Indigo / Node-Red / Alexa

1) Motion... Just for fun at the moment to see what other automation potential there is and see what lag times are. Like create a routine that makes an Alexa announcement when motion is detected at the front door. (Routines are very specific on the types of devices that can be used to initiate a routine). No plans to actually use it at the moment.... Just taking Node-red on a test drive.

2) Tried the device route.... haven't tried controlling it from an action. I already have door lock actions for a virtual door lock.

3) I guess like #2, I haven't played with controlling an action yet.... but If that's working, that's a good catch-all for incorporating things that don't work natively.

Previously, I used virtual devices with Alexa for non-bulb odd stuff.... like controlling my Roku TV. But now there is a Roku Skill that gives me full control of all my Roku TVs without having to write routines to avoid "turn mute on/off" <- because it thinks "mute" is a hue-light.

Many things I want to try with this skill (focusing on my wife's biggest concerns), like asking Alexa what the thermostat is set at. <- couldn't get it to read that either. Now I'm playing with fans. (wife sets the bedroom fan to Med when she lays down to watch tv. Turns it to High when she turns off the TV to go to sleep.)

Update: I'm starting to wonder if I'm doing something wrong. Lights = no problem. Anything else = no workie. For example, fans.... I didn't try to do anything fancy, just on/off for the bedroom fan. (That was my limit before with Alexa-hue). So on the node-red skill site, I added my bedroom fan as a fan. On node red flow... ((Alexa Smart home Bedroom fan) -> (Master Bedroom Fan set device). Alexa: "Bedroom fan doesn't support that". She tells me the same thing with my attempt at integrating a thermometer.

* Side note. Couldn't get the auto run at start up thing to work https://nodered.org/docs/faq/starting-node-red-on-boot. I'm failing at Step #3. Installed locally, so I used

Code: Select all

pm2 start node_modules/node-red/bin/node-red -- -v

and terminal returns with "can't find program (or something like that). Tried /usr/bin/node-red and a few other combinations... my node red is special.

1). Ah ok.. I think this is a deficiency in the Indigo node-red skill. I dont know how to use it, but I think we could do something via MQTT to pass the motion sensor into node-red then you could update the alexa device using the node-red alexa skill tools.

2&3). sounds like maybe try controlling indigo actions for both?

Can you share some screenshots of your setup? Its possible to do some clever things.. for instance on my colour changing lights, I say alexa, set kitchen lights to daylight, or warm white and it sends the appropriate commands to the indigo devices as rgb.

For fan devices in Alexa, I think they only do on/off or %. Looks like there is a capability to accept power as high, med, low, but its not setup in the skill. Might be worth asking on the dev's slack channel.

https://developer.amazon.com/en-GB/docs ... hemas.html

My PM2 is working fine.. if its like mine, try

Code: Select all

pm2 start /usr/local/bin/node-red -- -v

My PM2 is working fine.. if its like mine...

I missed a step in the instructions....

Code: Select all

which node-red

which provided the correct link to the correct process. Oddly, the auto-start takes a few minutes. (guessing by how long it took for the web interface thing to populate). But that is running now.

The attached are my non-functioning nodes. Once I get it working, I move them to "Flow 2"

Have you made use of the debug nodes. See what values Alexa is sending for each device.
Starting with fan.
Does it work if you ask for a percentage? What value does the indigo fan device need? If high, medium, low you will need to translate from % to that value

Well this is fun/weird.

On node-red smart home control page, I created "Bedroom Fan" as a "Fan". Tried turn-on fan, turn-off fan, set fan to 50%, etc. Alexa: "Bedroom fan doesn't support that"

Added the debug nodes and still everything was blank. Added a "debug" node to my office light (which works) and saw debug info. Went back to fan, tried "Alexa, set fan to Medium". Now I'm getting somewhere.

For a "Fan" device" Alexa will recognize Set fan to Low, Medium, High. I haven't found wording she'll accept for on or off. The indigo action taken is another story....

Translated into indigo:
Spoken / debug / indigo action

Set Fan to Low / msg.payload : number 1 / Request to turn on device, "Master bedroom fan" set motor speed to high

Set Fan to Medium. / msg.payload : number 5 / Request to turn off device, "Master bedroom fan" motor off

Set Fan to High / msg.payload : number 10 / Request to turn off device, "Master bedroom fan" motor off

on https://red.cb-net.co.uk/devices, I created a "Fan" device called "Cameras". So far, the commands accepted by Alexa for a fan are "Set to N" (Where "N" is a number between 1-10). Set to Low, Medium or High which provide a payload of 1, 5 or 10 respectively. Then by adding a switch, I added 10 outputs (=1, =2, =3..... =10). Then I assigned an Indigo Action that corresponds to each of those outputs on the switch. For my purposes, this is an action that tells my NVR to switch views with an 8 way split and a focus on the camera number that corresponds to the switch output. Output 9 = Split view 9 on the NVR and output 10 is not assigned.

"Alexa, set cameras to 5" will run that action which displays an 8 way camera split (7 small cameras and 1 large), with camera #5 as the large camera on the screen.

(I tried to set up the "Camera" device as multi-media device and as an activity/scene device.... but I could only do on/off with either of those.)

The moral of the story is (from my poking around so far) How you can incorporate the device is very dependent on what Alexa will accept as a command for that device type. Whatever she will accept can be passed onto the device (either directly, through a switch or through indigo actions). Since I don't use the Alexa app to control anything, I don't care that there is a fan icon for my camera device.

On the CB-net site your can alter some elements of what Alexa can control per device but yes, the sdk does restrict certain commands to certain devices.

The switch tool is good, as is rbe from what I remember. It can be some fun initially working out how to see the commands sent from Alexa.
You can filter as well and treat on/off, ie string payloads differently to numeric % ones if you want to send different commands to indigo for those.

It can be a bit of trial and error on how the indigo node works.

Do you have an idea of why a couple of device do not have the "green" dot indicating "online" on the Indigo side of the flow?

Do you have an idea of why a couple of device do not have the "green" dot indicating "online" on the Indigo side of the flow?

I don't get the green dot until I run the flow through Alexa / Node-red. Once that flow runs and communicates with the indigo side, it turns green. From my testing, that doesn't mean the flow worked, just that the flow was able to make contact with the indigo side of the flow. In the image I posted above, 5 of the 9 indigo actions are green. That's because at the time I took that screen shot, I had only given Alexa the command for 5 of the 9 options. Did that answer your question?

I'm a little out of date on the Forums, but I can see there's a bit of traffic regarding "Node Red". From minimal research, it appears to be a scripting tool for hardware device interconnection (the infamous "Internet of Things"... )

I'm still using the Alexa-Hue Bridge very successfully, since I never got rid of my Echo V1 and my only problem with using it was the specific server IP address, which is now 'solution one'. My intention is to nurse the A-H Bridge along until there is native support for Alexa devices in Indigo. Since the the A-H is an adequate work around, is there really any value to fooling around with Code Red, other than it might replace the A-H Bridge functionality until native Alexa device support is available. FYI, I really don't mind telling my front door to 'turn on' or 'turn off', so sacking that minor amusement wouldn't be enough motivation.

With all of the external real world turmoil now and looming in the near future, I just want to maintain home control functionality at its current state, other than to do fixes and maybe add a device or two. I'm leading up to a question I think I saw in this thread:

"Is there any significant value in using Code Red in conjunction with Indigo (red-blue...funny), if the A-H Bridge works and we can just wait for native Indigo Support for Alexa devices?"

Only difference is that it gives you ability to have all Alexa device types, not just hue bulbs. So I have locks and speakers setup in Alexa that control indigo devices. Means I get PIN control on unlocking with voice and better control of TV volume etc.
Is a more involved setup though and means using a third party server until me or someone works out how to self host.

Only difference is that it gives you ability to have all Alexa device types, not just hue bulbs. So I have locks and speakers setup in Alexa that control indigo devices. Means I get PIN control on unlocking with voice and better control of TV volume etc.
Is a more involved setup though and means using a third party server until me or someone works out how to self host.

Thanks. That's more or less how I saw it. I don't think I'll experiment with Node Red. I don't need to have additional security for Alexa, e.g., PINs. So far, barking dogs and fighting cats haven't awakened any Echo/Alexa devices,

using a third party server until me or someone works out how to self host.

I'd feel more comfortable releasing the claymore once we can self host or have an actual indigo / Alexa integration.

I have an Insteon Fan Controller that Indigo has built in settings of Off, Low, Medium, and High for. Is it possible to trigger those levels using Node-RED? I'm hoping for a simple solution since I have multiple fan controllers.