Hello all;
random project time. This is the situation: of the three people I'm 
sharing a house with, I'm the only one whose room is not adjoined to the 
garage. This means that I can never hear when the washer or dryer are 
done, and so my laundry scheduling is always suboptimal. Now of course I 
could just set my watch or whatever, but where's the fun in that. One 
additional criterium that will come in is that these are not my 
appliances, so I can't open them. Now, I was thinking that it should be 
possible to pick up the current draw of those appliances and then, via a 
small embedded system or maybe an old computer, forward this information 
to the local network or something. However, I'm not sure it's such a 
good idea for me to be screwing with high-voltage high-current lines. Do 
any of you have experience with a similar project?
After some initial investigation I'm guessing a hall sensor would be 
best, but I'm not sure which of the wire strands it would wrap around 
and so forth.
Any input would be appreciated, both about the actual current sensing as 
well as the delivery mechanism from the garage (no cat5 drop; wireless?) 
to my room (my computer or otherwise).
For extra credit, Rube Goldberg Machines are also welcome.
- Marcel
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