Alright, so let me tell you about this washer project I got myself into. You know how it is with laundry, right? The endless cycle. And for ages, I was dealing with my old machine, the kind where you gotta guess the detergent amount. Sometimes too much, clothes feel all weird. Sometimes too little, and you wonder if they even got clean. It was a pain.

I’d seen those new fancy washers with the automatic detergent dispensers. Looked cool, I gotta admit. But man, the price tag on those things! Plus, I like tinkering. So, the thought hit me – why not try to build my own auto dispenser for my existing washer? Seemed like a decent weekend project. Famous last words, of course.

Getting Started - The Bits and Pieces

First things first, I needed the parts. The core of it was gonna be some kind of pump. I ended up finding these small peristaltic pumps online. They weren't too expensive, and they seemed like they could handle gooey stuff like liquid detergent and fabric softener. Ordered a couple of those.

Then, containers. Didn't want to get too fancy. Just grabbed a couple of sturdy plastic bottles I had lying around. Gave them a good scrub, obviously. For the brains, I figured some kind of simple controller. I had an old Arduino Nano gathering dust from some other project I never quite finished. You know how that goes. Perfect.

I also needed some tubing, a few wires, and a way to power the whole shebang. Nothing too crazy, just basic electronics stuff.

The "Fun" Part - Making it Work

Okay, getting the pumps to squirt detergent? Easy peasy. The real challenge was making this whole contraption talk to my old washer. My machine is pretty basic, no fancy computer ports or anything. It’s all mechanical timers and switches. So, how do you tell the pumps when to dispense?

I spent a good while just watching the washer go through its cycles. Listening for clicks, watching the knobs turn. Real scientific stuff, you know. I figured the best time to add detergent is when the water starts filling for the main wash. So, I needed to detect that. I ended up tapping into the power line for the water inlet solenoid. A bit hacky, maybe, but it gave me the signal I needed. When the solenoid gets power, the Arduino knows it's go-time for the detergent pump.

Then came the softener. Same idea, but I had to find the signal for the rinse cycle fill. More listening, more watching. Eventually found a spot for that too.

Calibrating this thing was a whole other adventure. How much detergent is "enough"? That took a lot of trial and error. My first few loads were either a complete bubble bath explosion, or the clothes came out smelling like, well, nothing. My wife was giving me "the look," you know? I had to run test load after test load, tweaking the pump run times in the Arduino code. One second too long, and you've got a foam monster. One second too short, and it's just wet clothes.

• Too much soap: Suds everywhere. Not good.
• Too little soap: Clothes not really clean. Also not good.
• Just right: Took ages to find this sweet spot.

I eventually got it dialed in. Wrote down the timings, hardcoded them into the Arduino. Not super flexible, but it works for the detergents we usually buy.

The Reality of a DIY Auto Dispenser

So, does it work? Yeah, most of the time, it actually does! It’s pretty satisfying to just throw clothes in, press start, and not have to mess with measuring cups and sticky detergent bottles. I mounted the pumps and the Arduino in a little project box on the side of the washer, ran the tubes into the dispenser drawer. Looks a bit... homemade, shall we say, but it's functional.

It’s not perfect, though. Let's be real. Sometimes the tubes get a bit gunked up, especially if I try a super thick detergent. Then I gotta take 'em off and clean 'em. And refilling the detergent and softener bottles is still a manual chore, obviously. But it's way less frequent than pouring it in every single wash.

There was this one time, the softener pump decided to just keep running. No idea why. Walked into the laundry room, and it smelled like a perfume factory exploded. Had to re-rinse that load like three times. That was a fun evening.

So, Was It Worth It?

You know, despite the headaches and the occasional mishap, I’d say yeah, it was worth it. I learned a ton. Got to use that Arduino that was just sitting there. And I definitely saved a chunk of money compared to buying a brand-new fancy washer. Plus, there’s that little bit of pride, you know? I built this. It’s my slightly janky, but mostly functional, automatic detergent dispensing washer.

It’s not for everyone, for sure. If you want something polished and guaranteed to work flawlessly, just buy one. But if you like to tinker, and you're okay with a bit of troubleshooting, it’s a pretty rewarding little project. Now, if I could just get it to fold the laundry too...