Official Alexa Smart Home Skill for openHAB 2

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334

@sihui @digitaldan I don’t know if this question was answered before, but I want to know the following:

How is it possible to use “OpenHAB2 Smart Home Skill” directly, without using myopenHAB.org account?

Do I have to follow exactly all these steps here:

You wrote there:

…either directly or through the openHAB Cloud service (preferred).

And if I have followed all steps then I have to edit the config.js with information of my local REST Server configuration?

module.exports = {
    //userpass: 'user@foo.com:Password1',
    host: 'my.openhab.org',
    port: 443,
    path: '/rest/items/',
};

Do I need DynDNS or NAT in my router configuration, or is “Amazon Echo” device communicating directly through my LAN with my REST Server?

if directly through my LAN, then config.js could be as follows?

module.exports = {
    userpass: 'user@foo.com:Password1',
    host: 'IP-Address-of-REST-Server',
    port: 8443,
    path: '/rest/items/',
};

Thanks a lot for your answers!

335

If you don’t like cloud services, you may use the hue emulation for Alexa:
http://docs.openhab.org/addons/io/hueemulation/readme.html

336

You might not have a choice at the moment with Alexa but to do hue emulation. Native openhab skills aren’t discovering for me and others yet this is not the case for everyone

337

You may also take a look at:

338

I did it through myopenhab.org. The other way was to complicated.

In the Cloud Service I can see all my devices, but Alexa does not find any devices.!!!

My SmartHome Server and Alexa are connected to the same Wifi Access Point.

339

Did you authorize the alexa skill in your cloud?

1.JPG982×256 24.4 KB

340

@sihui Yes I did!

341

Then you may be affected by that strange “not finding devices” problem other users are reporting here …

342

And you did tag your items correctly?

http://docs.openhab.org/addons/io/homekit/readme.html

343

@sihui Yes, I did!

I tried both: [ “Lighting” ] and [“Lighting”]…

My alexa language is german!

344

Still no devices detected!

Any hints?

345

These are two of my working items with openhab 2.1.

Color  Fenster_Color         "Fenster Licht" [ "Lighting" ] { channel="lifx:colorlight:fenster:color" }
Switch Alexa_RadioBK	"Radio Bad"	[ "Switchable" ]	{autoupdate="false"}

How do your item definitions look like?

346

@christoph_wempe

Switch	Hue_Light3_Toggle		"Licht Bibliothek"	<light>	(GF_Biblio, Lights)	[ "Lighting" ]	{channel="hue:0100:0017882971e8:8:brightness"}	  
Switch GHoma5					"Dose Vitrine"		<light>	(GF_Living, GHoma)	[ "Switchable" ]	{ http=">[ON:GET:http://192.168.178.24:3000/on/3ef204] >[OFF:GET:http://192.168.178.24:3000/off/3ef204] <[http://192.168.178.24:3000/state/3ef204:64000:MAP(onoff.map)]" }   
Number GF_Kitchen_maxActual  "IST Temperatur  [%.1f °C]" <temperature>	(gMAX, GF_Kitchen, Temperature1)	 [ "CurrentTemperature" ]	{channel="max:thermostat:LKF0025489:MEQ1442698:actual_temp"}
347

@christoph_wempe

and in

https://myopenhab.org/rest/items it looks like:

{"link":"https://myopenhab.org/rest/items/Hue_Light3_Toggle","state":"OFF","type":"Switch","name":"Hue_Light3_Toggle","label":"Licht Bibliothek","category":"light","tags":[" Lighting "],"groupNames":["GF_Biblio","Lights"]}

{"link":"https://myopenhab.org/rest/items/GHoma5","state":"OFF","type":"Switch","name":"GHoma5","label":"Dose Vitrine","category":"light","tags":["Switchable"],"groupNames":["GF_Living","GHoma"]},

{"link":"https://myopenhab.org/rest/items/GF_Kitchen_maxActual","state":"NULL","stateDescription":{"pattern":"%.1f °C","readOnly":false,"options":[]},"type":"Number","name":"GF_Kitchen_maxActual","label":"IST Temperatur","category":"temperature","tags":["CurrentTemperature"],"groupNames":["gMAX","GF_Kitchen","Temperature1"]}

but I have also the following “Lighting” tags, but I NEVER filled into .items file on my own:

    {"link":"https://myopenhab.org/rest/items/hue_0100_0017882971e8_8_brightness","state":"0","type":"Dimmer","name":"hue_0100_0017882971e8_8_brightness","tags":["Lighting"],"groupNames":[]}

    {"link":"https://myopenhab.org/rest/items/hue_0100_0017882971e8_1_brightness","state":"0","type":"Dimmer","name":"hue_0100_0017882971e8_1_brightness","tags":["Lighting"],"groupNames":[]}

    {"link":"https://myopenhab.org/rest/items/hue_0100_0017882971e8_2_brightness","state":"0","type":"Dimmer","name":"hue_0100_0017882971e8_2_brightness","tags":["Lighting"],"groupNames":[]},

In rest/items, should there be enclosed the brackets […] for tags?

348

I don’t really know, but I would guess [ "Lighting" ] needs t o be a Color item.

But I am no expert, either. :neutral_face:

349

Hi,

Anyone got this working with a Harmony hub? I want to mute my TV so I created the item:
Switch Fernseher “Fernseher” [“Lighting”] { harmonyhub=">[press:Samsung Verstaerker:Mute]" }

I also tried to to switch “Samsung Verstaerker” with “harmonyhub:device:HarmonyHub:45963471:buttonPress”

It is showing in the Alexa app and it is recognized by alexa too but it is doing nothing. :frowning:

What am I doing wrong?

Edit: I tried a wake on lan command and that is working so I think the commands in the brackets {} are wrong

Thanks for everys useful awnser
Robin

350

According to the docs it can be:

1.JPG839×199 9.78 KB

Those items are looking like autodiscovered item from your hue bridge. But then they should not have a tag …
Do you have “Simple Mode” switched to ON? (PaperUI → Configuration → System → Item linking).
If you are defining your items via text files you should switch that to OFF, otherwise you get a big mess (all items which are defined through text files are added twice …)

351

Yes.
Take a look at the docs.
http://docs.openhab.org/addons/bindings/harmonyhub/readme.html

First you need to define a string item:
String HarmonyWZPhilips "Philips-TV" <television> (gRestore) [ "Lighting" ] { channel="harmonyhub:device:HarmonyWZ:26434461:buttonPress" }

Then put a switch on your sitemap:
Switch item=HarmonyWZPhilips mappings=["Mute"="Ton ein/aus"]

Take a look in your harmony remote desktop software which command is used for your TV to mute it.

352

Thanks for your answer. I tried that now, Sidemap is getting “all” informations from the String, but the Hub is not reacting/sending a signal. Checked the harmonyhub:device… on PaperUI - same as in the *.items file. Checked documentation if anything is wrong. Tried differend button presses. Also if I change the “Switch” to a “String”, the device is removed in the Alexa App. Any (other) idea? It’s really hard for Beginners like me to get anything working in openHAB. :confused:

String HarmonyVerstaerker "Verstaerker Mute Button" (gMain) ["Lighting"] { channel="harmonyhub:device:HarmonyHub:45963470:buttonPress" }

sitemap home label="Home Automation" {
    Frame label="Verstaerker" {
        Switch item=HarmonyVerstaerker mappings=["Mute"="Ton ein/aus"]
    }
}
353

Is the thing HarmonyVerstaerker online in PaperUI?

You need to check your software which string is used for muting:

After every change you need to search for the devices again.

That is because your are trying to make the complicate stuff (Harmony hub, Alexa) working :grinning: