Amazon Echo and ISY

[glacket]

I'd answer if I knew anything about that. I have just used the regular Raspbian on 3 different pi's for people and it is pretty instant. Only time I see a long delay is for a skill I made that imports data from a google spreadsheet. The first time you have called it in a while, it loads forever, then the second time its almost instant.

Thanks jratliff! i'll keep looking into it. it still happens, only when talking to the bridge. could be bridge to isy or echo to bridge. I need to bring a laptop to the echo, issue a command and watch the hue bridge for the post and record the delay.

[barrygordon]

There is no sleep mode in Raspbian Jesse.

I had a hard time finding your posts as the site kept pointing me to the middle of this thread.

 

I am not sure how the HUE bridge affects the AWS_Configurator because I do not believe it should. The 424 error is a hard stop in the AWS_Configurator that indicates that there is something bad in the code but it will be almost impossible to find because I would need to be able to duplicate your environment. There are many others using the configurator with no issue. However I no longer use it and I am the one that wrote it. It was written as a stop-gap to allow ISY users to deal with the Hue Emulator.

 

At the current time I merely use the official Alexa interface (Smart Things? they change the name too often) with 100% success. The only delays I ever see are when there is an Amazon traffic delay or an ISP delay. Normally response is just about instantaneous. I have 105 devices configured for the Amazon Echo and multiple amazon devices (2 echos, 2 Dots).

 

I use an RPi to do all sorts of things related to the Echo and the ISY and have posted about that in a different thread. At this time my ISY can make all sorts of arbitrary voice announcements through the RPi acting as a proxy. I use Google TTS as the voice system with no cost and no issues. I am slowly phasing out my previous main Home Automation controller (Homeseer) in favor of the RPi. The next task is moving the callerID system over. I just need to buy a FTDI USB to rs232 cable and move the code from VB.net to NodeJS. Thye RPi is currently controlling 16 SPDT relays (IP based) and has 16 digital inputs, 8 temperature inputs, and 8 analog inputs through an interface board made by Denkovi.

 

Strongly suggest if it is possible in your system to go with the Echo interface from UDI.

[glacket]

There is no sleep mode in Raspbian Jesse.

I had a hard time finding your posts as the site kept pointing me to the middle of this thread.

 

I am not sure how the HUE bridge affects the AWS_Configurator because I do not believe it should.  The 424 error is a hard stop in the AWS_Configurator that indicates that there is something bad in the code but it will be almost impossible to find because I would need to be able to duplicate your environment. There are many others using the configurator with no issue. However I no longer use it and I am the one that wrote it.  It was written as a stop-gap to allow ISY users to deal with the Hue Emulator.

 

At the current time I merely use the official Alexa interface (Smart Things?  they change the name too often) with 100% success. The only delays I ever see are when there is an Amazon traffic delay or an ISP delay. Normally response is just about instantaneous. I have 205 devices configured for the Amazon Echo and multiple amazon devices (2 echos, 2 Dots).

 

I use an RPi to do all sorts of things related to the Echo and the ISY and have posted about that in a different thread. At this time my ISY can make all sorts of arbitrary voice announcements through the RPi acting as a proxy. I use Google TTS as the voice system with no cost and no issues. I am slowly phasing out my previous main Home Automation controller (Homeseer) in favor of the RPi. The next task is moving the callerID system over.  I just need to buy a FTDI USB to rs232 cable and move the code from VB.net to NodeJS.  Thye RPi is currently controlling 16 SPDT relays (IP based) and has 16 digital inputs, 8 temperature inputs, and 8 analog inputs through an interface board made by Denkovi.

 

Strongly suggest if it is possible in your system to go with the Echo interface from UDI.

Hey Barrygordon, I have moved away from the aws_config as well just generate the urls needed manually. I May move to the udi gateway when i get the money but for now i was testing the capabilities of the bridge. May I ask why you have started going away from homeseer? How Do you control Zigbee, insteon or zwave with the rpi without homeseer? Also, have you tried rerouting alexa’s responses to a separate speaker like zoned audio, without having to hardwiring it? It ruins the experience when alexa responds to commands as well as and then homeseer responds through the zoned audio.

[barrygordon]

The UDI gateway is, IMHO, reasonably priced at $50 for 2 years. this comes out to around $2 per month. 

 

I have started to switch all my Home Automation over tor raspberry pi's.  Main reason I like to code. Secondarily I find the Pi to be easy to deal with and highly reliable.  I say that tongue in cheek since my Homeseer system doesn't go down unless I take it down to change something. In fact that is the behavior of all of my 24/7 PC's. Eventually they will fail and the pi is quite  bargain at ~$50 for a unit with PSU and case.

 

I control my Insteon ( over 100 units) and Z-wave (just 2 thermostats) and no Zigbee with the ISY994. I still use Homeseer for certain aspects of scheduling but I will be moving that to the Pi.

 

The Amazon Echo can not drive a bluetooth speaker.  It can control an audio system over bluetooth if the audio system follows the appropriate specs.  The Amazon Dot can drive a bluetooth speaker and I do do that in the master and guest bedrooms.  I only instruct the amazon dot to connect the speaker when I want to listen to music.

 

Every room in my home has a speaker in the ceiling for announcement purposes.  Homeseer used to directly drive those speakers but now the RPi does.  Homeseer tells the RPI over a TCP link what it would like the announcement to say and the RPi does the TTS, turns on the requested speakers and makes the announcement. The ISY can also tell the RPi to say something using the networking capability. 

 

I do not find the experience being ruined in any way. At the current time Alexa does not make announcements but does respond to its commands with its own speaker(s).  

[blueman2]

For what it is worth, I continue to use the HA_Bridge software by BWS and the config tool by Barry.  It works 24x7 on a Pi with never an issue.  I did decide to move away from several instances of HA-Bridge to just 1 on my Pi, because I am able to get about 50 device entries working just fine on one instance.  It makes updating changes much more reliable.  

 

See my sig below for my configuration.  

[glacket]

The UDI gateway is, IMHO, reasonably priced at $50 for 2 years. this comes out to around $2 per month. 

 

I have started to switch all my Home Automation over tor raspberry pi's.  Main reason I like to code. Secondarily I find the Pi to be easy to deal with and highly reliable.  I say that tongue in cheek since my Homeseer system doesn't go down unless I take it down to change something. In fact that is the behavior of all of my 24/7 PC's. Eventually they will fail and the pi is quite  bargain at ~$50 for a unit with PSU and case.

 

I control my Insteon ( over 100 units) and Z-wave (just 2 thermostats) and no Zigbee with the ISY994. I still use Homeseer for certain aspects of scheduling but I will be moving that to the Pi.

 

The Amazon Echo can not drive a bluetooth speaker.  It can control an audio system over bluetooth if the audio system follows the appropriate specs.  The Amazon Dot can drive a bluetooth speaker and I do do that in the master and guest bedrooms.  I only instruct the amazon dot to connect the speaker when I want to listen to music.

 

Every room in my home has a speaker in the ceiling for announcement purposes.  Homeseer used to directly drive those speakers but now the RPi does.  Homeseer tells the RPI over a TCP link what it would like the announcement to say and the RPi does the TTS, turns on the requested speakers and makes the announcement. The ISY can also tell the RPi to say something using the networking capability. 

 

I do not find the experience being ruined in any way. At the current time Alexa does not make announcements but does respond to its commands with its own speaker(s).

i use the iss94i as well to control insteon devices. my zwave devices are directory controlled through homeseer. I also use homeseer as the main frontend to control everything mainly because of its functionality and because it appears to have the best built in front end(hstouch which is easy to modify). My annoucements are all made through homeseer. I was thinking about opening the echo and connecting an output to which would go to a mixer then to the speakers for the particular room it is in, then along with homeseer i would hear the alexa over the audio system. I also have in ceiling speakers in almost every room along with a main console on each floor using hstouch and squeezeplayer and server.  I thought you mentioned you use a home built front end on all your tablet consoles?

[barrygordon]

All  my iPads run a program I wrote using Commandfusion (think iRule but based on Javascript with a full Javascript engine enhanced to handle graphics through a class like structure.) Very similar to what the Pronto people did with the Pronto PRO.  I wrote a plugin for Homeseer that watches what is going on and sends UDP messages to the iPads to keep them in sync. The iPads are all logged into the ISY and get full status in real time.  I do not do any polling.  All the iPad code is event driven. It has been running for well over a year without a single stop. I have never used hsTouch. 

 

As I said I like to code.  It relaxes me and I have lots of free time.  I just finished the callerID interface for my RPi. I know have to just modify the callerID modules on my iPads to accept the simplified format I am now using. I use UDP a lot using a protocol I worked out.  The Autelis pool control people actually added UDP async notifications  using this protocol to their controller so all my iPads are kept completely up to date with out ever polling the controllers.

[blueman2]

Barry, just to let you know, I just upgraded to the latest HA_bridge v3.1.0 and your AWSconfig v6.0.3 still works great!  Yes, the portal is wonderful but I love running an emulator on my own system for complete control.  

[barrygordon]

Glad to hear it. I also generally prefer to run my own stuff for that degree of independence.

[tim2u]

While this thread has had some recent activity, I've been meaning to ask a question about the HA_bridge.  I've been running this (don't remember version) for quite a while on a raspberry pi with no issues and love it.  At some point i will switch to the UDI portal, but still love the local aspect as has recently been mentioned.

 

Does any version of the HA bridge allow me to control the fan level of a FanLinc (without using a program)?  I'd love to be able to say "Alexa, set bedroom fan speed to 50%", much like i can to a LampLinc for the lighting level.    I've been wanting to acquire a few of these for a while but waiting to finish some other home projects. 

 

Thanks in advance!

[blueman2]

While this thread has had some recent activity, I've been meaning to ask a question about the HA_bridge.  I've been running this (don't remember version) for quite a while on a raspberry pi with no issues and love it.  At some point i will switch to the UDI portal, but still love the local aspect as has recently been mentioned.

 

Does any version of the HA bridge allow me to control the fan level of a FanLinc (without using a program)?  I'd love to be able to say "Alexa, set bedroom fan speed to 50%", much like i can to a LampLinc for the lighting level.    I've been wanting to acquire a few of these for a while but waiting to finish some other home projects. 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

This has been doable all along.  You just need to use the intensity.byte variable:

 

rest/nodes/13.72.4C.1/cmd/DON/${intensity.byte}

 

for on URL

 

The Fanlinc instructions say what the levels are for low, med, and High.  But I think High is 100%, Med 50-99, low 49 and below.  

[fmk2]

While this thread has had some recent activity, I've been meaning to ask a question about the HA_bridge.  I've been running this (don't remember version) for quite a while on a raspberry pi with no issues and love it.  At some point i will switch to the UDI portal, but still love the local aspect as has recently been mentioned.

 

Does any version of the HA bridge allow me to control the fan level of a FanLinc (without using a program)?  I'd love to be able to say "Alexa, set bedroom fan speed to 50%", much like i can to a LampLinc for the lighting level.    I've been wanting to acquire a few of these for a while but waiting to finish some other home projects. 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

I use Alexa to control fans, but I kind of cheat.  I set the spoken name such that there's a separate number for each speed.  For example, "Alexa, turn Living Room Fan One On" (sets the living room fan to Low speed), or, "Alexa, turn Master Fan Two On" (sets the master bedroom fan to Medium speed).  Saying "Alexa, turn Living Room Fan Zero On" will turn the living room fan off.

 

Not very elegant, but it works.

 

Frank

[glacket]

All  my iPads run a program I wrote using Commandfusion (think iRule but based on Javascript with a full Javascript engine enhanced to handle graphics through a class like structure.) Very similar to what the Pronto people did with the Pronto PRO.  I wrote a plugin for Homeseer that watches what is going on and sends UDP messages to the iPads to keep them in sync. The iPads are all logged into the ISY and get full status in real time.  I do not do any polling.  All the iPad code is event driven. It has been running for well over a year without a single stop. I have never used hsTouch. 

 

As I said I like to code.  It relaxes me and I have lots of free time.  I just finished the callerID interface for my RPi. I know have to just modify the callerID modules on my iPads to accept the simplified format I am now using. I use UDP a lot using a protocol I worked out.  The Autelis pool control people actually added UDP async notifications  using this protocol to their controller so all my iPads are kept completely up to date with out ever polling the controllers.

 

not to keep going off topic, but what do you use for presence detection? I currently use jon00 Bluetooth. that has been the best for me but reliability is about 85-90%. I've found it really tough to get accurate reliable presence detection(I arrive home, door unlocks, lights turn on, house greets me). I really want to go with beacons but it doesn't seem like there is enough integration currently.

[barrygordon]

My security system, an old Ademco but soon to be changed to ELK Gold, has motion sensors distributed throughout the house. Their tripping causes a message to Homeseer which then broadcasts it to all iPads and eventually the RPi using UDP.  I use two UDP protocols in my LAN.  One, xAP, is the older one and more general. It was started by a group of enthusiasts in the UK but has since been taken over by technology.  The other one is simpler, and of my own design. Basically, UDP datagrams are sequence numbered and sent multiple times (currently 2)  based upon what I felt would give me a a fairly consistent delivery.  My LAN traffic is not that high except when I am watching a movie in the theater with the NAS in the server room supplying the stream.

 

Keep in mind that I live alone except when there are guests in the house. I use homelink visor controls in my cars. One has them built into the mirror and one uses a Lutron RA transmitter.  The receiver is a Lutron RA Visor receiver. The three buttons ("Leaving", "Returning", and open/close garage door) trigger all sorts of actions via Homeseer, to be done by the RPi. Actually the RPi fields the contact closure input and then broadcasts it on the network. Homeseer then does most of the lifting. It sets a trigger waiting for the security system to report motion and then speaks a greeting.

 

We probably should move these conversations off this thread.

[glacket]

Ok. I am confused. What is the difference between amazon echo ha bridge 0.4.0 and HA-bridge 3.2.0? I currently control my isy with amazon echo ha bridge 0.2.1 and would like to control the harmony hub as well. I dont think i need ha bridge to do that. I modified the rc.local file on my pi, configured the hub ip address but i am not sure how what to do after that.

[adrianp]

The UDI gateway is, IMHO, reasonably priced at $50 for 2 years. this comes out to around $2 per month. 

 

I have started to switch all my Home Automation over tor raspberry pi's.  Main reason I like to code. Secondarily I find the Pi to be easy to deal with and highly reliable.  I say that tongue in cheek since my Homeseer system doesn't go down unless I take it down to change something. In fact that is the behavior of all of my 24/7 PC's. Eventually they will fail and the pi is quite  bargain at ~$50 for a unit with PSU and case.

 

I control my Insteon ( over 100 units) and Z-wave (just 2 thermostats) and no Zigbee with the ISY994. I still use Homeseer for certain aspects of scheduling but I will be moving that to the Pi.

 

The Amazon Echo can not drive a bluetooth speaker.  It can control an audio system over bluetooth if the audio system follows the appropriate specs.  The Amazon Dot can drive a bluetooth speaker and I do do that in the master and guest bedrooms.  I only instruct the amazon dot to connect the speaker when I want to listen to music.

 

Every room in my home has a speaker in the ceiling for announcement purposes.  Homeseer used to directly drive those speakers but now the RPi does.  Homeseer tells the RPI over a TCP link what it would like the announcement to say and the RPi does the TTS, turns on the requested speakers and makes the announcement. The ISY can also tell the RPi to say something using the networking capability. 

 

I do not find the experience being ruined in any way. At the current time Alexa does not make announcements but does respond to its commands with its own speaker(s).  

Except more and more companies all want "JUST $2". Wait till light bulb companies sell you bulbs that never die, but require you pay them just $2 so you can turn them on/off.

[larryllix]

Except more and more companies all want "JUST $2". Wait till light bulb companies sell you bulbs that never die, but require you pay them just $2 so you can turn them on/off.

Don't give them any ideas about pay per usage LED bulbs, guaranteed forever as long as you pay the ransom.

 

Incandescent bulbs  were lasting many years, originally, until a lightbulb marketing board formed, and they all started making bulbs that would only last a year. Look it up!