I have an electric patio heater that I sometimes forget to turn off after using. In addition to a fire hazard, it costs a lot of money to keep it running overnight if I forget. However, it also doesn’t turn on when you power the outlet on. You have to hit the button on the heater to turn it on, so a normal smart plug won’t be able to automate turning it on and off. Is there any kind of device that could be programmed to sense when current starts flowing through the plug and start a timer to automatically turn it off in 1 hour?
I use esphome for this.
Example- the exhaust fans in my bathroom, are on an automatic timer, that kicks off as soon as you leave the bathroom.
Timer itself runs on the shelly which toggles the light/exhaust fan. So, even if home assistant has to reboot, or goes unavailable, the plug still gets turned off automatically.