device charging detector

[Jon]

Problem: Making sure all the kids devices are on the charger at bedtime.

We've got a house full of devices. Phones, tablets, chromebooks, watches that all need nightly charging. I'd like to come up with a system to ensure that they're all on the charger at bedtime. We've already got events in homeseer to announce bedtime, and they include checks for things like open windows and such. I'm at a loss at how to detect when all the devices are on their chargers. Any ideas?

[IanIreland]

A power monitoring adapter/plugin?

[ScottRennie]

Life360 will do it for Android, don't know about Apple

[Jon]

Is there such a thing as a power monitoring device for usb chargers? Or are you suggesting a separate charger for each device each plugged into a smart plug of some sort?


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[Jon]

I should also mention that I don't want to use an app to tell if the device is charging. I want to know specifically that it is on the specific charger in the family room. We don't allow devices in the bedroom. So I don't want the teenager to be able to plug it in in the bedroom to defeat the sensor.


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[rmasonjr]

It would be tedious, but you might use Tasker for the android devices. It could turn on/off a virtual device in HS using the JSON interface.
You would have to do this for every device though...

[TC1]

This is easy (I've already done it for the opposite use case, turn off charger when device is fully charged)....

You'll need a power monitoring plug for each charger.
Any battery charger has a unique power profile when charging, but almost universally, when the charge cycle is complete or device is not plugged in, it will register 0 watts being drawn.

So you would have an event that says something like:

WHEN time is 10pm
THEN
IF PowerPlugA is less than 0.1 watt (or whatever the threshold is for that charger when idle)
THEN set VirtualDeviceA to a string or numeric value
IF PowerPlugB is less than 0.1 watt (or whatever the threshold is for that charger when idle)
THEN set VirtualDeviceB to a string or numeric value
etc.....

You could then run another sub-event (or extend the one above with additional actions) to make announcements, alerts, etc based on the values of the virtual devices above.

Let me know if this is not clear and I'll try to elaborate.

[Jon]

Thanks. That's definitely a viable solution. Though it would be physically a lot more messy than I'd like to see. I've got all those devices charging off one multi output charger. I'm not eager to go back to separate chargers and add monitoring plugs to all of them.


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[ksum]

Do the phones have NFC capability? Could you add something to the charger that lets you know if the phone is placed on the charger? Might be an arduino with NFC reader? I am not aware of anything available or examples, nor of your DIY capability. Just thinking "out loud."

[TC1]

I should also mention that I don't want to use an app to tell if the device is charging. I want to know specifically that it is on the specific charger in the family room.

You're really not leaving much choice here. When you say don't want to use an app, does that also mean not installing an app on the devices? One possible solution is to install Tasker on each device (Android) and have it send a message to HS when it goes into charging mode.

In terms of specific charger, you're making it almost impossible because you stated you have one multi-charger for all the devices. So that means you have to get fancy in terms of correlating the data. You need to detect that the device sent a charging message and that the power draw on the multi-charger just changed value (indicating a larger load on it). Both of these things happening at almost the same time would give you conformation that the conditions you specified are being met.

[Jon]

The thing about an app is that it wouldn't necessarily have the information about where the phone is charging. E.g. whether it's in the bedroom or the family room.

I'm not opposed to getting a new charger. I just want it to be neat and clean, and reasonably compact. 7 smart plugs with 7 charging bricks all connected to a few power supplies doesn't quite fit that bill of neat and clean. A smart USB power strip with reporting capabilities would be ideal.

[BobSpen]

Assign a specific position(on like a big "plug strip"), label it with names, and just look for who's missing. Human Automation!

[rmasonjr]

Assign each user a virtual device and make them press a button in HSTouch or HSMobile to show that they are 'charging'.
Then in your bedtime check, if anyone has not checked in by pressing the button, announce "Jons device is not on the charger".
You can then reset the Virtual Devices at midnight or some other time.

That's pretty much the honor system, but there's not a lot else you can do... Let us know what you decide on - sounds interesting.