# Wemo switch for warming up E61 in morning?



## Retty (Dec 17, 2014)

Does anybody use a Wemo switch to warm up an E61 HX machine in the morning?

It seems to be the perfect way to ensure that the machine is hot enough for making coffee first thing in the morning.

I'm not sure though about the internal electrical circuit stress issues caused by, effectively, powering the machine on from the wall socket.


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## UncleJake (Mar 20, 2016)

I do. It's worked for months with no issues... I love being able to turn the machine on remotely - when I'm coming home earlier than expected.

I'm can't see any issues - effectively you're just turning the same power on right?


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Retty said:


> Does anybody use a Wemo switch to warm up an E61 HX machine in the morning?
> 
> It seems to be the perfect way to ensure that the machine is hot enough for making coffee first thing in the morning.
> 
> I'm not sure though about the internal electrical circuit stress issues caused by, effectively, powering the machine on from the wall socket.


Hi,

You'll find the lots of people in this forum use a Wemo or equivalent to power up their machines to be ready in the morning.

I've been using one myself - although a cheaper alternative called Wiwo - without any issues what so ever.

I don't think there is a difference between using one of those and connecting directly to the socket regarding stress in the internal circuit. I am no electrician, though.


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## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

Plus 1, happy Wemo user.


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## gman147 (Jul 7, 2012)

Use a G-Homa 19 quid from homebase. I really like the GUI of the App for it. Very versatile and nicer for me Aesthetically than the Wemo.


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## UbiquitousPhoton (Mar 7, 2016)

Used a wemo for ages. You are, however, worrying about the wrong thing. The bigger concern is that the switch can handle the current required to be passed through it when on, as with a coffee machine this is not inconsiderable. Many time switches are woefully under-rated on this front, which means there is a chance that the machine won't get enough juice and in the worst case, it's a fire risk.

wemos are thankfully well specced in this manner, a surprise given who makes them


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## ChilledMatt (May 9, 2015)

I have had a Wemo, an Orvibo and now a Watts Clever. The Wemo kept losing its connection (faulty I think) so had to go back. The Orvibo worked fine with my Classic but was only rated to 10Amps so unsuitable for my E61 machine. Last week I bought a Watts Clever INPlug that is rated to 13Amps and it has worked flawlessly for me. All the functionality of a Wemo Insight and only £20 from Amazon.


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## ChilledMatt (May 9, 2015)

pessutojr said:


> Hi,
> 
> You'll find the lots of people in this forum use a Wemo or equivalent to power up their machines to be ready in the morning.
> 
> ...


Are you sure the power rating for this is high enough for your machine? If not potential fire risk.


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## Jason1wood (Jun 1, 2012)

I use a wemo and before I bought it I made sure it could cope with the load.

Haven't see any info on the Wiwo, but whatever you buy, make 100% sure it can cope with the load of your machine. As been mentioned it's a fire risk if not.


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## ChilledMatt (May 9, 2015)

Jason1wood said:


> I use a wemo and before I bought it I made sure it could cope with the load.
> 
> Haven't see any info on the Wiwo, but whatever you buy, make 100% sure it can cope with the load of your machine. As been mentioned it's a fire risk if not.


Not sure but I think the wiwo is the same as the Orvibo S20 which is only 10Amps.


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## Jason1wood (Jun 1, 2012)

Should be OK as long as your machine isn't rated above 2.3Kw


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Jason1wood said:


> Should be OK as long as your machine isn't rated above 2.3Kw


So, my Profitec 700 (dual boiler) works with both elements independent from each other, meaning that they can be on at the same time.

The brew boiler element is 1200W, and the steam boiler element is 1400W, giving a total of 2700W.

Is this an issue then? To be on the safe side, should I re-configure so the brew boiler element has preference over the steam boiler (So they will never be on at the same time) so I can use a Wemo?


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## ChilledMatt (May 9, 2015)

If you can ensure only one boiler comes on at a time this should be fine. For peace of mind I would personally use a 13Amp switch. As mentioned before the Watts Clever INPlug is 13Amp and only £20.


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## michaelmb45 (May 24, 2016)

I use a wemo on my Profitech pro 500 HX machine and it is great!

It he remote access and IFTTT is an added benefit which I use consistently.


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## Jason1wood (Jun 1, 2012)

I use the wemo and the added benefit is that it gives output load readings. Never seen it go as high as the rated wattage as I have a DB Verona. So boilers work independently.


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## ChilledMatt (May 9, 2015)

The Watts Clever also gives load readings but as yet no IFTTT support, although I think this is planned for the future.


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## marcuswar (Aug 19, 2013)

Wemo is fine for most prosumer class machines. I've been using one on mine for over a year without any issues what so ever.

Personally I find IFTTT is far far too simple and has far too much latency to be of real use to me.

Rather than use IFTTT I have a Tasker script I've written on my android phone that automatically monitors my phones morning alarm time and switches on my coffee machine 35 minutes prior so the coffee machine is always fully warmed up no matter what time I plan on getting up.


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## d_lash (Aug 30, 2014)

When the wemo decides it's going to play funny bugger with the wifi connection it can be a real pain in the arse. When it's working (almost all of the time, to be fair) it's great.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Hmm. It might be that my router is old, but I tried a Wemo and I've never had so little coffee in a week. 3 out of 5 days I woke up to a cold machine and unresponsive Wemo, by which time I had to go to work sans-cafe. By the following Saturday I was sufficiently irritable that it went straight back to that well known e-tailer that sounds like a rain forest. I just use a standard timer switch now, M-F 630, later and longer at weekends. Simples. Ok so I can't turn it on while I'm at work but I probably won't drink coffee that late anyhow.


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## kevin (Sep 21, 2014)

Another WeMo Insight user here, although with a dual boiler machine instead of a heat exchanger. I use it with IFTTT because I find the app to be painfully slow to launch on Android, and often buggy, whereas enabling it via the IFTTT "Do" app is quicker and more reliable. I also poll the Insight for power usage and graph it.

Here's an example from earlier today (y-axis is in watts), I started with just the brew boiler on but at 16:39 decided I wanted to make lattes so turned the steam boiler on as well. At 16:41:30 it looks like the brew boiler approached temperature the the PID started modulating the element, and just before 16:44 the steam boiler reached temperature. I pulled a few shots between then and 16:56, steamed 2 jugs of milk at 16:57 and 17:00, then turned the machine off at 17:05.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

So that's why they call it the insight!


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## kevin (Sep 21, 2014)

Yeah - I work in IT operations (basically keeping a fairly high-traffic website alive), and have a habit of graphing absolutely everything I can get my hands on...


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## marcuswar (Aug 19, 2013)

@kevin, how are you graphing it ?

I'm guessing your polling it using a script to send a SOAP message and using something like RRDTool to store and graph? I have a Pi polling our solar panel inverter (via Bluetooth) and electrical usage (via a CM119) and did initially use an NSLU2 to store the results via RRDTool but in the end it was easier for me to upload to www.PVOutput.org and let them store and graph the results.

I did also start monitor gas usage using a 1-wire sensor on the gas meter but somehow that project fizzled out... thanks for the reminder that I really need to revisit this project


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## kevin (Sep 21, 2014)

I'm using a similar hodge-podge of stuff - some NodeJS stuff acting as a UPnP client (for discovery and data retrieval), publish onto MQTT (which I use for a bunch of home-automation type stuff), and then another NodeJS script which stores the data into a local InfluxDB (also do that for other stuff like weather-station readings) with a Grafana instance for drawing graphs.

I've got a half-done project sat somewhere to do gas meter reading (my gas meter is one of the ones with a magnet on the least-significant dial) but it's still on the "to-do" list.


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## marcuswar (Aug 19, 2013)

Hi @kevin, good to have another home automation buff on here







What other stuff have you got automated? I've got all the lights on X10 Din models (22 x LD11's) with the hall and landing lights hard wired to small pir's so that they come on automatically when occupancy is detected. Various lamps in various rooms also come on automatically (via X10) when the main lights are switched on. I have a few somfy blind motors that I need to get around to fitting so hopefully then the blinds will open/close at sunrise/sunset or whenever I start a movie playing etc. I have a couple of Wemo's, one on the coffee machine (insight) that one on the Kodi box (an old acer revo) so I can reboot it easily if required although normally I use wakeon lan to start it so I can do it directly from the Yaste app. I'm also currently looking at the home genius system (zwave based) to automate the heating.

Funnily enough we've just started redevelopment of an old internal website using nodeJS (and angular) at work. My Tasker script relies on a static IP for the WeMo as I couldn't find any simple way of discovering all WeMo's on the network. I hadn't thought of using nodeJS for UPnP discovery.

I've never really used message queues, but we did try using them once at work but could never get them working properly although this could have been down to the PC running XP at the time plus various firewalls in the way etc. In the end it was quicker for us to roll our own solution.

My gas meter also has the magnet (model R5) and it has a small RJ11 socket hidden behind a sticker underneath the readout dials that acts as a dry contact.










It's a trivial matter to remove the sticker and connect up a couple of wires to something that can then count the pulses. I used a small 1-wire counter module that I then poll from NSLU2 server via a 1-wire to USB interface.


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## kevin (Sep 21, 2014)

Nice!

I've never gotten in to X10, but I have a bunch of wifi and bluetooth lightbulbs (Lifx and Illumi - I'm a sucker for Kickstarter). The Lifx bulbs are controlled from a NodeRed instance, again via some MQTT messages. I have a weatherstation outside (something based on a WS1080 I got from Clas Ohlson) and, in a similar vein, a little SDR dongle listening for the planes flying over my house (it'll actually pick them up from a good 20-30 miles away in the directions with no hills).

I went through a phase of being convinced that central heating could be more intelligent, and got some radio-controlled TRVs and intended to use openTRV but I'm still using the proprietary controller which came with them.

I'm also a sucker for anything graphable, so I chuck as much data into InfluxDB and MySQL as I can and periodically draw graphs of some sort. I've got a pile of NodeMCU boards (based on the amazing ESP8266) with temperature and humidity sensors hanging off them, running some simple Lua scripts to publish the readings onto MQTT.


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