Official Alexa Smart Home Skill for openHAB 2

[Tobi77 (Tobias)]

@digitaldan

Second is that the Alexa skill expects the thermostat mode item (“homekit:HeatingCoolingMode”) to conform exactly to the strings “OFF, HEAT, COOL, AUTO, heat-cool” or “0,1,2,3”. Again this is a temporary restriction until a more complete solution is developed.

Today I worked on my thermostate again. Still, I cannot set the modes as written above. Plus, in the Alexa app, the thermostat is not properly recognized.

I opened a discussion on this here - please help: Thermostat works well in Google Home, but not with Alexa - #10 by Tobi77. Thanks!

[Karthik_Kumar_N]

Thanks Zolakk. This worked…

[tgr (Thomas Gregersen)]

Hi

I’ve got a Danfoss CC link thermostat system running in my house, which is great but there are no open APIs to interact with it from systems like OH.
Danfoss has recently opened up for Alexa though to use it’s closed APIs, but that requires an Alexa in your house, which I don’t have as of now. Apart from being able to use OH to control the temperature, I’d also like to monitor the room temperatures without having to ask Alexa all the time…

My questions are:

• Can you setup a rule that mimics a voice interaction so the monitoring can be done on a scheduled basis and so Alexa can be used as a bridge to devices with no OH binding?
• Is it possible to bind OH items with an Alexa account without actually setting up an Alexa? (My lack of Alexa knowledge shines through here…)

[jeshab (Jeremy)]

@tgr

Can you setup a rule that mimics a voice interaction so the monitoring can be done on a scheduled basis and so Alexa can be used as a bridge to devices with no OH binding?

AFAIK, I don’t think there is another way, currently, to control an Alexa skill than by voice directly.

@tgr

Is it possible to bind OH items with an Alexa account without actually setting up an Alexa? (My lack of Alexa knowledge shines through here…)

By Alexa, you mean an Echo device, you can certainly enable this skill and bind OH items to your Alexa account without owning one of these devices. You can use the Amazon Alexa phone app or the echo simulator to interact with your configured devices.

[LordGame (Adam Gem)]

Hi All,

I just found the latest (v3) documentation of the Amazon Alexa Smart Home Skill and decided to try since it seemed staightforward.

According to the doc:

This page describes how to use the openHAB Alexa Smart Home Skill. The skill connects your openHAB setup through the myopenHAB.org cloud service to Amazon Alexa.

I have upgraded my OH2 to the latest( 2.5.0-SNAPSHOT Build #1617) and simply picked up one of the examples and put into a new item file. There were no error but when I asked my Echo to discover there was not any new item found.
I have tried different type of setups, also restarted and checked any logs that came into my mind.

Is there any addtional setup is needed to enable the new(Alexa Version 3 API base) config style other than the item file changes?
Should it work with the Openhab Alexa skill via myopenHAB.org?
Any idea what can be the cause of the issue?

Thanks, Adam

[sihui]

@LordGame

I just found the latest (v3) documentation of the Amazon Alexa Smart Home Skill

Did you read this thread?

Semantics and Metadata for Alexa Skill

When we started version 3 (v3) of the Alexa skill, we introduced a new tagging scheme based on the metadata feature of ESH. During this time there was a very long and lengthy discussion around officially supported semantics which can be manually set on items or auto generated through the use of item tags, which you can read about here https://github.com/eclipse/smarthome/pull/6288. I am trying to avoid having to support item tags, Alexa specific metadata and the new semantic metadata. Curiou…

[jeshab (Jeremy)]

@LordGame

I just found the latest (v3) documentation of the Amazon Alexa Smart Home Skill and decided to try since it seemed staightforward.

The v3 skill is still in beta testing. So if you are trying to use the current official openHAB Alexa skill, it only supports v2 tagging.

[LordGame (Adam Gem)]

Thanks for the quick answer @jeshab and @sihui!

I’ll stick with the V2 for now than.

Any idea when the V3 is planned to be released?

Thanks, Adam

[roboliv (roberto)]

Hi, can you explain how you solved it?
After that I enable the openHAB skill on Alexa. When requested, (use the credentials of your openHAB Cloud account to connect your system to Alexa) I don’t get outh credentials from openhab and so my system is not detected.
I state that everything works with Google Assistant.

[roboliv (roberto)]

Ok, I solved it by myself. You had to deactivate your account and activate it again.

[broliyoung (domenico)]

Hi all, is it possible to use the new form of tags with 2.5m2? I’d like to link my daikin clima to Alexa like a thermostat if is fixed now

[Aimen06]

Hello
Thanks for your skill.
I am trying to make it works with no clue.
i have a raspberry pi with openhab 2.14. i have installed the skill and the connector but when i scan for item i found nothing.
My item with

// RF Socket Items
Group:Switch:OR(OFF, ON) Gplugs <poweroutlet>

Switch Power_Plug_Socket_1 <poweroutlet>  (Gplugs) [ "Switchable" ]
Switch Power_Plug_Socket_2 <poweroutlet>  (Gplugs) [ "Switchable" ]
Switch Power_Plug_Socket_3 <poweroutlet>  (Gplugs) [ "Switchable" ]
Switch Power_Plug_Socket_4 <poweroutlet>  (Gplugs) [ "Switchable" ]
String PlaceHolder ""

Switch Remote_Send      { channel="exec:command:remote-send:run"    }
String Remote_Send_Args { channel="exec:command:remote-send:input"  }
String Remote_Send_Out  { channel="exec:command:remote-send:output" }

==> /var/log/openhab2/events.log <==
2019-10-16 22:18:11.666 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - hue_0107_0017884165ce_3_presence changed from OFF to ON
2019-10-16 22:18:12.101 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - hue_0107_0017884165ce_3_last_updated changed from 2019-10-16T22:13:30.000+0100 to 2019-10-16T22:18:11.000+0100
2019-10-16 22:18:12.171 [me.event.ThingUpdatedEvent] - Thing 'hue:0107:0017884165ce:3' has been updated.
2019-10-16 22:18:21.345 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - hue_0107_0017884165ce_3_presence changed from ON to OFF
2019-10-16 22:18:21.748 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - hue_0107_0017884165ce_3_last_updated changed from 2019-10-16T22:18:11.000+0100 to 2019-10-16T22:18:21.000+0100
2019-10-16 22:18:21.793 [me.event.ThingUpdatedEvent] - Thing 'hue:0107:0017884165ce:3' has been updated.
2019-10-16 22:20:12.737 [me.event.ThingUpdatedEvent] - Thing 'hue:0302:0017884165ce:2' has been updated.
2019-10-16 22:25:12.363 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - hue_0302_0017884165ce_2_temperature changed from 20.22 °C to 20.36 °C
2019-10-16 22:25:12.491 [me.event.ThingUpdatedEvent] - Thing 'hue:0302:0017884165ce:2' has been updated.
2019-10-16 22:30:12.101 [me.event.ThingUpdatedEvent] - Thing 'hue:0302:0017884165ce:2' has been updated.

==> /var/log/openhab2/openhab.log <==
2019-10-15 22:10:00.871 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Refreshing model 'powerplugs.items'
2019-10-15 22:21:13.157 [INFO ] [io.openhabcloud.internal.CloudClient] - Shutting down openHAB Cloud service connection
2019-10-15 22:21:13.598 [INFO ] [io.openhabcloud.internal.CloudClient] - Disconnected from the openHAB Cloud service (UUID = 1c70fa7e-72be-448d-814d-919491bb582d, base URL = http://localhost:8080)
2019-10-15 22:21:17.592 [INFO ] [io.openhabcloud.internal.CloudClient] - Connected to the openHAB Cloud service (UUID = 1c70fa7e-72be-448d-814d-919491bb582d, base URL = http://localhost:8080)
2019-10-15 22:23:30.073 [INFO ] [io.openhabcloud.internal.CloudClient] - Shutting down openHAB Cloud service connection
2019-10-15 22:23:30.328 [INFO ] [io.openhabcloud.internal.CloudClient] - Disconnected from the openHAB Cloud service (UUID = 1c70fa7e-72be-448d-814d-919491bb582d, base URL = http://localhost:8080)
2019-10-15 22:23:36.494 [INFO ] [io.openhabcloud.internal.CloudClient] - Connected to the openHAB Cloud service (UUID = 1c70fa7e-72be-448d-814d-919491bb582d, base URL = http://localhost:8080)
2019-10-16 00:00:32.639 [INFO ] [thome.binding.astro.internal.job.Job] - Scheduled Astro event-jobs for thing astro:moon:home
2019-10-16 00:00:35.331 [INFO ] [thome.binding.astro.internal.job.Job] - Scheduled Astro event-jobs for thing astro:sun:home
2019-10-16 20:34:04.626 [INFO ] [eemulation.internal.ConfigManagement] - Hue Emulation pairing disabled. Service available under /api

Somebody can help me please?

[jeshab (Jeremy)]

@Aimen06

Somebody can help me please?

Your item definitions are missing labels. You can refer to these recommendations on how to name them.

[Aimen06]

Many thanks i must have read a bad doc where you have only to write
[ “Switchable” ] in your item files

[lomdar67 (Michael Fuerst)]

Hi,

is it possible to define custom colors for the ColorController?

I have a color item and basically it wokes fine with Alexa:

Color                   DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB           "TV Licht HSB"                                  (DG_Buero, DG_Buero_TV_Light)   { alexa="ColorController.color", channel="shelly:shellyrgbw2-color:661f4f:color#hsb" }

Now I have predefined colors with my LED stripe like “Red, Orange”. So I can change the color with Alexa.

Unfortunately some of these colors don’t look very good. e.g. “orange” is more a yellow than an orange.

So I was wondering if it’s possible to do to something similar with the ColorController like with a Selection item where I’m mapping my own HSB-Colors:

	Selection item=DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB mappings=["8,100,89"="Orange", "60,100,100"="Gelb", "0,100,100"="Rot", "156,100,62"="Türkis", "20,100,73"="Amber", "277,87,94"="Lila", "232,100,89"="Hellblau", "240,100,100"="Blau", "0,0,100"="Weiß", "128,100,89"="Hellgrün", "320,100,100"="Rosa", "120,100,100"="Grün" ] label="Farbe" icon="colorpicker"

best regards,
Michael

[jeshab (Jeremy)]

@lomdar67

So I was wondering if it’s possible to do to something similar with the ColorController like with a Selection item where I’m mapping my own HSB-Colors

Unfortunately, there is no way to customize colors in the Alexa Skill API as of yet. The only solution here would be to use a proxy color item and mapping rules to use your predefined color values while having the reported state in line with Alexa’s color values. Also, you should use the “Lighting” metadata label, since the color controller interacts with the color levels only. You wouldn’t be able to dim or turn on/off that light the way you have set it up, unless these capabilities are controlled with different channels.

items

Color DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB_Alexa "TV Licht HSB" (DG_Buero, DG_Buero_TV_Light) {alexa="Lighting"}
Color DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB       "TV Licht HSB" (DG_Buero, DG_Buero_TV_Light) {channel="shelly:shellyrgbw2-color:661f4f:color#hsb"}

rules

rule "TV Licht HSB Alexa Commands"
when
  Item DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB_Alexa received command
then
  switch receivedCommand.toString {
    case "39,100,100": DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB.sendCommand("8,100,89") // Orange
    ...
    default: DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB.sendCommand(receivedCommand)
  }
end

rule "TV Licht HSB Changes"
when
  Item DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB changed
then
  switch DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB.state.toString {
    case "8,100,89": DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB_Alexa.postUpdate("39,100,100") // Orange
    ...
    default: DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB_Alexa.postUpdate(DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB.state)
  }
end

[lomdar67 (Michael Fuerst)]

Thanks for your help. Great idea.
I’ve implemented the items and rules like you suggested but the logs shows, that the rules are not working:

2019-11-03 17:36:57.961 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - DG_Buero_TV_Light_Watt changed from 7.12 to 3.49

2019-11-03 17:37:02.692 [ome.event.ItemCommandEvent] - Item ‘DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB_Alexa’ received command 39,100,100

2019-11-03 17:37:02.716 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB_Alexa changed from 240,100,100 to 39,100,100

2019-11-03 17:37:02.720 [ome.event.ItemCommandEvent] - Item ‘DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB’ received command 39,100,100

2019-11-03 17:37:02.751 [nt.ItemStatePredictedEvent] - DG_Buero_TV_Light_HSB predicted to become 39,100,100

[jeshab (Jeremy)]

@lomdar67

I’ve implemented the items and rules like you suggested but the logs shows, that the rules are not working

I forgot to convert both switch case conditions to string type. I have updated my original post. It should work now.

[lomdar67 (Michael Fuerst)]

@jeshab

I forgot to convert both switch case conditions to string type. I have updated my original post. It should work now.

Hello Jeremy,
thanks a lot, now it works.
Best regards, Michael

[NCO (E. Gerland)]

@Aimen06

[ “Switchable” ] in your item files

I am struggling with this as well:
Is is possible to define two {} within one item?
one with the {alexa=" stuff and one with e.g. z-wave like {channel="zwave?

Furthermore:
Is there a way to block and control trough amazon to OH, when I am not home?
(I switch off Alexa with a power plug, but theoretically my openhab would still be controllabe by amazon)