Amazon Echo and ISY

[barrygordon]

The HA Bridge basically uses the REST interface on the ISY994. If that interface/protocol is the same on the ISY99i then there should be no problem.

No additional modules are needed for the HA Bridge. Additional modules would be needed as per your interface requirements from/to the ISY in your application.

The HA Bridge, what you refer to as the server for the Alexa commands, is a Java application.  Most people are running it on a Raspberry Pi which is a Linux box supporting Java 8.

If your microcomputer runs Java 8 there should be no problem running the HA Bridge, but how much help you can get here for your particular configuration is unknown.

The HA Bridge software is developed and supported by BWS Ssytems (www.bwssystems.com).

 

Hope that helps. 

[kupermanp]

The HA Bridge basically uses the REST interface on the ISY994. If that interface/protocol is the same on the ISY99i then there should be no problem.

No additional modules are needed for the HA Bridge. Additional modules would be needed as per your interface requirements from/to the ISY in your application.

The HA Bridge, what you refer to as the server for the Alexa commands, is a Java application.  Most people are running it on a Raspberry Pi which is a Linux box supporting Java 8.

If your microcomputer runs Java 8 there should be no problem running the HA Bridge, but how much help you can get here for your particular configuration is unknown.

The HA Bridge software is developed and supported by BWS Ssytems (www.bwssystems.com).

 

Hope that helps. 

 

Its helpful but I'd need to know what the REST interface refers to in order to comment on its availability  Is that the java interface that runs the administrator console? 

 

I have a couple of raspberryPI lying around so that shouldn't be a big problem.  I know I can run my solar stuff through a raspberryPi so I can likely consolidate into that as well

 

Thanks

K 

Edited November 24, 2015 by kupermanp

[barrygordon]

The REST interface I am referring to is merely the protocol used on the ISY994 to communicate with it over TCP/IP. I just don't know if the older model ISY has that same protocol built into it. It is standard on the ISY994 and not an optional module. The Rest protocol allows you to submit requests for information and commands to the ISY using TCP/IP. There is an ISY that handles IR, I think it is the ISY994IR

 

I have no idea what the interface to the ISY is through the Admin console.

Edited November 24, 2015 by barrygordon

[kupermanp]

I know I can directly log into the ISY using a browser and the IP address.  From there I can run commands etc.  How could I check r test for a REST interface

 

Thanks

K

[barrygordon]

This is documented in the docs associated with the release.

 

Basically you send an http command including user id and password to the appropriate port on the ISY with the payload being the REST command.  

 

You may want to take this question over to the question/How To area in the forum where an individual more knowledgeable on ISY operations might be able to assist you. 

 

I use raw TCP/IP and do not interface to the ISY using a browser so I do not want to give you incorrect information.

[Scottmichaelj]

FYI Amazon Echo is on sale now again for $150 - think this is the lowest its going to go.

[502ss]

Trying to avoid reading 40+ pages, as I have already read 30 other pages on this forum tonight alone!

 

I just got my echo today and want to try one of the emulators but looking for some basic pros and cons on why I would go with the hue vs. the Wemo?

 

Thanks

Jim

[barrygordon]

Read the 40 pages.  It will give you a better appreciation as to what has been going on.

[jackal]

Trying to avoid reading 40+ pages, as I have already read 30 other pages on this forum tonight alone!

 

I just got my echo today and want to try one of the emulators but looking for some basic pros and cons on why I would go with the hue vs. the Wemo?

 

Thanks

Jim

 

Many advantages but the BIG one is that there is Barry's configurator which makes the entire setup much much easier as it automatically gets all the devices/scenes from the ISY.  (vs manually keying in the entries)

[502ss]

Many advantages but the BIG one is that there is Barry's configurator which makes the entire setup much much easier as it automatically gets all the devices/scenes from the ISY.  (vs manually keying in the entries)

Thanks!

 

I got impatient and got the hue emulator running yesterday and used g1of4's mapping program, seems to work really well from my windows 7 machine!

 

Is this a decent combo or does what Barrygordon have offer better functionality?

 

While I am talking about functionality, does anyone know if the official echo skill will allow more flexibility around the "friendly names". It would be cool to not have to say "on" or "off"

 

Thanks

Jim

[barrygordon]

'Better' is an interesting word. It depends on what you are looking for. The configuration system I wrote runs under windows seven and is well documented. It is available at my web site

www.the-gordons.net. If it doesn't meet your needs, don't use it, just uninstall it.

[jackal]

Is this a decent combo or does what Barrygordon have offer better functionality?

 

The basic operations are the same and seeing how busy you are, you should keep your existing setup.

 

However, both the BWS emulator and Barry's configurator are superior in my opinion.  

 

I did a little documentation for myself regarding the entire setup.  Should we start a new thread on Echo based on Barry's configurator? 

[Scottmichaelj]

Should we start a new thread on Echo based on Barry's configurator?

I think this would be a good idea as well as asking Michel to add it to the Wiki too would benefit the forum members.

[jackal]

I think this would be a good idea as well as asking Michel to add it to the Wiki too would benefit the forum members.

 

I don't want to hijack the credit.  Would Barry be kind enough to do the honor?  And I would post my entire noob setup as a post after that.  Thanks Barry!!

[stusviews]

In the interim, could you mention some specifics. Which is better, a sports car or a moving van?

[barrygordon]

I know Michel reads these threads and and is busy involved in developing the skill for the ISY. I am sure he follows this one.

If he feels it is advantageous to start a new forum section devoted to speech control of the ISY I am sure he will do so.

I am sure that the new skill will be better than trying to emulate the HUE system, even with the overhead of having to add the two words as in 'Alexa, tell Izzy to . . . "

If any of you want to contact Michel feel free to do so

 

jackal, You should post your setup.

stusviews, My point exactly.

 

I am currently playing around with a ceiling mount for the Echo based on the premise, 'Nobody looks up'. It starts with a nice 8" basswood disk with a nice routed outer edge, and a hole drilled in the center that is a jam fit for the Echo. My home is no issue as it is one story with full attic access so adding a receptacle for power is not an issue for me, It might be in the lower floor of a multistory dwelling. Ceilings in my home are 12 feet in the Great Room and 10 feet everywhere else.

[jackal]

Here's my entire setup

 

The Amazon Echo project

 

Tools for this project

=================

1.  Raspberry Pi

2.  Network module enabled for ISY

3.  PC

4.  Amazon Echo

 

Replace:  192.168.1.99 with the address of your Raspberry Pi

Replace:  192.168.1.88 with the address of your ISY

 

 

1. Setting up Raspberry Pi

 a.  Download NOOBS

 b.  SSH into Pi using user 'pi' and password 'raspberry'

 c. (Optional) Install TightVNC 

      Reference: http://www.penguintutor.com/linux/tightvnc

 d. (Optional) Set a static IP address for Pi

      sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

      add the following:

interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.1.99/24
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1
interface wlan0
static ip_address=192.168.1.98/24
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1

      Reference: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=798866#p798866

 

2.  Run HA Bridge

 a.   In RPi, wget latest jar from https://github.com/bwssytems/ha-bridge/releases

 b.   Run 

nohup java -jar -Dvera.address=192.168.1.88 -Dupnp.config.address=192.168.1.99 -Dserver.port=8081 -Dupnp.response.port=50001 -Dupnp.device.db=/home/pi/echobridge/data/device81.db /home/pi/echobridge/ha-bridge-1.1.0.jar > /home/pi/echobridge/logs/log81.txt 2>&1 &

 c.   Goto 192.168.1.99:8081 to ensure emulator is running

 d.   Modify /etc/rc.local file in Pi to start emulator(s)

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

        Add the following:

 

#!/bin/sh -e
echo "Running the RC.local Bash script, Getting my IP address"
# Print the IP address
_IP=$(hostname -I) || true
if [ "$_IP" ]; then
  printf "My IP address is %s\n" "$_IP"
fi
#The following is for multiple emulators on the same machine
echo "Starting the Echo Bridge Emulators" 
nohup java -jar -Dvera.address=192.168.1.88 -Dupnp.config.address=192.168.1.99 -Dserver.port=8081 -Dupnp.response.port=50001 -Dupnp.device.db=/home/pi/echobridge/data/device81.db /home/pi/echobridge/ha-bridge-1.1.0.jar > /home/pi/echobridge/logs/log81.txt 2>&1 &
nohup java -jar -Dvera.address=192.168.1.88 -Dupnp.config.address=$_IP -Dserver.port=8081 -Dupnp.response.port=50001 -Dupnp.device.db=/home/pi/echobridge/data/device81.db /home/pi/echobridge/ha-bridge-0.4.9.jar > /home/pi/echobridge/logs/log81.txt 2>&1 &
nohup java -jar -Dvera.address=192.168.1.88 -Dupnp.config.address=$_IP -Dserver.port=8082 -Dupnp.response.port=50002 -Dupnp.device.db=/home/pi/echobridge/data/device82.db /home/pi/echobridge/ha-bridge-0.4.9.jar > /home/pi/echobridge/logs/log82.txt 2>&1 &
nohup java -jar -Dvera.address=192.168.1.88 -Dupnp.config.address=$_IP -Dserver.port=8083 -Dupnp.response.port=50003 -Dupnp.device.db=/home/pi/echobridge/data/device83.db /home/pi/echobridge/ha-bridge-0.4.9.jar > /home/pi/echobridge/logs/log83.txt 2>&1 &
nohup java -jar -Dvera.address=192.168.1.88 -Dupnp.config.address=$_IP -Dserver.port=8084 -Dupnp.response.port=50004 -Dupnp.device.db=/home/pi/echobridge/data/device84.db /home/pi/echobridge/ha-bridge-0.4.9.jar > /home/pi/echobridge/logs/log84.txt 2>&1 &
echo "Starting the tightvncserver, to handle SSL protocol for my skill 'Sarah'"
/etc/init.d/tightvncserver start
echo "The RC.local Bash script has completed"
exit 0

3.  Run AWS configurator

 a.   Download exe from http://www.the-gordons.net/homepage/DLF_AWS_Config.html

 b.   Install 

 c.   Open notepad in adminstrator mode and edit c:\programs files(x86)\AWS_Config\AWS_config.ini accordingly

 d.   Open AWS Configurator and add the devices and scenes to the emulator(s)

 

4.  Configure Echo

 a.   Goto: echo.amazon.com/#settings/connected-home  to login and configure Echo

 b.   Say "Alexa, discover my devices" to add devices to it.  You may have to do a few times.

 

That's it!

[stusviews]

That's it? Did I miss the part that makes it "better?" Does a different method require less than the more than a dozen or so steps you've outlined? Do other methods require that you have to ask Alexa to add the devices more than a few times? Or can they not do that at all?

 

I'm not saying that what you've done isn't great. I just don't know what makes it better.

[KMan]

 

Here's my entire setup

 

Tools for this project

=================

 

2.  Network module enabled for ISY

 

 

Thanks for posting that.  What is the need for the network module in this setup?  What does the ISY need to talk to for this to work?

 

I haven't had time to read the 40 pages in this thread yet ... not sure if I'll have time before the UDI skill is approved/published.  This thread (and the pending UDI skill) prompted me to pull the trigger on an echo over the weekend.  So far, entirely underwhelmed with it, but integrating it with the ISY would be off the charts in WAF.

[Jimbo.Automates]

I had requested this thread be split up a long time ago and was denied. So I split out my efforts to a separate one http://forum.universal-devices.com/index.php?/topic/16787-ISYHelper:-Interface-older-foscam's,-Maker-IFTTT,-Amazon-Echo,-and-more

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[themlruts]

Thanks for posting that.  What is the need for the network module in this setup?  What does the ISY need to talk to for this to work?

 

I haven't had time to read the 40 pages in this thread yet ... not sure if I'll have time before the UDI skill is approved/published.  This thread (and the pending UDI skill) prompted me to pull the trigger on an echo over the weekend.  So far, entirely underwhelmed with it, but integrating it with the ISY would be off the charts in WAF.

KMan,

The network module is not needed for this setup.  It is using the native url function built in the the ISY

Mike

[barrygordon]

A couple of things.  I have never said that what I produced was better, others have so stated. "Better" is a subjective evaluation.  I personally have never used any any other methodology then the BWS Systems Hue Bridge, and the configuration system I wrote. I wrote the configuration program because the HUE bridge did not query the configuration of the ISY and required a lot of typing.  I suspect (??) there are other front end systems to the HUE Bridge that will do similar things.

 

Most of the steps in what jackal posted are one time steps to set the system up. Steps 3d and 4b need to be repeated only when adding new devices to the ISY that you want to control.

The issue with having to ask the Echo to discover devices multiple times is being looked into by both Amazon and BWS Systems.  At one time early in the game one needed to ask the Echo to do discovery only once and all devices were found.  

 

The purpose of the rc.local segment:

_IP=$(hostname -I) || true
if [ "$_IP" ]; then
  printf "My IP address is %s\n" "$_IP"
fi

is to capture the IP address of the Raspberry Pi as a variable  ($_IP) so that it can be used on the start up lines further don in the rc.local file.

ergo instead of:    -Dupnp.config.address=192.168.1.99      one can write:    -Dupnp.config.address=$_IP

 

I also run 4 instances  of the HUE Bridge JAR but I only use version 1.1.0.  The rc.local file I use is:

 

#!/bin/sh -e

#

# rc.local

#

# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.

# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other

# value on error.

#

# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution

# bits.

#

# By default this script does nothing.

 

echo "Running the RC.local Bash script"

 

# Print the IP address

_IP=$(hostname -I) || true

if [ "$_IP" ]; then

  printf "My IP address is %s\n" "$_IP"

fi

 

#The following is for multiple emulators on the same machine

#echo "Starting the Echo Bridge Emulators" 

nohup java -jar -Dvera.address=192.168.1.229 -Dupnp.config.address=$_IP -Dserver.port=8081 -Dupnp.response.port=50001 -Dupnp.device.db=/home/pi/echobridge/data/device81.db -Ddev.mode=true /home/pi/echobridge/current.jar > /home/pi/echobridge/logs/log81.txt 2>&1 &

nohup java -jar -Dvera.address=192.168.1.229 -Dupnp.config.address=$_IP -Dserver.port=8082 -Dupnp.response.port=50002 -Dupnp.device.db=/home/pi/echobridge/data/device82.db -Ddev.mode=true /home/pi/echobridge/current.jar > /home/pi/echobridge/logs/log82.txt 2>&1 &

nohup java -jar -Dvera.address=192.168.1.229 -Dupnp.config.address=$_IP -Dserver.port=8083 -Dupnp.response.port=50003 -Dupnp.device.db=/home/pi/echobridge/data/device83.db -Ddev.mode=true /home/pi/echobridge/current.jar > /home/pi/echobridge/logs/log83.txt 2>&1 &

nohup java -jar -Dvera.address=192.168.1.229 -Dupnp.config.address=$_IP -Dserver.port=8084 -Dupnp.response.port=50004 -Dupnp.device.db=/home/pi/echobridge/data/device84.db -Ddev.mode=true -Dharmony.address=10.0.0.1 -Dharmony.user=noone -Dharmony.pwd=password -Dorg.slf4j.simpleLogger.defaultLogLevel=DEBUG /home/pi/echobridge/current.jar > /home/pi/echobridge/logs/log84.txt 2>&1 &

 

echo "Starting the tightvncserver"

/etc/init.d/tightvncserver start

 

echo "The RC.local Bash script has completed"

 

exit 0

 

The above script is based on a directory structure of /home/pi/echobridge where the Jar is and also two sub-directories data (/home/pi/echobridge/data) and logs (/home/pi/echobridge/logs. Each instance of the Hue Bridge will use a different name when it writes the data base or logs information into the appropriate directories.

 

Only instance 4 is used for debugging (by me) so it has an extra parameter on the startup line to turn debugging on in the HA Bridge.

The Configuration program will turn on extensive debugging based upon a parameter in the ini file and will put the information into a text file AWS_Config.log in the same directory as the AWS_Config.exe. 

Edited December 2, 2015 by barrygordon

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello everyone,

 

Are we talking about a topic or a forum in and of itself devoted to Echo? If the latter, I am afraid it will just make our already long forum even longer. But, I am open to it as long as one (or more) people will agree to be the moderators for it.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Scottmichaelj]

Hello everyone,

 

Are we talking about a topic or a forum in and of itself devoted to Echo? If the latter, I am afraid it will just make our already long forum even longer. But, I am open to it as long as one (or more) people will agree to be the moderators for it.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

I was suggesting that we split out the different methods into individual threads so they are not all mixed in. I dont think a whole new forum subsection would be needed but thats just my opinion.

 

Also I thought it would be nice to have the different Amazon Echo methods added to the Wiki but since things are constantly changing maybe not posting the actual instructions but a link back to the official threads for reference. IMHO

[jackal]

I was suggesting that we split out the different methods into individual threads so they are not all mixed in. I dont think a whole new forum subsection would be needed but thats just my opinion.

Also I thought it would be nice to have the different Amazon Echo methods added to the Wiki but since things are constantly changing maybe not posting the actual instructions but a link back to the official threads for reference. IMHO

+1

 

The 1st post in this thread uses an entirely different method from the last 20 pages of the thread. Without reading all 40 pages, one can easily be confused which is being discussed.