Alexa, Irrigation Control, Timers (and my wife)

[No Pressure]

My wife is skeptical of all my gadgets.  But when things work as well as the Alexa and ISY integration then suddenly she’s a believer.

At night, “Alexa turn off all interior lights” was the first command that she learned and now uses regularly.  Today was her first test of the irrigation system,  “Alexa, turn on sprinkler station 16.”

Actually she tacked on “...for 20 minutes.”  I told her that it didn’t work that way so she set an Alexa timer to remind her to shut it off.

But can it? I could set a timer with a fixed period to turn it off. But it would be cool if she could tell Alexa how long to keep the zone active.

[DrLumen]

I have given this some thought.

I will (eventually) create a set of programs that has the time value built in like sprinklers for 20 minutes. Or, create a set of programs that sets a variable time value (1,2,5,10,15,20,30,...) Then create a sprinkler (or other) programs to use that timer as a variable. 2 spokens (set timer for 20 minutes & turn on sprinkler timer) but a bit more flexible as the timer could be used for other things as well. Like 'alexa, set timer for 10 minutes" and then "alexa, turn on guest bath fan timer".

Edited May 8, 2018 by DrLumen

[bmercier]

Another alternative could be to simply use a state variable to hold the timer.

"Alexa, turn on sprinkler station 16 to 20 percent" could set a state variable to 20, which you use in programs as a countdown to 0.

Not as friendly, but at least, you would not have to create tons of programs and corresponding spokens.

Benoit

[DrLumen]

Hmmm, how do you set a variable based on an Alexa percentage?

[bmercier]

33 minutes ago, DrLumen said:

Hmmm, how do you set a variable based on an Alexa percentage?

In the admin console, create your state variable.

On ISY Portal, connectivity/Alexa, click Add variable.

This will create an Alexa device which will set the variable based on the percentage.

Benoit

 

[DrLumen]

19 hours ago, bmercier said:

In the admin console, create your state variable.

On ISY Portal, connectivity/Alexa, click Add variable.

This will create an Alexa device which will set the variable based on the percentage.

Benoit

 

I'm going to have to try that. At first glance it seems like it would interfere with whatever percentage was given for existing lights, fan speeds and the like. I need to tinker I guess.

[bmercier]

I'm going to have to try that. At first glance it seems like it would interfere with whatever percentage was given for existing lights, fan speeds and the like. I need to tinker I guess.

It has nothing to do with your existing lights. All that it does is create a new Alexa device. When you will ask to turn on/off this device, or set it to x%, it will set the variable, that’s it.

Then it’s up to you to create a program which will react to the variable, such as turn on the sprinkler, and every minutes decrement the variable until 0, and ultimately turn the sprinkler off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[larryllix]

An easy remember could be based on one hour. The percent is a bit of a turnoff but......

Alexa turn on sprinkler to 20%  = 20% x 60 minutes = 12 minutes.

[No Pressure]

Setting the state variable utilizing a percent and implementing the countdown technique will be perfect.  I will give this a shot today .

Thanks.

[No Pressure]

This worked perfectly.  The program was simple and the Echo integration, as always, worked like a charm.

As noted setting a percentage as opposed to time requires a learning curve but that’s minor. 

Many thanks.