Amazon Echo and Siri with the ISY994i

[mvgossman]

I have been waiting for a way to use my ISY994i with Amazon Echo and Siri along with my Insteon network at my main home and my vacation home, and was about to purchase the Insteon Hub Pro and an Echo to see if they would work in parallel. From what I can glean from Insteon, the ISY994i is much more powerful with programing, creating scenes etc. so I'm a little worried about mucking things up with the two working in parallel and having an Insteon Hub Pro paperweight.

 

Then I came upon the sticky thread in Amazon Echo...

 

So what to do? Get the Insteon Pro and Amazon Echo and perhaps be able to have it all with HomeKit, Siri integration, and Amazon Echo or just get the Echo?

 

I'm assuming that the Amazon Echo + ISY994i doesn't yet do Siri/HomeKit?

 

Mitch

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Mitch,

 

ISY does not do homekit mostly due to exorbitant hardware changes required to support HomeKit. It does however do Echo natively using ISY Portal.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[gweempose]

What exactly are you looking to do, Mitch? You specifically want to be able to control your Insteon devices with Siri? 

[mvgossman]

What exactly are you looking to do, Mitch? You specifically want to be able to control your Insteon devices with Siri? 

 

Yes. I've discovered I like locking the door with "Hey Siri lock the front door" and want more of it.

[stusviews]

Which lock are you using that's HomeKit compatible?

[lilyoyo1]

Unless something has recently changed, the hubpro is not compatible with the Amazon echo

[mvgossman]

Which lock are you using that's HomeKit compatible?

 

I'm using August Lock, the latest model is HomeKit compatible. I like it a lot.

 

I thought the Schlage is overall better because it has a keypad but it doesn't have the feature I like the most about the August lock - it doesn't unlock automatically when you approach it. It is positively eerie, and nice, to walk up to the door you locked before and it's now unlocked. Only the alert on your phone tells you that it unlocked and not that you forgot to lock it.

[mvgossman]

Unless something has recently changed, the hubpro is not compatible with the Amazon echo

Ah didn't know that. They even have kits with the standard Insteon Hub and Echo, so the Pro with HomeKit capability isn't compatible?

[lilyoyo1]

No. The pro was designed for homekit only. The standard hub works with echo.

[mvgossman]

No. The pro was designed for homekit only. The standard hub works with echo.

 

Bummer. No reason why one shouldn't be able to do both.

 

But I did notice there's an Alexa app which I assume works similarly, give commands to the app if you are out of earshot of the device?

[stusviews]

Bummer. No reason why one shouldn't be able to do both.

 

Siri ad Echo are competitors.

[Scott847]

Siri ad Echo are competitors.

"Alexa, do you like Siri?"

 

"Siri's a great app, but I'm different."

[larryllix]

We notice a distinct difference in attitude between the two.

Siri has mostly smart Alec retorts, whereas Alexa is much more polite.

[mvgossman]

Anyone reading this been happy with it in conjunction with the ISY994i?

 

Will the system communicate with the August Smart Lock somehow? Would have to be via something other than Siri! [Haven't searched the forum yet]

[stusviews]

I'm more than happy with the integration of the ISY and the Echo. Pure fun. The August lock is WiFi Bluetooth, the ISY is not.

 

Edited for correction.

Edited August 22, 2016 by stusviews

[mvgossman]

Have you found that it listens through noise pretty well? Like a TV?

[dbuss]

Have you found that it listens through noise pretty well? Like a TV?

 

Echo does well in a room with noise as long as you have the Echo placed closer to you than source of the noise. I experimented with one of my Echos and placed it right under a wall mounted TV. When speaking about eight feet away it had some problems in that location. I moved the Echo about four feet from me and six feet from the TV and it works great.

[stusviews]

No, it does not. But that's easily overcome with the Echo microphone.

[mvgossman]

Since the iPhone is almost always on me I'd think their app would be extremely useful for those noisy environments.

 

dbuss, you say "echos", you can have more than one in association with the ISY994i in a single home?

 

I've contemplated getting the Insteon Hub Pro to replace (since they apparently can't work in parallel) the ISY994i in my small vacation home. But I'm a little worried that the programming capability will be found wanting. I use the powerful programming of the ISY994i a lot, including alarms and triggers and all the things we do with it, but did you know that the Hub Pro works with the programming brains being within the iPhone? Can you believe it? It seems so ludicrous that it couldn't be so, but apparently when you leave the house the programming you did stops.

[Teken]

It should be noted the August company released a WiFi bridge a few months after the lock set. This essentially allows a person to control the lock world wide. Lastly, assuming the API is open and has the parameters to use the ISY Network Module features this may be an option for integration of the two.

 

You will need to do some research or engage the vendor about those specifics though.

 

EDIT: Forgot to include the link to the WiFi bridge product: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/august-connect-ac-r1-adapter-for-august-smart-lock-white/4640209.p?id=bb4640209&skuId=4640209

Edited August 22, 2016 by Teken

[mvgossman]

Not sure if there are special implications when using Amazon Echo alongside the ISY994i, but the August Smart Lock for your home can be controlled from the Echo.

 

http://august.com/2016/07/28/alexa/

 

 

It should be noted the August company released a WiFi bridge a few months after the lock set. This essentially allows a person to control the lock world wide. Lastly, assuming the API is open and has the parameters to use the ISY Network Module features this may be an option for integration of the two.

 

You will need to do some research or engage the vendor about those specifics though.

 

EDIT: Forgot to include the link to the WiFi bridge product: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/august-connect-ac-r1-adapter-for-august-smart-lock-white/4640209.p?id=bb4640209&skuId=4640209

[stusviews]

None of the Insteon Hubs are program capable except for alerts ans schedules. Alerts cannot be scheduled.

[dbuss]

Since the iPhone is almost always on me I'd think their app would be extremely useful for those noisy environments.

 

dbuss, you say "echos", you can have more than one in association with the ISY994i in a single home?

 

I've contemplated getting the Insteon Hub Pro to replace (since they apparently can't work in parallel) the ISY994i in my small vacation home. But I'm a little worried that the programming capability will be found wanting. I use the powerful programming of the ISY994i a lot, including alarms and triggers and all the things we do with it, but did you know that the Hub Pro works with the programming brains being within the iPhone? Can you believe it? It seems so ludicrous that it couldn't be so, but apparently when you leave the house the programming you did stops.

 

I have two Echos, a Dot and four Fire TVs associated with the same ISY. Stusviews has multiple devices also and has them setup very nicely. 

     

[stusviews]

Three Echos, three dots, two Fire TVs and four Amazon/Alexa accounts. That allows us to say, "turn on the whatever," for the room we're in without having to specify which room. If we mean a device in another room, then we name the room, for example form the bedroom we'd ask Alexa to turn the "kitchen light off."