Native Hue Support

Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 11:49 am
autolog offline
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Re: Native Hue Support

jay (support) wrote:
akimball wrote:
So, if i disable the hue plugin from alexa....there goes my hue color control.


That's true for setting arbitrary colors. I tend to set the color once (seasonal or whatever) and just leave it alone so dynamic color control isn't that important for me but I get it.


Not an ideal solution, but it is possible to do this with Routines and using Actions in the Alexa-Hue bridge. I am not sure how many colours you have defined but if it is a limited number then you can setup an Alexa routine to say for example "colour lamp red" (or if in the USA "color lamp red" :wink: ). Use this to e.g. dim an Alexa Action device to 10%. Then in the relevant dim action defined to the device, if the value is 10% set the colour of your lamp device to to red. Likewise if it was 15% you could set the colour to blue or whatever. :)

Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 12:49 pm
akimball offline
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Re: Native Hue Support

Wow, it sounds like you're definitely working on some interesting capabilities... Anything that will allow my family and guests to use simple language to control the lights... preferred dots as you say, would be helpful and having that information in indigo would be more than peachy. By 'preferred dot" I think you're talking about the one you designate as being in that room.

I currently am running 13 dots (have 5 more not yet setup for other rooms but in the works) and then a couple of taps etc which don't participate much... mobile. For the purpose of grouping standard functions I use in every room, like TV (on or off), Fan On, Fan Low, Fan Medium, Fan High, Lights (on or off), Lamps (on or off) I had made a table a few months back. It's not working yet in every room, but here it is:

alexa.jpg
alexa.jpg (52.24 KiB) Viewed 2895 times


I'm looking forward to see the plugin enhancements. I do have plans for other dots and yes there many more hue lights... but those are installed outdoors for yard effects depending on the holiday so they don't participate with hue. I'm thinking for outdoor voice command my smartphone is as close as I'll get.

-Al

Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 12:56 pm
akimball offline
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Re: Native Hue Support

Interesting... I haven't really tried routines yet... I did write one for "wake up" and my alexa app crashed... haven't tried again. Didn't know I could use it for colors.

Using Nathan's Hue plugin I've defined about 40 different colors for different Gen1, Gen2, Gen3 devices... RGB, plus pink, ice, cyan, yellow, orange, three intensities of 'normal' warm colors and my favorite color (Gen 3 only) is Aqua. However, the hue plugin gives you access to about 218 color names... you name it... hue knows what color it is. We guys know about 10 color names...women are the uncontested champions of color naming...I think most know about like 180 shades of whatever.
Last edited by akimball on Tue Jan 23, 2018 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

-Al

Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 1:25 pm
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Re: Native Hue Support

I have just released Pre-release version 3.0.23 on Github. :)

By preferred Echo, I mean the one that Alexa prefers. If you have multiple Echos then Alexa will tend to reply via a specific Echo regardless as to which one you used when issuing the command. The new version of the plugin will enable you to more easily determine which Echo that is. :)

Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 1:52 pm
akimball offline
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Re: Native Hue Support

I had no idea. It should be interesting though and if I can go to the preferred echo to set everything right perhaps it will be easier to fix these ‘not responding’ issues. I think most people have either 0 or 1 echo. I look forward to Amazon working out some of these kinks and i believe the technology to be in flux.

-Al

Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 2:12 pm
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Re: Native Hue Support

There is another feature in the pre-release which adds a slight delay to responses which may help improve things. I have been running this update for a couple of weeks and things are remarkably better for me. You can tell how nervous I am about releasing updates (that may go pear shaped?) that I have taken so long to release it - I just wanted to subject it to a lot of day-to-day testing before doing so. Keeping my fingers crossed that it works OK for everybody. :D

Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 2:18 pm
akimball offline
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Re: Native Hue Support

Caution is good :) Where I work we call releasing the product “time to shoot the engineer” :). Well thought out delays have done wonders for my indigo scene control and insteon kpl operations. I do wish that Jay and Matt would consider delay sub-second intervals... say 1/10th of a second. Sometimes I’d like to fire things off every 0.2- or 0.3-seconds rather than wait a full second between events.

-Al

Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 3:15 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Re: Native Hue Support

akimball wrote:
I do wish that Jay and Matt would consider delay sub-second intervals... say 1/10th of a second. Sometimes I’d like to fire things off every 0.2- or 0.3-seconds rather than wait a full second between events.


Why not just fire it all via a python script then and use
Code: Select all
time.sleep(.5)

in between each action?

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Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 5:47 pm
akimball offline
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Re: Native Hue Support

Why not just fire it all via a python script then and use

Code: Select all
time.sleep(.5)


Definitely a great idea... Except that I use Python just enough to forget everything I learned about it each time I use it again.

-Al

Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 6:10 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Re: Native Hue Support

I'm not quite sure what you are doing or I would whip up a script for you :)

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Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 6:42 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: Native Hue Support

Colorado4Wheeler wrote:
Why not just fire it all via a python script then and use
Code: Select all
time.sleep(.5)

in between each action?


+1

I think we've heard this request about 4 times, and I think 3 of them were you! :lol:

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 6:54 pm
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Re: Native Hue Support

It’s possible lol. So +3? Sorry :? . Python it is, and i actually really should keep up a little better on my scripting. :!: Squeaky wheel needs grease.

Colorado4wheeler, thanks for the very nice offer but i do need to take the python plunge more often.

-Al

Posted on
Tue Jan 23, 2018 7:04 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Re: Native Hue Support

The fact is that you'll never get the granular control in the Indigo UI that you can achieve through coding it yourself. For me the UI is the easy way to get it done and Py is the harder but typically more flexible and rewarding way to get it done. Like I tell my clients: I can do it fast or I can do it right (or I can do it cheap or do it right), I probably over complicate it and go Py all the way and cuss 2/3rds of the way down...

My Modest Contributions to Indigo:

HomeKit Bridge | Device Extensions | Security Manager | LCD Creator | Room-O-Matic | Smart Dimmer | Scene Toggle | Powermiser | Homebridge Buddy

Check Them Out Here

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