MstrD

And as a follow up, it would be nice to have my basement Echo, also be able to say voice commands for my ISY. So I'd like to be able to send a command to the Dot, that says "Alexa, simon says Good morning. It's a beautiful day". (after turning on the appropriate zones, etc.) It would then just say the Good morning part. I could still make this work with text-to-speech, but would be much easier as a direct command.

Is there a way to send commands to an Echo ? A REST API type thing? Here is my setup: I have 2 x Echo Dots (about to add a 3rd). One of them is hard wired to my whole house audio (basically that's all it does is music). I have the voice remote connected to that. In my kitchen, I have another Echo Dot. I'm able to use the Dot to turn on music zones via voice. I can use the voice remote, to connect to the basement Dot, to play music. I'd like to automate these steps. What I'd like to do is be able to tell the kitchen dot "Turn On Some Music" and have it run a program on the ISY. That in turn would use network resources to turn on multiple zones, select the right source, and then tell the basement Dot, to "Play some 80s rock" (or whatever). Or I'd like to turn on my bedroom zone at 7am, set the correct volume, and source, and then send a command to the basement Dot to play my briefing. The only backwards way I think I could make it work would be to have a speaker, and some kind of little linux board (RaspPi maybe), that I could send commands to via some kind of TCP command, that would then play an audio file, so that the Basement Dot could "hear" it, and then execute it's commands. Then I would just have to record each "command" I wanted, and execute as necessary. I'm pretty sure this would work, but seems backward. Or instead of recording, I could add text-to-speech on the Pi, and then add the "command" into the network resource command. I know that for the most part the Echo is driving other devices, but in this case I want to go the other direction. Hopefully at some point, Amazon will have a better way to integrate multiple echos (allowing certain commands to be directed to specific devices, or if you use bluetooth, it still give local responses, but sends audio somewhere else) Any other workaround?

Do you keep your Echos connected all the time? I wish there was a way to stream music over bluetooth, but still have the voice responses come through the echo itself.

I'm trying to hook up my echo to my Russound whole house audio system. Here is my setup: 2 x echo dots. Connected to a single account (I'm ok with having the commands different for each room so I didn't make sub accounts). I have a Russound audio system that has 12 zones, and 6 sources. 1 x ISY I have the Echo's installed and working with my ISY. That seems to be working ok for scenes/programs, etc. I can turn each zone on/off with network resource commands. I can change sources by zone if I setup the commands (not quite there yet). One of my sources has a bluetooth receiver connected (the others are hardwired). The Russound does have a paging function, but it really needs a trigger (12v) to activate. I believe there is a way for it to sense audio, but then there is a delay as it switches everything on, and the message might be over. I'm able to connect my echo (main floor) by bluetooth to the Russound, but then I have to make sure there is a zone connected or you can't hear any responses. I was able to connect both echo's together, so that they both would listen, but the audio would all come from one. (bluetooth out from one, connected in on the other), but that doesn't really help me either. I "could" possibly connect them together and then play the audio through one of the zones (I have one in the foyer so it plays upstairs/downstairs), but then I have to have the zone on 24/7. I could automate so it's not always on, but, the bluetooth won't just disconnect since it's a separate box, and even if I turn that off, I'm not sure it will reconnect when I turn the bluetooth receiver back on. I've ordered a voice remote to playaround with that. Not sure how I could intergrate it. Has anyone tried to hookup multiple echo's to a whole house audio system? What is your setup?

That probably is the better way to go. I often make too many scenes when one would work. I'll give that a try. Thanks!

I think I solved my problem. I had a bunch of lights set to come on at sunset - front door lights, fireplace accent lights, etc. and each was in it's own program. There were 5-6 programs all being triggered at the same time. I think I was probably getting some traffic issues. I realized I had a few different lights that probably weren't always running according to schedule besides the one I was aware of. It was hit or miss. I replaced them with a single program, that goes from Sunset to 11:30pm. I then put each scene change in this program, with a small WAIT in between each step. Everything seems to be working correctly now. I'm guessing it stopped working when I added the last device that turned on at sunset. Just too much going on simultaneously. This is probably a better way to go anyway.

A run then or a run else works fine. That's why it all seems so odd. I've changed it today for a schedule with a fixed on time. I'll see what that does. It works fine testing it at night with a fixed time, but maybe there is something else going on at about 5pm. Maybe I do have some other sunset program running, and there is some network traffic conflict that somehow makes it unstable, but only at sunset. I'll keep troubleshooting. It's just odd that's it been working fine, and now it's not.

I have simple program that turns outdoor lights on/off based on sunset until 11:15pm . It's pretty straight forward. Up until fairly recently, it has always seemed to work fine. If From Sunset To 11:15:00PM (same day) Then Set Scene 'Outdside Lights' On Else Set Scene 'Outdside Lights' Off Set Scene 'Garage Lighting' Off From the summary page, it appears that it is executing at sunset, but the lights never turn on (or off for that matter). I changed how I was setting the scene - I was using 100% vs. On. I'm not sure if that would make a difference or not. It seems to be the same every day. I suspected it's a communication problem, but if I go in and set the on time specifically to say 4:45pm, it turns on. I really think it's some kind of communication problem, and tried to trace that. BUT, it connects fine from my admin console, and I can turn it on/off without any problem. I can connect via my iphone to the browser page and it works fine. This si a keypadlinc, and the other buttons are all in other scenes, and all the other buttons respond properly, it's just the main switch that seems to have issues. By any chance, is there something funky that could have happened about daylight savings time related to the sunset variable? I can't say that's exactly when it started misbehaving, but it's about that time. Alternatively, I guess I'll have to have to view the log to see if it's actually executing the commands or it just thinks it does. It's just odd that this problem started recently. Not ruling out that I've done something completely stupid either, it won't be the first or last time.

Hmm, the second router should just be an access point, and the router is bridging (wirelessly) to the main router. The second router isn't doing NAT. It's all seen as one large network. 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.255 DHCP all from the main router. I'll have to check the settings and see if I'm missing something.

I was able to create two network resources based on your example (once I figured out how to use the firefox web console). I can it being a very helpful tool to create network resources. It seems like once the command is issued, the access to the router is disabled for a short time - I'm assuming as it turns on/off the filtering. It doesn't seem to stop the internet access for other clients during this time, just access to the router pages. My setup has the main router, and then another router (bridge) at the other end of the house. It seems like if a client is attached to the main router, than it denies access. However, if the client connects to the other router, that bridges to the main router, then it isn't filtered. It must see the MAC of the other router. The same thing with IP. I guess I'll have to set up two sets of network resources, to block access from both routers simultaneously. Thanks for the help. This will definitely do the trick. Now I need to create some countdown scripts (cumulative hours per day). I don't think I'm going to the popular Dad in another week!

Thanks! I'll give that a try. That looks like it could do exactly what I want.

Can you share the network resource command? I couldn't figure out how to do it. That would simplify what I'm trying to do, and my son wouldn't be able to bypass it.

School starts here in another week, and my kids (my son in particular) needs to curb his online time (xbox, youtube, minecraft, etc.). He has a lot of ways to spend his time, other than school work. He's starting middle school, and this year, we think he really needs to buckle down. He is a good kid, but gets a little too distracted with all his electronics. I've been trying to come up with a way that I can limit his "Screen time". There are restrictions within the router by PC to within certain times. What I'm really looking for is a way to limit the time, much like when you go to a hotel. You "buy" x hours worth. That might solve the PC, but it doesn't solve the Xbox, or his 3DS, or his ipod. Ideally what I wanted was some way to use Network Resources to turn on/off certain access. After some research, I couldn't come up with an easy method. I think I've come up with a solution, although I haven't yet written the programs. I currently have a main router in my house (connected to the cable modem). The router is running DD-WRT firmware. It's at one end of the house in the basement. Coverage at the other end is a little limited. To solve that, I have another router at the other end of the house, and it wireless connects to the main router. PCs or phones flip between the routers as is needed and that's fine. To solve my kid problem, I'm thinking about adding another router (or repositioning the ones we have). The second router, will be the restricted router. It will have a password that my son knows. The other, he will not. His "toys" will all be connected to the restricted router. That Router will be connected to an ApplianceLinc. I will then be able to turn on his access or turn it off. When it's powered on it will turn on the router, connect to the network, etc. I can then use the ISY to connect and have a schedule for him. I will also be able to setup a button on a 6 button keypad that he can press to turn on his access. It will have a countdown timer, and when the days total usage is exhausted, it will turn the router off. That will give him some flexibility, but he won't be able to exceed x hours a day, but it will start when he chooses. Depending on sports schedules, etc., it could be later or earlier in the day. When I get a couple timer programs worked out, I'll post them here. Hopefully, this will give him some quality school work time. (assuming I can put all the electronics someplace where he can't easily access them and bypass it).

I've actually just ordered a Raspberry Pi so I'll be able to play around with one. Apparently my son just won't be able to survive we aren't running a server for Minecraft in our house for him and his friends (for those of you that don't know what MineCraft is, count yourself lucky. It's all I hear about anymore). There is a specialized version of Minecraft that can be compiled and will run 5-6 people at the same time on a Raspberry Pi. The Pogoplug plugs are pretty cheap - specials for under $20. Raspberry Pi was $35. They both can run ArchLinux so I don't expect to many problems if I port over what I've already been doing. On a side note, I've been running Festival on the Pogoplug for Text-To-Speech. It's not lightning fast, but it does work, and would work for a lot of voice messages. I suspect the Raspberry Pi will be much faster for that purpose alone. I really wish Nest would have a public API but I don't see it in the near term. ON the flip side, it does do what it's supposed to do, so I can just let it do it's thing.

The Nest website also logs your heating/cooling cycles. It's all accessible from the web or the app. You can view each day. Look at the total heating time, compared with other days. You can click on each day and then see the actual heating cycles, how long it was in 1st stage heating, and how long it was in 2nd stage heating. It indicates by day if you were over/under the average, and why (outside temperature, manually overrides, auto-away, etc). I'd attach some images, but I get an error that says they board's attachment limit has been met. A lot of this might be fluff, but it is easy to use. I doubt there will be any real savings compared to other thermostats. I'll know more further into winter.