Amazon Echo and ISY

[bfish]

 

 

Thanks, Barry and Chuck.  Meanwhile, after posting, I found a recommendation to add "-Dupnp.config.address=10.0.0.6" to my emulator startup command, which I did.  Alexa now finds my devices, but a new problem appeared.  When I issue a command, she pauses, then states, "Sorry, the device Brads Desk is not responding.  Please check it's network connection and power supply."  I rebooted the ISY for kicks and giggles, but no luck.  Of course, everything works fine manually, just not via Alexa.

 

BTW... I am running the emulator on a windows 8.1 PC and I ran the config utility (thanks so much for sharing that) on same machine successfully.

[barrygordon]

That message indicates that the emulator did not get a response of "http 200 OK" from the ISY.  Are the ISY and the Emulator on the same sub-net?  Are there any firewalls running On Windows or your router.  I always run my home with all firewalls off except for the protection my Router provides between the Internet and my LAN, i.e. I allow totally open communications between devices on my LAN

[bfish]

Barry and Chuck,

 

Thanks for the encouragement!  I downloaded the configurator from Barry's page and the emulator from BWS Web site, reconfigured and all is now good!  This is AWESOME!

 

Only challenge left is for the life of me I haven't figured out how to get a batch file to run in Windows startup folder.  Some days I really miss DOS!  hehehe

 

Thanks and happy new year!

[ahwman]

Barry and Chuck,

 

Thanks for the encouragement!  I downloaded the configurator from Barry's page and the emulator from BWS Web site, reconfigured and all is now good!  This is AWESOME!

 

Only challenge left is for the life of me I haven't figured out how to get a batch file to run in Windows startup folder.  Some days I really miss DOS!  hehehe

 

Thanks and happy new year!

Bfish,

 

I'm so happy to hear you got it working, congratulations! Regarding the batch startup file, that's a piece of cake. Just place the .bat file into the emulator folder and then simply create a shortcut to it by right clicking on your desktop and chosing "create shortcut", then simply browse to the .bat file, then place the shortcut you just created in your Windows startup folder and you should be golden...

 

The emulator works great, however I am noticing an intermittent issue where Alexa will respond to my request with "That device doesn't support that command". It's not related to any specific device and simply asking the same request again will work. I'm trying to determine if this is on Amazon's end or related is some way to the emulator or mapping of devices. Let me know if you experience this as well.

 

Enjoy!

 

Chuck

[barrygordon]

I had that same intermittent issue, but have not had it for the past few days.  All is working perfectly.  I am of the opinion it is an Amazon issue in the cloud. I suspect they get momentarily overloaded.

[ahwman]

I had that same intermittent issue, but have not had it for the past few days.  All is working perfectly.  I am of the opinion it is an Amazon issue in the cloud. I suspect they get momentarily overloaded.

Hmm. I've had it happen a few times today. I was thinking of contacting Amazon, however I reconsidered since I'm using an emulator and wasn't sure how my requests might look on their end...

 

Chuck

[Tungsten]

I'm having this exact same issue today. Haven't changed anything on my end so I'm assuming it's something on Amazon's end.

[Jimbo.Automates]

I was using Alexa a lot today since I was debugging ISYHelper and never had that response. Worked perfectly every time.

 

Sent from my Pixel C using Tapatalk

[ahwman]

I was using Alexa a lot today since I was debugging ISYHelper and never had that response. Worked perfectly every time.

Sent from my Pixel C using Tapatalk

Just to be clear, I'm only referring to issuing connected home device requests, not generic Echo operation. Example: "Alexa, turn on kitchen lights" and her response is "This device does not support that command". I then repeat the exact same command and her response is "ok" and the lights turn on as usual. Again, this happens maybe once every 25 times or so...

 

Chuck

[Jimbo.Automates]

Just to be clear, I'm only referring to issuing connected home device requests, not generic Echo operation. Example: "Alexa, turn on kitchen lights" and her response is "This device does not support that command". I then repeat the exact same command and her response is "ok" and the lights turn on as usual. Again, this happens maybe once every 25 times or so...

 

Chuck

Yes, that was clear. The only difference with what you are doing is I use the python hue emulator, not the Java one. I have never had Alexa respond with that.

 

Sent from my Pixel C using Tapatalk

[Tungsten]

I'm using the Java BWS emulator & having this issue today

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello MWareman,

 

Thank you for the feedback:

1. The spoken fields are no longer propagated to the portal since they would require a Refresh

2. Programs are going to be there shortly

3. Whatever you used to have should still be there

4. Yes, we should be able to search based on type

 

What do you mean by encoded?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[pkauf]

OK, looping through these many pages, I'm confused on the current support of Echo and ISY994i.  I have been using the 994i for about 2 years and love it.  Already integrated by alarm using ISY/DSCLink running on a PC, and I'd like to integrate and Echo, but can't find a source for what the current support is (direct, need some sort of intermediate device/hub/etc).  I'm mainly wanted to start just controlling lights or kicking off ISY programs via Echo.  I don't mind configuring/etc extra things, but would rather not if possible.  Is there a better place to find "current status of ISY/Echo direct integration" or do I just have to filter through the pages of info here (It's all good, but looking for the easiest way to start).

 

Thanks in Advance.

 

Paul

[barrygordon]

I will try and sum it up for you;

 

Amazon:

Amazon allows for two things to  link an Echo to external systems. One is called a "Skill Adapter", the other a "Skill".

A skill adapter allows you to say: "Alexa turn on . . .; "Alexa Turn off. . . ,  "Alexa  Dim . . . with very little in the way of providing for other commands such as Lock, Set temperature, etc. It is what is used currently for The Philips HUE, The Belkin Wemo, SmartThings, and the Insteon Hub.     Note the restricted command set. (Turn On, Turn Off, Dim) as it was designed predominately for lighting systems

A Skill Allows you to have a much more flexible speech interaction but requires you to say:  "Alexa, Tell <skill name> to <command sequence>,  or variants on that; but always requires the skill name. The command sequences are defined by UDI as part of the Skill.

 

Official support:

UDI has developed an Amazon Skill which costs $50 for two years. It is a non trivial development process  so the current state is: working, some issues, improving all the time

UDI is working on an official Skill Adapter similar to what Insteon provides.  I do not know its status/cost other than it is a WIP.

 

unOfficial Support (the majority of this thread):

This involves an emulation of the Philips Hue system (the API is available from Philips) so it is a "Skill Adapter". In fact the Amazon system believes it is actually dealing with a Phillips Hue system.  There are several version of the Emulator, and the tools to interface the emulator to the ISY. A significant number of ISY owners use the HA Bridge from BWS Systems (bwssystems.com).  This is a Java based program that will run on any machine that has a Java environment installed (Windows PC, MAC, Raspberry Pi). This emulator was written with a great deal of flexibility for defining the external device, but originally for the Vera Mi Casa, and then the Logitech Harmony system. It really knows nothing about the ISY. It is required to be running 24/7.  I wrote a configuration program that allows a user to easily tie the ISY to the HA Bridge by referencing the ISY and then using a drag and drop (minimal typing) paradigm to configure the data base of the emulator. Others have or are in the process of doing this also. My configuration program only runs on a Windows system and is available from my web site (www.the-gordons.net). Amazon actually encourages D-I-Y users to develop things like "Skills" and "Skill Adapters" so I do not believe Amazon would attempt to make changes that precluded the development of ones own "Skill" or "Skill Adapter".  Several of us have written "Skiils", but none have been released publicly, i.e. made available to others.

 

My usage:

I have four (4) instances of the emulator running on a single Raspberry Pi model 2.  I have 93 "things" configured for the emulator to handle commands for. It is a mixture of ISY controlled Insteon devices (switches, dim-able and non-dim-able, micro controllers etc.); ISY Scenes (turn on, turn off), and ISY Programs (Turn On=runThen, Turn Off=runElse). My ISY "things" are spread among three of the emulation instances, with the last instances allowing the Echo to control non-ISY things (my Pool system; my Home Theater). I have been running this configuration for over a month with only one glitch as recorded in recent posts to this thread.  At this time I am getting 100% reliability as long as I am speaking relatively clearly. I have two Echos, one with the wake word being Alexa, and one with it being Amazon.

 

This Thread:

This thread contains among its 50+ pages all you need to set up an Echo system with the emulator running on a Raspberry pi (the cost of a Pi for this being about $60-$70 ) with no Amazon or other costs.

 

Hope that helps explain it

Edited January 3, 2016 by barrygordon

[pkauf]

I will try and sum it up for you;

 

Amazon:

Amazon allows for two things to  link an Echo to external systems. One is called a "Skill Adapter", the other a "Skill".

A skill adapter allows you to say: "Alexa turn on . . .; "Alexa Turn off. . . ,  "Alexa  Dim . . . with very little in the way of providing for other commands such as Lock, Set temperature, etc. It is what is used currently for The Philips HUE, The Belkin Wemo, SmartThings, and the Insteon Hub.     Note the restricted command set. (Turn On, Turn Off, Dim) as it was designed predominately for lighting systems

A Skill Allows you to have a much more flexible speech interaction but requires you to say:  "Alexa, Tell <skill name> to <command sequence>,.  or variants on that; but always requires the skill name. 

 

Official support:

UDI has developed an Amazon skill which costs $50 for two years. It is a non trivial development process  so the current state is: working, some issues, improving all the time

UDI is working on an official Skill Adapter similar to what Insteon provides.  I do not know its status/cost other than it is a WIP.

 

unOfficial Support (the majority of this thread):

This involves an emulation of the Philips Hue system (the API is available from Philips) so it is a "Skill Adapter". In fact the Amazon system believes it is actually dealing with a Phillips Hue system.  There are several version of the Emulator, and the tools to interface the emulator to the ISY. A significant number of ISY owners use the HA Bridge from BWS Systems (bwssystems.com).  This is a Java based program that will run on any machine that has a Java environment installed (Windows PC, MAC, Raspberry Pi). This emulator was written with a great deal of flexibility for defining the external device, but originally for the Vera Mi Casa, and then the Logitech Harmony system. It really knows nothing about the ISY. It is required to be running 24/7.  I wrote a configuration program that allows a user to easily tie the ISY to the HA Bridge by referencing the ISY and then using a drag and drop (minimal typing) paradigm to configure the data base of the emulator. Others have or are in the process of doing this also. My configuration program only runs on a Windows system and is available from my web site (www.the-gordons.net). Amazon actually encourages D-I-Y users to develop things like "Skills" and "Skill Adapters" so I do not believe Amazon would attempt to make changes that precluded the development of ones own "Skill" or "Skill Adapter"

Several of us have written "Skiils", but none have been released publicly, i.e. made available to others.

 

My usage:

I have four (4) instances of the emulator running on a single Raspberry Pi model 2.  I have 93 "things" configured for the emulator to handle commands for. It is a mixture of ISY controlled Insteon devices (switches, dim-able and non-dim-able, micro controllers etc.); ISY Scenes (turn on, turn off), and ISY Programs (Turn On=runThen, Turn Off=runElse). My ISY "things" are spread among three of the emulation instances, with the last instances allowing the Echo to control non-ISY things (my Pool system; my Home Theater). I have been running this configuration for over a month with only one glitch as recorded in recent posts to this thread.  At this time I am getting 100% reliability as long as I am speaking relatively clearly. I have two Echos, one with the wake word being Alexa, and one with it being Amazon.

 

This Thread:

This thread contains among its 50+ pages all you need to set up an Echo system with the emulator running on a Raspberry pi (the cost of a Pi for this being about $60-$70 ) with no Amazon or other costs.

 

Hope that helps explain it

Wow, very cool, really appreciate the detailed explanation.   I'm very familiar with the RPi (running 2 to do dns/web services/perl script automation, etc.), used it since the original came out.  Mine are version 2, so I might repurpose one for this.  I haven't bought the Echo yet, been watching these threads, and am finally to the point with other projects I can spend some time on this.

 

Once again, thanks a bunch for consolidating this info here . . .  It took you some time, and I appreciate it!!!

 

Paul

Edited January 3, 2016 by pkauf

[barrygordon]

You shouldn't have to re-purpose, just add the emulator and make sure you have Java installed.  Then add the necessary startup lines to  whatever you use for start up (rc.local).  I do run mine dedicated and headless.

[pkauf]

You shouldn't have to re-purpose, just add the emulator and make sure you have Java installed.  Then add the necessary startup lines to  whatever you use for start up (rc.local).  I do run mine dedicated and headless.

Mine are actually sitting in a DMZ outside my home network, so I'd rather pull it inside and not have to deal with poking correct ports/routes/etc. through my firewall.  Or I'll just buy another one, as you can't every have enough RPis. :--)

[barrygordon]

I know, I have 5 RPi's running at this time. One doing the Emulator, one doing Kodi, and the other three just hanging around. They all run headless using tightVNC to provide a remote keyboard/mouse and either Samba on the RPi or WINSCP running on my widows macine

[pkauf]

I will try and sum it up for you;

 

Amazon:

Amazon allows for two things to  link an Echo to external systems. One is called a "Skill Adapter", the other a "Skill".

A skill adapter allows you to say: "Alexa turn on . . .; "Alexa Turn off. . . ,  "Alexa  Dim . . . with very little in the way of providing for other commands such as Lock, Set temperature, etc. It is what is used currently for The Philips HUE, The Belkin Wemo, SmartThings, and the Insteon Hub.     Note the restricted command set. (Turn On, Turn Off, Dim) as it was designed predominately for lighting systems

A Skill Allows you to have a much more flexible speech interaction but requires you to say:  "Alexa, Tell <skill name> to <command sequence>,  or variants on that; but always requires the skill name. The command sequences are defined by UDI as part of the Skill.

 

Official support:

UDI has developed an Amazon Skill which costs $50 for two years. It is a non trivial development process  so the current state is: working, some issues, improving all the time

UDI is working on an official Skill Adapter similar to what Insteon provides.  I do not know its status/cost other than it is a WIP.

 

unOfficial Support (the majority of this thread):

This involves an emulation of the Philips Hue system (the API is available from Philips) so it is a "Skill Adapter". In fact the Amazon system believes it is actually dealing with a Phillips Hue system.  There are several version of the Emulator, and the tools to interface the emulator to the ISY. A significant number of ISY owners use the HA Bridge from BWS Systems (bwssystems.com).  This is a Java based program that will run on any machine that has a Java environment installed (Windows PC, MAC, Raspberry Pi). This emulator was written with a great deal of flexibility for defining the external device, but originally for the Vera Mi Casa, and then the Logitech Harmony system. It really knows nothing about the ISY. It is required to be running 24/7.  I wrote a configuration program that allows a user to easily tie the ISY to the HA Bridge by referencing the ISY and then using a drag and drop (minimal typing) paradigm to configure the data base of the emulator. Others have or are in the process of doing this also. My configuration program only runs on a Windows system and is available from my web site (www.the-gordons.net). Amazon actually encourages D-I-Y users to develop things like "Skills" and "Skill Adapters" so I do not believe Amazon would attempt to make changes that precluded the development of ones own "Skill" or "Skill Adapter".  Several of us have written "Skiils", but none have been released publicly, i.e. made available to others.

 

My usage:

I have four (4) instances of the emulator running on a single Raspberry Pi model 2.  I have 93 "things" configured for the emulator to handle commands for. It is a mixture of ISY controlled Insteon devices (switches, dim-able and non-dim-able, micro controllers etc.); ISY Scenes (turn on, turn off), and ISY Programs (Turn On=runThen, Turn Off=runElse). My ISY "things" are spread among three of the emulation instances, with the last instances allowing the Echo to control non-ISY things (my Pool system; my Home Theater). I have been running this configuration for over a month with only one glitch as recorded in recent posts to this thread.  At this time I am getting 100% reliability as long as I am speaking relatively clearly. I have two Echos, one with the wake word being Alexa, and one with it being Amazon.

 

This Thread:

This thread contains among its 50+ pages all you need to set up an Echo system with the emulator running on a Raspberry pi (the cost of a Pi for this being about $60-$70 ) with no Amazon or other costs.

 

Hope that helps explain it

Why four instances?  Performance?

[barrygordon]

IIRC a Hue can only handle 16 lights. With early versions of the emulator there were issues with Amazon discovering all the devices with a limit of some 40+. I have no issue on the amazon handling the emulator with up to 37 devices, I just never tried more. I have 93 devices spread out on the instances. It is not a RPi performance issue as only one instance is ever active in my home and each instance is a negligible load. So the setup is just one executable with four start commands each with different values for some of the parameters (port number, Database name, Logfile name).  It is discussed a couple of pages back in the thread.

[Jimbo.Automates]

I will try and sum it up for you;

 

Amazon:

Amazon allows for two things to link an Echo to external systems. One is called a "Skill Adapter", the other a "Skill".

A skill adapter allows you to say: "Alexa turn on . . .; "Alexa Turn off. . . , "Alexa Dim . . . with very little in the way of providing for other commands such as Lock, Set temperature, etc. It is what is used currently for The Philips HUE, The Belkin Wemo, SmartThings, and the Insteon Hub. Note the restricted command set. (Turn On, Turn Off, Dim) as it was designed predominately for lighting systems

A Skill Allows you to have a much more flexible speech interaction but requires you to say: "Alexa, Tell <skill name> to <command sequence>, or variants on that; but always requires the skill name. The command sequences are defined by UDI as part of the Skill.

 

Official support:

UDI has developed an Amazon Skill which costs $50 for two years. It is a non trivial development process so the current state is: working, some issues, improving all the time

UDI is working on an official Skill Adapter similar to what Insteon provides. I do not know its status/cost other than it is a WIP.

 

unOfficial Support (the majority of this thread):

This involves an emulation of the Philips Hue system (the API is available from Philips) so it is a "Skill Adapter". In fact the Amazon system believes it is actually dealing with a Phillips Hue system. There are several version of the Emulator, and the tools to interface the emulator to the ISY. A significant number of ISY owners use the HA Bridge from BWS Systems (bwssystems.com). This is a Java based program that will run on any machine that has a Java environment installed (Windows PC, MAC, Raspberry Pi). This emulator was written with a great deal of flexibility for defining the external device, but originally for the Vera Mi Casa, and then the Logitech Harmony system. It really knows nothing about the ISY. It is required to be running 24/7. I wrote a configuration program that allows a user to easily tie the ISY to the HA Bridge by referencing the ISY and then using a drag and drop (minimal typing) paradigm to configure the data base of the emulator. Others have or are in the process of doing this also. My configuration program only runs on a Windows system and is available from my web site (www.the-gordons.net). Amazon actually encourages D-I-Y users to develop things like "Skills" and "Skill Adapters" so I do not believe Amazon would attempt to make changes that precluded the development of ones own "Skill" or "Skill Adapter". Several of us have written "Skiils", but none have been released publicly, i.e. made available to others.

 

My usage:

I have four (4) instances of the emulator running on a single Raspberry Pi model 2. I have 93 "things" configured for the emulator to handle commands for. It is a mixture of ISY controlled Insteon devices (switches, dim-able and non-dim-able, micro controllers etc.); ISY Scenes (turn on, turn off), and ISY Programs (Turn On=runThen, Turn Off=runElse). My ISY "things" are spread among three of the emulation instances, with the last instances allowing the Echo to control non-ISY things (my Pool system; my Home Theater). I have been running this configuration for over a month with only one glitch as recorded in recent posts to this thread. At this time I am getting 100% reliability as long as I am speaking relatively clearly. I have two Echos, one with the wake word being Alexa, and one with it being Amazon.

 

This Thread:

This thread contains among its 50+ pages all you need to set up an Echo system with the emulator running on a Raspberry pi (the cost of a Pi for this being about $60-$70 ) with no Amazon or other costs.

 

Hope that helps explain it

Thanks for detailing this info, would really be nice to have a wiki page detailing the current state..

 

To add to Barry's info, the other emulator that some are using is hue-upnp which is all python code and integrated into ISYHelper.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[bfish]

Chuck,

 

I've had that issue a few times.  At first I deleted all the devices known to Alexa and re-discovered, but then a bit later I just tried again (was too lazy to go upstairs to do the whole sequence) and ti worked fine.  Has only happened a few times to me, but I'm only 2 days in at this point.

 

Brad

[bfish]

Just a random question after poking around some other sections on the forum.... couldn't the ISY network module run the Hue emulator?

 

I don't know much about the network module, but given that there hasn't been any suggestion of that from all the smart ISY people on this forum, I'm guessing the answer is no.  I just don't know why it's no?

[barrygordon]

bfish,

 

NO.  the network module is made to communicate with a simple IP based device.  The Emulator is a lot more complicated than that.  It needs to be able to deal with the Echo over a secure link. The emulator does communicate with the ISY but via the ISY's Restful interface.

Edited January 4, 2016 by barrygordon

[ahwman]

Guys,

 

It seems that this evening has been one of the worst in terms of getting back "That command doesn't work on that device". I was getting it about 30% of the time. I could say the same command back to back and one would work and the other would fail. I approached Amazon and they claim this isn't a known issue and that I would need to call in for tech support. Since I'm using a software emulator, I don't suspect that call would go so well.

 

I don't remember this being an issue when I first set up my HA bridge (BWS Systems) about 3 weeks ago. I love using my Echo's for my HA and am a little bummed this seems to be happening more often...

 

Chuck