Alexa device types

Posted on
Thu Jun 17, 2021 10:24 pm
Ramias offline
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Alexa device types

What device types does the native Alexa support? Hue bridge was just like lights and switches.

Are fan device types now fully supported with the native plugin? Can’t wait to try it.

Posted on
Fri Jun 18, 2021 6:10 am
jay (support) offline
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Re: Alexa device types


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Posted on
Fri Jun 18, 2021 2:53 pm
Ramias offline
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Re: Alexa device types

Any chance you can add fans as a device type?

Alexa now supports these: https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs ... categories

Thanks

Posted on
Fri Jun 18, 2021 3:33 pm
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: Alexa device types

Ramias wrote:
Any chance you can add fans as a device type?

Alexa now supports these: https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs ... categories

Thanks


It's already on the list in the docs linked above.

joe (aka FlyingDiver)
my plugins: http://forums.indigodomo.com/viewforum.php?f=177

Posted on
Fri Jun 18, 2021 4:26 pm
Ramias offline
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Re: Alexa device types

Ahh thanks! I see that now. My eyes landed on the screenshot which is the same as my experience (using the Haiku senseme plugin) so I thought that was the list. A better reading of the doc explains it.

Posted on
Sun Jun 20, 2021 11:09 am
DU Lou offline
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Re: Alexa device types

Good Afternoon and Happy Father's Day to the Dads!

Not sure if this should be a new post, but the Alexa plugin seems to list most but not all of my devices. I haven't gone device by device but one device that is for certain not available in my "Manage Alexa Device Publications..." window is my I/O-Linc Controller for my garage door.

Any ideas or suggestions on how to expose it?

Thanks!
~Lou

Posted on
Sun Jun 20, 2021 2:05 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: Alexa device types

As we state in the Alexa Plugin docs, only specific device types are supported. General purpose I/O devices are not given their nature.

We already have an item on our todo list to investigate ways we can implement generic I/O devices in some future release.

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Posted on
Sun Jun 20, 2021 2:32 pm
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: Alexa device types

In the meantime, you can probably use the Masquerade plugin to make the I/O-Linc look like a supported device.

joe (aka FlyingDiver)
my plugins: http://forums.indigodomo.com/viewforum.php?f=177

Posted on
Sun Jun 20, 2021 3:05 pm
DU Lou offline
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Re: Alexa device types

jay (support) wrote:
As we state in the Alexa Plugin docs, only specific device types are supported. General purpose I/O devices are not given their nature.

We already have an item on our todo list to investigate ways we can implement generic I/O devices in some future release.


Ahh... apologies Jay... I saw where the non-insteon fans aren't yet baked in but I assumed when I read the subsection about garages, coupled with the fact the I/O-Linc is Insteon that I was good to go.

If I opt to replace and update the Insteon I/O Linc (its old anyway), which of the following Indigo Compatible devices is the next best thing? https://www.indigodomo.com/devices/category/41/

Thanks again,
~Lou

Posted on
Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:20 am
DU Lou offline
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Re: Alexa device types

DU Lou wrote:
jay (support) wrote:
As we state in the Alexa Plugin docs, only specific device types are supported. General purpose I/O devices are not given their nature.

We already have an item on our todo list to investigate ways we can implement generic I/O devices in some future release.


Ahh... apologies Jay... I saw where the non-insteon fans aren't yet baked in but I assumed when I read the subsection about garages, coupled with the fact the I/O-Linc is Insteon that I was good to go.

If I opt to replace and update the Insteon I/O Linc (its old anyway), which of the following Indigo Compatible devices is the next best thing? https://www.indigodomo.com/devices/category/41/

Thanks again,
~Lou


Is the "Aeotec Garage Door Controller ( ZW062 )" found at https://www.indigodomo.com/devices/category/41/ considered a generic I/O device or some other type of Garage Controller that Alexa can communicate with?

Kind Regards,
~Lou

Posted on
Tue Jun 22, 2021 9:03 am
jay (support) offline
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Re: Alexa device types

Yes, it should work correctly in Alexa as a garage door, just make sure you select Garage Controller as the Type when publishing to Alexa.

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Posted on
Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:37 pm
ryanbuckner offline
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Re: Alexa device types

If I have a typical I/O device controlling my garage, can I theoretically use an action group to open and close the garage, and the variable custom skill to check it's state?

Posted on
Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:02 pm
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Re: Alexa device types

Yes. In fact, you should be able to piece together a Virtual On/Off Device: use an action group for ON, one for OFF, and a variable that represents the status of the door which gets updated by the sensor of your I/O device.

Then you publish that virtual device and select the type as Garage Door. It's possible that there might be some sync issues (alexa thinks it's open when it's closed and vice versa), though if you maintain the virtual device state via the action groups instead of the sensor it might alleviate that. You'll just need to play around with it.

Note: the skill is gone from the Amazon store while we work through the locale issues with Amazon - not sure if it's still working for you or not.

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Posted on
Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:13 pm
ryanbuckner offline
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Re: Alexa device types

jay (support) wrote:
Yes. In fact, you should be able to piece together a Virtual On/Off Device: use an action group for ON, one for OFF, and a variable that represents the status of the door which gets updated by the sensor of your I/O device.

Then you publish that virtual device and select the type as Garage Door. It's possible that there might be some sync issues (alexa thinks it's open when it's closed and vice versa), though if you maintain the virtual device state via the action groups instead of the sensor it might alleviate that. You'll just need to play around with it.

Note: the skill is gone from the Amazon store while we work through the locale issues with Amazon - not sure if it's still working for you or not.


This was going to be my first attempt. I got a little fuzzy around the action groups and toggle since the I/O takes the same command to open and close the door.

Here's what I was thinking :

- On Group: Action Group that opens Garage Door #1 (Does the Group need to know to execute only if it's closed?)
- Off Group: Action Group that closes Garage Door #1 (Does the Group need to know to execute only if it's open?)
-Toggle Group: Python based Action Group that checks the status of Garage Door #1 and opens or closes based on the result
- Status Variable: Variable that holds the status of ON or OFF based on the sensor state of Garage Door #1?
- Status Group - Not really sure what to do here

Posted on
Fri Jul 02, 2021 12:49 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: Alexa device types

ryanbuckner wrote:
This was going to be my first attempt. I got a little fuzzy around the action groups and toggle since the I/O takes the same command to open and close the door.

Here's what I was thinking :

- On Group: Action Group that opens Garage Door #1 (Does the Group need to know to execute only if it's closed?)
- Off Group: Action Group that closes Garage Door #1 (Does the Group need to know to execute only if it's open?)
-Toggle Group: Python based Action Group that checks the status of Garage Door #1 and opens or closes based on the result
- Status Variable: Variable that holds the status of ON or OFF based on the sensor state of Garage Door #1?
- Status Group - Not really sure what to do here


That looks about right, though I'm not sure I'd implement toggle as that could get very complicated if you end up with one open and one closed - would it toggle them both, neither, or what?

In terms of testing the current state, I suppose it depends on how you've got things set up. In the case of an I/O Linc with a garage door kit, controlling the door means opening the output (which will automatically close per the configuration after a few seconds). The relay temporarily opening is what causes the door to actuate, so there is fundamentally no difference between open and close in terms of the raw command.

If that's the case, then you'd want to write a simple script that first tests the door to see if it's already open before opening the relay (for the Turn On command) etc. This would keep the doors from acting wonky when one is in a different state than the other and it would really only open if the door isn't already open.

Something like this should work, though I don't have an I/O Linc to test it with, so I'm just guessing:

Code: Select all
iolinc = indigo.devices[ID_OF_IOLINC]
if iolinc.states['binaryInput1']:
    # The input is True (which I believe means closed, but I could have it backwards), so execute whatever you need to do here
    indigo.iodevice.setBinaryOutput(iolinc, 0, True)  # Temporarily open the output to actuate (open) the door

Anyway, that should get you started.

Jay (Indigo Support)
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