blueman2

Thanks BWSSystems!!!!

Tungsten, I recommend you not directly set temps from the HA-Bridge. I prefer instead to have the bridge send the value directly to an ISY State variable, and then have a program use that change to set the thermostat. Several advantages: 1) no math or calculation. You directly send the actual number to the variable, which sends that to the thermostat. No translations to go wrong. 2) you can only allow 'valid' temps to be set. Just in case Alexa misunderstands or someone says "Alexa, set Thermostat to 99 degrees". Result would be pretty bad. So I have a program that only allows 'good values'. This works just as fast and introduces no noticeable lag when I use it through ISY program. Much better solution I think. You just have to use ${intensity.percent} in your command on the AWS-config tool, and point it to the right State Variable. Line in AWS-config would look like: http://user:pwd@<ISY IP address>/rest/vars/set/2/9/${intensity.percent} for State Variable #9.

My vote for Izzy!! Just asked my wife, she says Izzy to.

Tungsten, Are you using the friendly name "Thermostat"? If you use any other name, then Amazon will truncate/round the number you provide before sending it on. It only leaves items named "Thermostat" along, unchanged (for 0-99).

I agree the biggest value of your tool is the ability to integrate so well, read and write, with the ISY. And doing what you describe above would be AMAZING, providing similar integration with harmony. But I guess I was thinking smaller, at least as a first step. Perhaps just expand the capabilities of the custom endpoint settings to allow different verbs (PUT, GET, POST) and different body types (e.g. JSON). Maybe mimic the options already there in the BWS HA-Bridge web interface within your custom device options. Users would still have to gather info themselves, like I do now, but allows us to use your tool which I like much more as a single interface. A later step could be to allow people to put Activity IDs/names, Device button IDs/names manually into the config file to do some of what you describe above, scaping the IDs/names themselves from the 'list' command of the restful-harmony interface. The names and device IDs are mostly static. Only changes are when you add new device / activities (need to add new stuff) or when you change names of a device/activity (IDs stay same, but names change - so better to use IDs if you plan to change names over time).

Thanks once again, Barry. The variable addition is huge to me, since I use the ISY a lot to do intermediate work before handing off to the end device. For example, filtering a temperature value for my thermostat to make sure it is reasonable and sane. I am now using BWS System's restful-harmony bridge to control my home theater via my harmony hub/remote. It really is slick. One issue I am running into, however, is that BWS uses PUT commands with a json body. I have had to create those directly in the HA-bridge's web page. Works OK, but it would be nicer to have it all handled in your slick app. Any thoughts of including this capability for the custom endpoints? You would need to be able to select "PUT", and handle a json body such as {"deviceid":"Watch TV"}. Not a huge deal to go back and forth between your app and the BWS web page, but I do miss how hice yours is for moving across emulators and the general ease of use. Thanks again for sharing your great app! Blueman2

The developer sent me an email saying he found a bug that was causing this issue, at least for Windows environments. This fix should be rolled into the next drop. Not sure when.

But just make sure you can really save changes in 0.4.8. For windows, 0.4.8 would access the file, appear to edit and delete, but never saved any changes.

OK, something broke with the BWS emulator after 0.4.4 if running under Windows environment. I am running 0.4.8 just fine on my RPi, but trying to run it on my PC fails to write to the db file. But it does not sound like you are running under Windows, since you talk of chmod 777. But in any case, try to use 0.4.4. If you cannot find the legacy file on their site, I can email it to you. EDIT: Here is the link to 0.4.4 version if you need it.

jruben4, I just noticed this issue as well today. Not sure what is going on, whether it is the ha-bridge software or Barry's mapping tool. I just copied a db file from another location, used Barry's tool to delete the devices in it, and went from there. Very odd.

Eric, When I try to get my session key, I keep getting this response (removed my client info of course) {"url":"/oauth2/access_token?code=xxxxxx&client_id=xxxxxx&client_secret=xxxx&grant_type=authorization_code","message":"404 Not Found"} Any thoughts? Maybe a CORS issue?? Also, any new family additions yet????

Looks like the 0.4.8 version with that support is already up. Running it now. Thanks for communicating to BWS! BTW, how does BWS support it's development costs? I was thinking of doing a small donation to them for the emulator they are working on.

Great idea!! I am on 5.02 now, but cannot find a way to include a variable as part of a PUT/POST command. I will ask in the 5.0 area if this is possible. But you are right, this would be a very nice way to do it.

So do you have the Home Control model with the light/plug buttons?

Eric, I do not have one of the newer Harmony remotes. Still using the old 900 version. I see that there are 2 options now. One is the regular Smart Remote, and the other is Home Control remote. Will either one work to integrate with the Echo, or do I need the Home Control version. I was not sure if the only difference was a few buttons or if they are fundamentally different. Thanks

Does anyone know of a list of all Alexa commands/words that can be used with Home Automation currently? Is it documented anywhere by Amazon? Finding out that giving the name Thermostat allowed a device to pass actual values rather than rounded brightness levels makes me want to see what other easter eggs there are in terms of wording for Alexa.

OK, I have it all working the way I want. Using the friendly name "Thermostat" the Echo will provide an unmanipulated number between 1 and 100 every time using {intensity.percent} variable. I also changed the device type to "Climate" but I am not sure that does anything. Setup: ====== Emulator: BWS's Hue Emulator version 0.4.4 running on RPi2 Mapper: Barry's AWS_config version 2.0.39 ISY firmware: 5.0.2 In Barry's AWS_config: =================== Friendly Name: Thermostat (IMPORTANT: use this name!!) Device Type: Climate (I do not think this matters, but what the heck) My On URL: /rest/vars/set/2/9/${intensity.percent} I have a program that looks to see if the State Variable 9 is between 60-71 and, if so, sets the heat setpoint to that value and sets the thermostat to heat mode. If between 72-80, it sets the cool setpoint to that value and sets the thermostat to cool mode. I also created programs on my ISY that Alexa can trigger to turn off and on the heating and cooling modes by voice command. To use, I say "Alexa, set Thermostat to 72" and this will put my cool setpoint to 72 and enable the AC mode on my thermostat. I can then say "Alexa, turn off AC" and it will go into off mode. I can later say "Alexa, turn on AC" and it will re-enable cooling mode using the last temperature setpoint. So far, it is working perfectly!!!! Eric and Barry, thank you both for the help and direction!!!

OK, I think I am finally there. I changed the friendly name to Thermostat and it is working just right!! (Thanks for the clue in your video, Eric!!). I am using {intensity.percent} and sending that to my ISY as a state variable. My command line is http://user:pwd@<ISY IP address>/rest/vars/set/2/9/${intensity.percent} This writes to the State Variable with ID 9. So far, it is working every time. I tried number from 1 to 100. Above 100 it does not work. It also will not take negative. Of course, not an issue for temp, but just checking. I can use "Alexa, set thermostat to 72" or "Alexa, set thermostat to 72 degrees" and both work every time so far (after about 50 tests). Now to write the program that will filter the values to ones that are reasonable, and then send them to my thermostat in ISY. (using 5.02 firmware)

OK, Something weird is going on. I created a new device and it works perfectly for whatever number between 0 and 100 that I give it. But then I made a minor change to its friendly name, updated and re-discovered, and it does not work anymore. Also, if I say "Alexa, set Heater to 73", it will give me 75 by rounding. BUT if I say "Alexa, set THE heater to 73" it works, most of the time. But sometimes gives me 100%. So something needs to be set VERY precisely to make this work. This proves it CAN be done, but must be done exactly right. I am using the same emulator as Eric2XU for testing. I will go back to the BWS one and see if it is the same. But there is some promise here!!

Wow, Eric. Thanks for the video. But first, are you a 2 child home now? Or is the baby still waiting to come out? Good luck!!! Now, on to your setup. If you go to your Echo web app, and look at connected home devices, does your thermostat show as a Hue Light? If so, then it would appear that Amazon does indeed pass along the entire intensity variable, unmodified, to the Hue for lights. Can you confirm this? I will look at your code (I am NOT an experienced coder, but I like to play) and try to better understand what you have done. THANKS for giving us hope!

I would prefer not to use a Skill, but rather the existing Alexa commands. The reason is that there is a higher WAF for saying "Alexa, set AC to 72" rather than having to say "Alexa, tell Sandy to set AC to 72". Just simpler. Though I also agree I prefer to use my ISY to ensure the variable is not out of bounds or crazy. For that, I would just have the Hue Emulator send the intensity value to a State Variable in the ISY, and use that to set the thermostat in a program. That is what I tried to do, but the manipulation of the intensity.percent variable (rounding to 5) make this a no-go. The question then is who is doing the manipulation of the intensity.percent value? If it is Amazon, then we cannot use intensity.percent. We would need to find another variable that is passed along without filtering. If, on the other hand, Amazon is passing to the Hue Emulator the exact number, and it is the Hue Emulator that is adjusting the number (rounding to 5, making any value above 80=100, etc) then we would just need to adjust the Hue Emulator. Maybe ask BWS to create a new {intensity.actual} value. Does anyone know if it is Amazon or the Emulator that is doing the current manipulation/change of the {intensity.percent} value????

I believe that the Echo can be made to pass along values such as temperature since that is a supported command. Amazon is just doing pre-filtering of the number since it is for dimmers. Maybe the BWS people can find a way to directly pass along a variable. Maybe climate class devices would avoid this filtering?

Yeah, my typing was pretty poor. I corrected it. HOWEVER....... I did not realize until I starting testing that dimmer only works in increments of 5!! I was testing for 60, 65, 70 and it worked just fine. But if you ask Alexa to set Air Conditioner to 72, she will give you 75. This makes sense because you do not need to dim so precisely. Sooooo, we cannot use dimmer to control the AC. I wonder if there is another variable that is used for climate devices which will return the actual number you give Alexa? Darn, I was so close!

Alexa control of Heater and AC is now working great!!!!!!!!!! (Edit: No, it is not!!.... see 2 posts below) Silly me, this was much easier than I thought! I upgraded to ISY firmware 5.02, and am now able to set my AC and Heater with my Echo! Steps I followed: create a State Variable in ISY called Air_Conditioner. Note the ID number for that state variable (just to the left of the name). using Barry's tool, create an echo device link for your Insteon Thermostat. For me, I used the Thermostate-Main entry to create the device link. Rename it to Air Conditioner Then go back and edited the On URL entry, replacing the rest command with: /rest/vars/set/2/<state_id_number>/${intensity.percent}. Put in your state ID #. now create a program as follows in ISY: IF $Air_Conditioner >= 68 Then Set 'Thermostat - Main' Cool Setpoint '$Air_Conditioner Degrees' Else Now, if you say "Alexa, set Air Conditioner to 70", it will set your cool point to 70 degrees!! The reason for the IF is twofold - makes sure you do not set your AC to some ridiculously low setting - Causes the program to run anytime you change the setting via Alexa Give it a try!! you can do the same for your Heater Setpoint by making the obvious changes.

That would sure make it easier. Very ISY specific, but would be very nice.