[CaptainJustin]

This is dangerously close to being off-topic but it would be good to hear from people interested in PLC4X:

I would really like to see home appliance manufacturers extend their products with a simple 2.n IO pin interface at the back. Absolutely minimal. For example: a kettle could have an input pin to turn it on/off and an output pin that just writes whether it is on or not. A simple 4-pin interface on the back in this case. An ice-machine that has three size options and an on/off switch. The classic case of the bean-to-cup coffee machine.

Does anyone know if there is a standard (for manufactures) for this sort of thing? If this was a standard that added a dollar or 3 to appliances one could plug-in some IOT board that allows for Home-assistant or similar integration.

Of course I've completely ignored the question of whether or not a market exists.

[pjc50]

The industry equivalents are probably something like MODBUS or CAN. But a kettle which has enough electronics in it to support an isolated waterproof low-voltage control connection instead of the cheap mechanical system would be significantly more expensive.

Also, nobody wants a wiring loom for their kitchen. If you have to do it, do it over zigbee or something.

[p_l]

A lot is being done on Zigbee/Z-wave plus MQTT

[ZiiS]

Adding physical connectors to mains voltage devices operated near water has significant costs. Wireless has managed to cater for this segment though still severely lacking standardization.

[DannyBee]

The standard you probably want is IO-Link, or close to it. It was meant to bring a bit of smarts to the standard 3-wire sensors and basic actuation pins, with 100% backwards compatibility.

So you have a standard analog temperature sensor that outputs 4-20ma on its pins. With IO-Link, it still does that, but if you hook it up to an io-link master, you can just read the temperature directly in C/F on the same pins. Or adjust the calibration. Or …

It's not a perfect match, mind you, but i think it's pretty close.

[wiseleo]

I am interested in that, but my approach is more of a modchip on top of the existing board. It's not that difficult to intercept SPI and I2C in-circuit and thus enable IoT capability for legacy appliances.

[Maxious]

There is a sort of this thing for demand response - ie. the electricity company urgently needs to reduce load and are willing to pay you for it. Of course, the appliance manufacturers have to provide a way for electricity companies that use different communication protocols to have this control.

Enter AS/NZS 4755 which uses a RJ-45 connector - if you pull the DRM1 pin to ground, the device turns off.

[epaulson]

This is a level or two up the stack and I think it's more "meet in the cloud", but the Home Connectivity Alliance was just kicked off at CES to make appliances more interoperable:

https://staceyoniot.com/will-a-new-standard-for-smart-applia...