New Binding: Amazon Echo

Will there eventually be plans to work with the Amazon Echo API? I’m currently using Home Assistant, which supports the API, to query anything from the server - it would be great if OpenHAB would support this as well. I think it’s especially necessary for those who (like me) don’t use Hue lights, but have a Zwave dimmer.

@wingers1290 this emulates a Hue bridge which allows you to expose your openhab items as Hue devices to things like the Echo. So this would be able to expose your zwave lights (or anything that reacts to a level/percentage/switch) to a Amazon Echo. To the echo they look like Hue devices (but are obviously not)

…Well, that’s fantastic then! I hope to make the switch to OpenHAB as soon as v2 seems stable enough :smiley:

I finally got around to testing the hueemulation binding. It works great! Thanks for this, @digitaldan ! It’s very nice just to ask Alexa to do something and it is done almost immediately.

This is fantastic. I have been following a post here:

Raspberry Echo

I have the Echo working which is pretty cool using the Amazon API. I have a USB microphone though and thought rather than a physical button, could you use a trigger in OpenHab to trigger the mic on and off. One requirement with the API from Amazon is you have to use a push button no auto recognition.

So looks like if there is a trigger that can be created with OpenHab to turn the USB mic on and off you could trigger Alexa on the Echo Pi.

thoughts?

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on addition, i think the command has to hold the mic open while you talk and then release when you let off the button.

The links from your original post seem to be dead, where can we find the new jar files?

The binding is now part of OH2, so you should be able to install (and configure) it through the paper ui.

Is there any way to work this in reverse, ie. when a rule happens it turns on music on alexa?

There is a separate client api that the Alexa mobile and web clients use that could accomplish this, but that would need to be done through a new type of binding or some other point of integration.

ok, at some point im sure it will be done by someone who knows how…in the mean time ill just set a radio station…thanks for your hard work, worked like a charm.

So, this is not working for me. Can you confirm how the item should be defined? I copied the test switch example at the top, but not discovering any items.

Thanks

@tpmcleod24 it would be helpful if you posted your item file. Also in the paper ui under configuration, can you check that that pairing is enabled? Also are there anything in your log file?

I do not believe i have pairing enabled, did not know about it. I will check that. If that doesn’t do it, i will post my items. I added an item that looks just like your example for a test switch, not linked to a thing. No log entries that i can find.

-tp

I can confirm it works. Need to enable pairing, pair the device, then turn pairing off.

Still not working for me. I have turned on pairing within the services page of paper ui. Here is my item:

Switch testswitch [ “he:Test Switch” ]

No logs other than showing the binding being installed. I have uninstalled, rebooted and reinstalled the binding and attempted again, no dice.

Thanks

i used the hue emulator. after you enable pairing, tell alexa to find new
devices. also, have to use the tag homekit, not he.

Thank you,

Branden Smale
President
Electrical Craftsmanship, Inc. (ECI)
(352) 494-4033

www.electricalcraftsmanship.com

use [“homekit:DimmableLightbulb”] , also download a new version of the jar here https://github.com/digitaldan/openhab2-addons/releases/download/HueEmulator-1/org.openhab.io.hueemulation-2.0.0-SNAPSHOT.jar5

This should handle both percentage and decimal types, I just updated it and did not have a chance to test, so let me know how it goes.

Sorry for the confusion. Read this thread.

So don’t install via paper ui?