this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

xkcd #3109: Dehumidifier

Title text:

It's important for devices to have internet connectivity so the manufacturer can patch remote exploits.

Transcript:

[A store salesman, Hairy, is showing Cueball a dehumidifier, with a "SALE" label on it. Several other unidentified devices, possibly other dehumidifier models, are shown in the store as well.]

Salesman: This dehumidifier model features built-in WiFi for remote updates.
Cueball: Great! That will be really useful if they discover a new kind of water.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3109/

explainxkcd for #3109

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

There really is an xkcd for everything.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 week ago (24 children)

I got new appliances a couple weeks ago and they're all "smart". Turns out a smart microwave just sends you a phone notification when it's done. By default.

As someone with multiple people living in the house, I can confidently say this is the dumbest "smart" feature ever. Promptly disabled.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Most people tend to stay in the same room (or a neighbouring room) when they're microwaving something. They could probably save on the cost of having a full-blown computer with wifi inside the microwave by just having the noisy thing from an alarm clock. But, ah, the fuck do I know?

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 week ago (7 children)

I’ve looked into many WiFi dehumidifier’s and the one thing I wanted from it was to notify my phone if it’s full. None of them do that. All they do is let you change speed and stuff. Nothing that is important to me. I just want to know if I need to go to the basement and empty it or not.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I put mine on a zigbee plug into my home assistant (docker on nas), and created an automation to notify me when the power consumption drops below 1 W or so (lower than when it's only running the fan when the hunidity is near setpoint). All local, works so far.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Do they at least tell you how wet your wifi is?

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I feel you, trying to find a smart gadget that is actually smart in 2025 and not just a data collector is nearly impossible. Learning to DIY a lot of these projects. Throw one of these or similar in there with a little control board set to email you if 0 changes to 1 or w/e

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I need to look into this and see if I can have it send me a text or something when it’s full. Another diy project to add to the list.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is the around the long way method, but it'll start you on a crippling hobby to instrument your entire life.

Raspberry Pi home assistant zigbee USB zigbee water sensor.

you could stop here at notifications.

or

Descend into madness, put a small ac submersible pump into your dehumidifier tray with a smart outlet. When the sensor trips full, have it run the submersible pump for x minutes.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Hey if your list of projects isn't insurmountable what are you even doing with your life?

Most carriers have an email to sms gateway address Usually your [email protected] or similar.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 week ago

Right? Like half of what I want from these things is when is the battery low? When is the outbox full? When is the feeder empty? And metrics to verify the device is generally operating safely.

Controlling the device? We've known how to do that for 50+ years. Help me maintain the device.

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Meanwhile here I am installing ESP32C3's into everything in my house to automate everything.

I can turn on my floor heat, hallway light, or even open a vent from an app on my phone. And bonus, no shady manufacturers to spy on me. Just China.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

It would be a lot more difficult to hide a backdoor on a bare ESP device, than a proprietary Tuya one, just putting that out there. Regardless, I still block internet access from my ESPHome devices, because I don't want to feel like I need to constantly be on top of updates, that can cause things to break at times. I do them every couple months when I have the time to sit down and make sure everything's still working, or roll it back where it's not.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

I just installed motorized dampers in my crawl space using Shelly smart relays! Now I have an automatic schedule so I'm not cooling rooms that aren't in use (like the bedrooms during the day and the lower level of the house at night). Already seen significant power savings!

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

that vent thing is surprisingly clever, thumbs up 👍

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Hey thanks, I've got tons of cool projects and gifs like these, and I love to share them and read the comments, but I don't know where to post them on Lemmy. I used to post them to Reddit but they started shadowbanning my github for some reason. Didn't even find out until the ESP32 mod messaged me and was like "we can't even manually approve your posts".

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (5 children)

What about [email protected]?

Or if you are using Home Assistant you could post in [email protected]

There is a Lemmy community search function here if you want to check other options: https://lemmyverse.net/communities

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