cycles from ending. The suggestions in Settings place them from your own cycles.

5. Pause with power cut (optional)

If the plug can switch, set it as Switch Entity and turn on Pause Also Cuts Power. Pausing a cycle then switches the appliance off; resuming switches it back on. Only use this on appliances that can safely lose power mid-cycle.

6. Check it works

Open the panel's Overview while the appliance runs. The live power should follow the plug's own value within a few seconds. If it stays at 0 W, you picked the wrong entity; if it moves in large steps minutes apart, the plug reports too rarely.

See also: FAQ, Settings-Visual-Guide.