Send commands to Alexa without adding devices as Things?

Apps & Services Amazon Alexa
1

I’ve just set up OpenHAB 3, OpenHAB Cloud, and added the amazonechocontrol binding. My Echo device has been auto discovered and I’ve connected the OpenHAB skill in the Alexa app, but no other Things have been added to OpenHAB. All of my smart devices are already set up and working through the Echo dot. Can I use OpenHAB to send a commands to the Echo to control my devices at this point? or do all of my devices need to be set up in OpenHAB as things?

If the latter, how can I do this without going through the setup process for each individual device?

2

Setup should be easy using discovery. Just click on “add thing”.

You can also try to use the textCommand channel and send something like “Turn the light in the bathroom on”.

3

Hi @J-N-K , thanks for the reply. So you are saying I have to add every device in the house, regardless of it already being connected and working on the Echo? Do my devices have to be in discovery/setup mode for OpenHAB to add them? Nothing is currently being discovered when clicking ‘add thing’.

4

Did you enable discovery in the acoount thing? And as I said above. You could try textCommand on the echo thing.

5

So, I’m running into an issue where OpenHab isn’t discovering the device I want to control. I have 4 Sengled bulbs connected to a hub that is also connected to my echo dot, all of which were auto-discovered as Things. I also have two wall switches (Treatlife is the the brand, Smartlife is the app) that are not being discovered. The wall switch works fine via the echo dot and the Smartlife skill. I’d like to be able to control these switches.

I’ve tried logging in and out of the Amazon Account Thing, deleting and re-installing the binding, and adjusting the ‘polling interval skill’ from 120 to 80. Any ideas why these aren’t being discovered? The configuration of my Amazon Account Thing is set to " Direct, over Alexa and openHAB skill"