Sure, I drew it partly for me but mainly for newcomers… 
If you need any changes/ improvements just let me know.
Whats the blog about? Can I see ?.. I found it 
Hobbyblogger right in German? I can read a bit of German.
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Hello all
@michi and I thought about improvements for handling light groups.
Now we’re going to give you the chance to tell us your opinion. We want you to vote for an option we will use for the development.
The question is: What should we do with light groups where bulbs got a different brightness.
I created a voting for you where you will be able to share your opinion. Please take 2 minutes to visit the website and vote for a possible answer.
Thank you!
You’re right. It’s hobbyblogging. Currently it’s only available in german. Sorry!
You will find my article with your image here: https://hobbyblogging.de/amazon-echo-control-beta
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Hello,
When using the Android app: Amazon Alexa, you can use a function that makes an announcement on all devices. Is this possible with Amazon Echo Control ??
Thank you
Not yet, but this feature is already planned for one if the next beta version.
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Hello @michi
How long?
Do I just go on the PaperUI and add things → amazon echo control binding → Searching for things…
Finds the Flash Briefing thing and the echo dot
I add the Echo Dot Thing. Not very interest in the flash briefing thing.
I added two wifi sockets controlled by Alexa without a binding for OH
How long before they should appear in the found things?
Just to clarify: The SmartHomeDevices update of the amazonechocontrol binding is good for two things:
- control SmartHome devices directly connected to an Echo Plus (via Zigbee, I believe), and
- control SmartHome devices controlled by a separate hub that the Amazon devices know to control through an Alexa Skill
If 2) is correct that means that you can control devices that have an Alexa skill but no openHab binding. Turning this argument around, that does also imply that a separate openHab binding from say, xiaomi or innogy, is not necessary anymore, if an Alexa SmartHome Skill from that company exists, right? So you can choose whether you control your devices through the native binding or the amazonechocontrol binding. That raises the question: Is there an advantage of using the new amazonechocontrol functionality over a native binding provided by the companies, e.g. in terms of response time and whatnot?
Yes
Yes
No, I recommend the native binding. This is the reason, why you have explicit turn on the discover function for skill devices in the account Thing configuration.
The reasons are:
- The state update of the smarthome devices over the amazonechocontrol binding is done by polling. There is currently no active notification from amazon for state changes over the websocket.
- The polling of smarthome skills can causes cause costs for the Skill vendor, because the polling will be forwarded to the Skill for each device. This means, I make 1 polling request for e.g. 5 devices to the amazon server, the amazon server will make 5 polling request to the Skill. I think, this should not be a big problem for corporates, but for private person it will be a problem. Ingo Fischer from the iobroker alexa adapter told me, that they had this problem already in the beginning, so they reduced the polling interval to a maximum of 1 request per 10 minutes.
- There is currently no official API from Amazon. All functions are based on the REST calls from the Alexa App. Changes from amazon can break the whole binding.
But beside of this,
if you are only interested in controlling the smarthome devices, then I could be a full replacement for the native bindings.
Best,
Michael
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My comment about the delay is only related to the channels. If you create a Thing, it will take a while, until the channels are displayed.
For searching for things, you must manually start the search from the PaperUI. It should discover then all connected smarthome things, without any delay (But of course, the discover function for smarthome devices must be enabled in the account Thing before).
So, there is no autodiscover.
Best,
Michael
@Sigalou
Sorry, this was a misunderstood from my side, the announcement is already implement (it is available in the Preview and Release Candidate version and in the Daily milestone).
If you do not see the channel, check if you have activate “Show more” in the paperUI Thing configuration. If it is not there, maybe you forgot the recreation of the thing after the binding update.
The next new feature will be the “Message” from your screenshot which turn on the green light on the Alexa and the user can ask for the message. This is already implemented, but not yet available in the current versions.
Best,
Michael
This is what I was missing.
Must have missed a bit in reading, sorry
Things discovered and controlled. Thanks.
Now waiting for them to release an API, one can always dream…
I confirm that I get the current temperature channel from the discovered Nest thermostat amazon device Thing.
This is only the current temperature channel. There are no other channels exposed (Yet…)
I am looking forward to the next step. Thanks a lot
PS. My sockets work great with the binding
@michi
thank you for your quick reply
I am in version binding-amazonechocontrol - 2.5.0.SNAPSHOT installed today.
I have a group of equipment that is on recorded as: Amazon Echo Whole House Audio Control
I pressed “SHOW MORE”
I find :
Player
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: playerPlayer
Media Play Time
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: mediaProgressTimeNumber: Time
Media Progress
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: mediaProgressDimmer
Media Length
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: mediaLengthNumber: Time
shuffle
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: shuffleSwitch
Url image
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: imageUrlString
title
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: titlestring
Subtitle 1
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: subtitle1String
Subtitle 2
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: subtitle2String
Provider Name
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: providerDisplayNameString
TuneIn Radio Station Id
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: radioStationIdString
TuneIn Radio
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: radioSwitch
Amazon Music Track Id
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: amazonMusicTrackIdString
Amazon Music Play List Id
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: amazonMusicPlayListIdString
Amazon Music
amazonechocontrol: wha: e45ae014: e8c0d0d753744383bf0af603b49bc154: amazonMusicSwitch
I do not find how to send an ad on all devices.
Can you help me ?
I can confirm, no announcement channel for multiroom groups with beta 2019-09-11.
If I try to send announcement to multiple devices simultaniously, only some devices are triggered (+ not in sync) and I get the “Too Many Requests”-Error.
Whilst I am able to control the sockets, if I turn one on at the wall openHAB is never updated. I would have though that the state on the item would have been updated after the 10 minutes pooling period but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
It is the same for the nest thermostat. The current temperature was updated at the time when I linked the channel. But after a restart the item’s value remains UNDEF.
With this feature I am able to check the next timer, correct ? What will it exactly show me ? The exact time when the timer will go off in this format: Day-Month-Year Hour:Minute:Seconds ?
What if I have for examples two timers? Any chance to also get info about it ?
Same for me and the announcement beep seems to be randomly occurring
it will show it in whatever format you set the DateTime item
eg
DateTime Alexa_BR1_Show5_NextAlarm “Next Alarm [%1$tY-%1$tm-%1$td %1$tH:%1$tM]”
Next Alarm 2019-10-11 06:50
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Great thank you!
Will there be a feature in future to get info about the last/newest timer which was created ?
Also will setting a timer be implemented aswell? (I know I ask this a few times in the normal thread but I thought I could ask again in this beta thread.) If it will not be implemented could you tell me how I can use the “REST API” you mentioned in the other thread ?
cheers,
salexes
I have 3 things created from smart devices attached to the echo the binding
2 smart sockets and the nest thermostat
From the nest thermostat, only the ambient temperature channel is exposed as explained in the OP
However, I see no update of the items even after more than 10 minutes and I know that they have changed (ie, the temperature on the Nest is different than the item on OH or I have manually turned on a socket) I should be able to see my items updated at least every 10 minutes but I see nothing.
However, on a restart, the items are updated with the correct value (Correct nest temperature and correct status of socket) Is there anything I can do to force an update (I guess not)
Is there anything I can do to help you debug this?