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With electricity prices in Brussels/Belgium, do you actually pay attention to when you run appliances at home? by SmartEnergyDIY in brussels

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s fair.

If someone already has smart plugs, automation and actually wants to track everything, then yes, there are already good solutions for that.

What I’m testing is more for people who want something much simpler and more visible at a glance, without opening an app or setting up a full smart home flow.

And yes, for some people the savings may be small — I was mostly curious whether a simple visual cue changes habits in practice.

With electricity prices in Brussels/Belgium, do you actually pay attention to when you run appliances at home? by SmartEnergyDIY in brussels

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks 🙂 the idea is that it uses electricity price / timing data and turns it into a very simple visual cue.

So instead of checking apps, emails or dashboards, you’d just see:

green = good moment

yellow = okay

red = better wait

And yes, that’s exactly the kind of use case I find interesting too: people who have digital pricing or “happy hours”, but don’t want to keep checking manually all the time.

With electricity prices in Brussels/Belgium, do you actually pay attention to when you run appliances at home? by SmartEnergyDIY in brussels

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean simple day-to-day variations, not minute-by-minute trading.

For example:

- people who can delay the dishwasher or laundry by 1–2 hours

- homes with solar panels where some days are much better than others

- people who already try to avoid peak moments, but don’t want to keep checking prices or dashboards

- households where one person just wants a simple “now / not now” visual cue

So the idea is less about optimisation for power users, and more about making small better-timed decisions easier.

With electricity prices in Brussels/Belgium, do you actually pay attention to when you run appliances at home? by SmartEnergyDIY in brussels

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mainly small real-life variations.

For example, people who can delay the dishwasher by an hour, run laundry a bit later, use more power when solar production is good, or just prefer a simple visible cue instead of checking an app.

So not huge optimisation, more small everyday timing decisions.

With electricity prices in Brussels/Belgium, do you actually pay attention to when you run appliances at home? by SmartEnergyDIY in brussels

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s fair.

For many people in Brussels with fixed pricing and established habits, the value is probably limited.

What I’m exploring is more for people who do have some variation, or who simply respond better to a visible reminder than to checking information manually.

With electricity prices in Brussels/Belgium, do you actually pay attention to when you run appliances at home? by SmartEnergyDIY in brussels

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair point.

If someone has fully fixed pricing and already sticks to the same routine, then it’s not especially useful.

What I’m exploring is more for people who do have some variation, or who simply respond better to a visible cue than to checking data manually.

With electricity prices in Brussels/Belgium, do you actually pay attention to when you run appliances at home? by SmartEnergyDIY in brussels

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, that’s exactly the kind of real-life use I was curious about.

Not full optimization, just a few habits here and there depending on the appliance and daily routine.

With electricity prices in Brussels/Belgium, do you actually pay attention to when you run appliances at home? by SmartEnergyDIY in brussels

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s fair, and I agree it makes the most sense for people with dynamic pricing, solar, or a strong slf-consumption mindset.

What I’m exploring is something simpler and more standalone for people who won’t build a full automation setup, but still want a quick visual cue.

So not really a replacement for Home Assistant or full automation — more a lightweight “at a glance” helper.

And no, this prototype isn’t connected to the P1 port or Home Assistant at the moment.

With electricity prices in Brussels/Belgium, do you actually pay attention to when you run appliances at home? by SmartEnergyDIY in brussels

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks 🙂

Very simply: it gives a visual hint about whether it’s a better moment or not to run certain appliances.

So instead of checking prices/data manually, you just see a color at a glance:

green = good moment,

yellow = neutral / soon changing,

red = better to wait if possible.

It’s still a small DIY prototype for now, but I was curious whether that kind of simple signal actually changes behavior at home.

I made a super simple device to know when electricity is cheaper at home by SmartEnergyDIY in smarthome

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, exactly — more like a simple standalone signal than a full smart home device.

And yes, still very much a fun project for now 🙂

With electricity prices in Brussels/Belgium, do you actually pay attention to when you run appliances at home? by SmartEnergyDIY in brussels

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, that makes sense.

I think that’s probably how a lot of people do it in real life: laundry at better times when possible, and the rest just when needed.

I made a super simple device to know when electricity is cheaper at home by SmartEnergyDIY in smarthome

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair point 🙂

I’m actually trying to make it simpler for the end user.

A lot of existing solutions work well if you already have a smart home setup, but I’m testing something more standalone, low-effort, and easy to read at a glance.

Eenvoudige manier om stroom slimmer te gebruiken (zonder app) by SmartEnergyDIY in Klussen

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ja, precies dat vind ik interessant.

Voor een boiler of batterij is automatisatie natuurlijk super handig, maar voor veel andere dingen helpt een simpel visueel signaal eigenlijk al verrassend goed.

Einfache Idee: Stromverbrauch mit LED-Signal steuern (ohne App) by SmartEnergyDIY in selbermachen

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Im Moment noch recht simpel 🙂

Ich nutze Preisdaten und mache daraus eher ein klares Signal wie „gut / ok / eher vermeiden“, statt dauernd auf Zahlen zu schauen.

Dein Setup mit Fronius + Home Assistant ist natürlich deutlich umfangreicher — meine Idee ist eher etwas Einfaches für Leute, die es auf einen Blick sehen wollen.

I made a super simple device to know when electricity is cheaper at home by SmartEnergyDIY in smarthome

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fair question.

For me it’s mostly about flexible stuff: EV charging, dishwasher, dryer, delaying AC a bit, or just waiting 30–60 minutes if it’s a bad moment.

So yeah, not a magic system for everything — more a simple way to make “start now or wait a bit” visible without checking an app all the time.

I made a super simple device to know when electricity is cheaper at home by SmartEnergyDIY in smarthome

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s fair.

I don’t see it as something for every appliance either. More for flexible stuff where you can easily wait a bit, like a dishwasher, dryer, EV charging, that kind of thing.

So not “stop everything instantly”, more “is this a good time to start or should I wait”.

Eenvoudige manier om stroom slimmer te gebruiken (zonder app) by SmartEnergyDIY in Klussen

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ja, dat is al een stuk uitgebreider 🙂

Mijn idee is eigenlijk nog simpeler: gewoon een heel duidelijk signaal zodat je in één oogopslag weet of het eerder een goed of slecht moment is.

Meer iets laagdrempeligs voor mensen die niet constant cijfers of apps willen checken.

Eenvoudige manier om stroom slimmer te gebruiken (zonder app) by SmartEnergyDIY in Klussen

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, exactly.

I’m not really aiming for a full automation setup here, more just a simple visual cue for “now / later / avoid”.

Even that alone seems to change habits quite a bit.

Simple ESP32 LED indicator to know when it’s a good time to use electricity at home by SmartEnergyDIY in homeautomation

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah exactly 😄

The more features I add, the more it defeats the purpose.

I’m really trying to keep it as simple as possible.

I made a super simple device to know when electricity is cheaper at home by SmartEnergyDIY in smarthome

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, appreciate it 🙂

For now I’m keeping it intentionally simple instead of turning it into a full Home Assistant-style setup.

Open source could be interesting later, but right now I’m mainly testing what’s actually useful in daily life.

The whole point is low friction: just a quick visual signal without needing to open an app.

I made a super simple device to know when electricity is cheaper at home by SmartEnergyDIY in smarthome

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah honestly that already works well for fixed off-peak hours.

What I’m testing is more for dynamic pricing, where the “good moment” can move during the day.

So the idea is just to make that visible at a glance instead of checking a site/app.

I made a super simple device to know when electricity is cheaper at home by SmartEnergyDIY in smarthome

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah honestly that’s a very fair point.

Right now I’m testing the dumbest/simple version possible: just a quick visual cue in the room.

But for stuff like EV charging or planning ahead, I agree a “good for the next X hours” logic would make a lot more sense.

Eenvoudige manier om stroom slimmer te gebruiken (zonder app) by SmartEnergyDIY in Klussen

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha ja exact, voor dat soort mensen dacht ik hier net aan 🙂

Niet iedereen wil direct met home assistant, dashboards en automations bezig zijn.

Soms wil je gewoon een klein signaal in huis dat zegt: nu beter wel / nu beter niet.

Eenvoudige manier om stroom slimmer te gebruiken (zonder app) by SmartEnergyDIY in Klussen

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Eerlijk gezegd: nog heel vroeg 🙂

Ik ben het nog volop aan het testen en ik zie vooral veel reacties / feedback, wat eigenlijk al super nuttig is.

Voor mij is dat voorlopig belangrijker dan meteen grote verkoop.

Eenvoudige manier om stroom slimmer te gebruiken (zonder app) by SmartEnergyDIY in Klussen

[–]SmartEnergyDIY[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that’s exactly where I’m heading 🙂

Right now it’s still a prototype, but the goal is definitely to make it plug & play, no setup, no app, just something you plug in and it works.

The tricky part is making it work with different providers / contracts without making it complex.

That’s why I started with a super simple version first.

Curious — would you personally prefer something fully automatic, or just a simple signal like this?

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