Best way to configure a Garage Door with Alexa (IOLink)

[memphis2k]

Hello,

I have an ISY994i v5.16 with Portal and Alexa.  Opening the garage door in Homebridge/Siri works perfect, as well as MobiLinc.  Just looking for the proper way to setup my Garage Door that's connected with an I/O Link.  When the garage door is open, the contact is touching, N/O state.

I just have the Garage Door I/OLinc Relay setup in Alexa.  Is that right?  Then I setup the Open and close command.  I can say, Alexa Open the garage door when the door is physically open.

Just looking for someone's .02 on how to properly add a garage door to Alexa.

[oberkc]

I suspect that having the IOLinc in Alexa, through the portal, will work, but that you may be unhappy with the commands and responses.  I don't know that Alexa will automatically understand "open" or "close" commands, nor automatically recognize whether the door is already open or closed and conditionally respond (what happens when you tell alexa to "close" a door when the door is already closed.)

Were this me, and if I wanted to be able to control a garage door via alexa (I don't), I would create two programs, both disabled.  Functionally, the would look something like:

if

status garage door is open

then

close door

 

if

status Garage door is closed

then

open door

 

I would add these two programs to alexa, then create two alexa routines, one routine for opening the door and another routine for closing the door.  The routine would call the IF condition of the respective program.

[slimypizza]

What oberkc said is exactly correct and has worked perfectly for me for a couple of years now.  For the IF part of the program, key on the garage door sensor STATUS and its appropriate state (On/Off) when the garage door is open/close. THEN bump the garage door relay.  As stated, disable both of these programs since they will be triggered only by Alexa.  My simple programs to open/close the garage door are below.  Just add spoken commands in the portal for Alexa. 

 

 

 

 

[memphis2k]

Perfect.  Programs and routines.  Wasn't to sure if I should do something like mobilinc does, shows the status via the input but when you click on the icon, it changes the relay state aka opens/closes the garage.

I use the "Tell Me" skill with network commands and that works wells, but just a verbal feedback.  Then I saw one of the Admins posted that he added Open & Close commands for Alexa.  Worked slick, but Alexa would never know the true state without an input involved.

[memphis2k]

Ok.  I mostly have this working but now there must be a issue with Alexa.

I removed the IOLink Contact & Relay from Portal & Alexa.

Then created two programs like the above.  *See image

Then I created two Routines:

(Name) Garage Door Open - (When you say), "Alexa, Open The Garage Door" - Garage Door Open (Program) Power On

(Name) Garage Door Close- (When you say), "Alexa, Close The Garage Door" - Garage Door Close (Program) Power On

What's happening now is that when I say "Alexa open the garage door AND the door is already open, she will open it - INCORRECT.   And when its closed, Alexa, Open the Garage Door.  She will. 

To recap, something is not right because the state of the garage door is not recognizing the Status from the ISY program.

 

If the Garage door is open, and I say... Alexa, Open The Garage Door.  NOTHING SHOULD HAPPEN, right??

The Garage door is physically open.  Going into each device on Alexa.  Each say Power Is On

 

Thanks,

[oberkc]

Check status of IOLinc sensor.  Some versions come with magnetic switch where ON=CLOSED and OFF=OPEN.  Others can be reversed.  Make sure you confirm which is the type you have and whether it matches your expectations.

Another possibility is that Alexa "POWER ON" routines may automatically route to the THEN path of the program, where POWER OFF routines route to the ELSE path of the program.  I don't recall if there is a way to call the program conditions directly from alexa.  If not, you may have to create an intermediate program to call from alexa, such as:

if

nothing

then

run garage door open alexa (if path)   <<<< will run when you call this program "power on"

else

run garage door close alexa (if path)    <<<<< will run when you call this program "power off"

 

I am not sure how @slimypizza got around this.  Perhaps he knows an alexa trick that I am not remembering or never knew.

 

[oberkc]

Also, check out para 8.5 of the wiki on portal integration

 

https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=ISY_Portal_Amazon_Echo_Integration_V3#Programs

[memphis2k]

Ok.  I will review your posts and I thought to try testing the programs before the routine.  IOLink is setup perfectly in ISY, with programs and such.  Thanks again.

[memphis2k]

So in the Alexa app, in the devices page,

Garage Door Close (program) & (door is physically closed) - Sensor is NO

Says Power On - and I click on it.  Nothing happens.  When I click on Power Off, the door opens.

 

Garage Door Open (program) & (door is physically closed) - Sensor is NO

Says Power On - and I click on it.  Nothing happens.  When I click on Power Off, the door opens

 

Which makes senses to what the WIKI says.  Good call, I will create an intermediate program to call the Garage Door Open/Close program.  Thanks again

[slimypizza]

What are you clicking on when you say  “Says Power On - and I click on it.  Nothing happens.  When I click on Power Off, the door opens.” ?

I have 2 devices relative to the garage door which show up when I log in to UD normally through my cell phone (not my Alexa app).  See picture below.  

Note: I added the text “ON=Closed” to the ISY device description so myself and my wife would know by looking at this if the door was opened or closed if we’re away and want to check on the status.  Your configuration may be different, eg  OFF=Closed.

Therefore the two possible views for my configuration are:

Garage Door-Sensor:

ON=Closed   On

And

Garage Door-Sensor:

ON-Closed   Off

To toggle to garage door, click Garage Door-Relay “ON”,  assuming its OFF to begin with.   I always make sure the Relay is OFF to begin with using a small program to return the Relay to the OFF state 1 minute after the garage door is opened or closed.  I forgot to mention this earlier.  Without this I would have to turn the Relay OFF and then back ON to open/close the door.  Having it return to OFF automatically makes things much simpler at least for me.

 

My Alexa garage door routines are simple.  Here is the routine to Open the Garage Door. 

Note: the reference to “Open the Garage Door” at the bottom is the same program I posted previously in this thread.  It’s an ISY994 program not a scene.  That’s just the way the Alexa app stores it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Scud]

@slimypizza  I am trying to duplicate your setup to Open and Close garage door with Alexa. I have the following programs and created a routine in Alexa app , one for Open and one for Close. What happens if I say Alexa, Open Small Garage it will open the door. If the door is already open and I Say Alexa, Open the Small Garage it will close it. Doesn't seem to look at the "if" on the program for the sensor status. Something I am missing?

Small_Garage_Open - [ID 0011][Parent 0013][Not Enabled]

If
        'Garage_Gate / SmallGarage' Status is Off
 
Then
        Set 'Garage_Gate / SmallGarage / GarageSmallRelay' On
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 
Sensor On = Open

 

Small_Garage_Close - [ID 0012][Parent 0013][Not Enabled]

If
        'Garage_Gate / SmallGarage' Status is On
 
Then
        Set 'Garage_Gate / SmallGarage / GarageSmallRelay' On
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

 

Small_Garage_Relay_Off - [ID 000C][Parent 0013]

If
        'Garage_Gate / SmallGarage / GarageSmallRelay' Status is On
 
Then
        Wait  16 seconds
        Set 'Garage_Gate / SmallGarage / GarageSmallRelay' Off
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

Thanks, Mike
 

[slimypizza]

Yes, it does look like your IF statement is not being evaluated or rather its always TRUE. 

 

On my system my IF statement is:

 

Garage_Open - [ID 003A][Parent 0001][Not Enabled]

 

If

        Status  'Garage Door-Sensor: ON=Closed' is On

 

Yours is:

Small_Garage_Open - [ID 0011][Parent 0013][Not Enabled]

If
        'Garage_Gate / SmallGarage' Status is Off

 

I’m assuming that ‘Garage_Gate/SmallGarage’  is your SENSOR?

I see a little difference in the way the program statements are worded.  Maybe this is a difference in v5.x firmware vs v4.x?

I’m using a 2450 IOLink v.41 and I’m running v.4.7.5 firmware in my ISY994i.

What happens when you run your Garage Open program from your Admin console (ie not using Alexa)?  Same result?  Opens when it should but closes when it should not?

[Scud]

2 hours ago, slimypizza said:

Yes, it does look like your IF statement is not being evaluated or rather its always TRUE. 

 

 

 

On my system my IF statement is:

 

 

 

Garage_Open - [ID 003A][Parent 0001][Not Enabled]

 

 

 

If

 

        Status  'Garage Door-Sensor: ON=Closed' is On

 

 

 

Yours is:

 

Small_Garage_Open - [ID 0011][Parent 0013][Not Enabled]

 

If
        'Garage_Gate / SmallGarage' Status is Off

 

 

 

I’m assuming that ‘Garage_Gate/SmallGarage’  is your SENSOR?

Yes

2 hours ago, slimypizza said:

 

 

 

 

I see a little difference in the way the program statements are worded.  Maybe this is a difference in v5.x firmware vs v4.x?

Possibly

I’m using a 2450 IOLink v.41 and I’m running v.4.7.5 firmware in my ISY994i.

IOLink is the same. I am running firmware v. 5.0.15

 

What happens when you run your Garage Open program from your Admin console (ie not using Alexa)?  Same result?  Opens when it should but closes when it should not?

Open program, if I run IF statement it opens when it should and does not close when it shouldn't. Same with close program. it's like Alexa Routine is just running Then and not looking at the IF.

 

 

[Scud]

The status in the ISY is correct for the sensor but the status in the Program Summary seems to not be correct ever. Going crazy over this.Should be very simple.

 

[slimypizza]

The status for my Garage programs are always True as well.  This is not an indicator of the garage door open/close status.  So if you look at your Sensor status on the isy994 Admin page it changes appropriately from ON-Off when door opens or closes?   If you go to your browser and login to the isy994 Admin page program tab, or I think you said you use Mobilinc, and RUN your Small_Garage_Open program, it works correctly?  It makes no sense at least from what I can tell, that the program works when RUN manually but not when Alexa runs the program.

[Scud]

10 minutes ago, slimypizza said:

The status for my Garage programs are always True as well.  This is not an indicator of the garage door open/close status.  So if you look at your Sensor status on the isy994 Admin page it changes appropriately from ON-Off when door opens or closes? Correct  

If you go to your browser and login to the isy994 Admin page program tab, or I think you said you use Mobilinc, and RUN your Small_Garage_Open program, it works correctly? If I run the IF command it works as expected. 

It makes no sense at least from what I can tell, that the program works when RUN manually but not when Alexa runs the program. It's like the Alexa routine runs the Then command. I am at a loss also. 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

 

 

[oberkc]

I suspect that when programs are run by alexa, it treats the program as a device to turn ON or OFF and runs THEN or ELSE causes, respectively.  I assume when you command the programs to OPEN the door, it is running the THEN path.  There may not be a way to run the IF clause from an alexa routine.  You may need an intermediary program such as:

if

nothing

then 

run open program (then path)

else

run close program (then path)

 

Regarding the state of programs, this represents the last run path, no matter how long ago.  If it last ran ELSE, it would show as FALSE.  If it last ran THEN, it would show as true.

[Scud]

Oberkc thanks s for the info. I am now getting a little confused. The THEN path on both Open and Close program's are the same. Both set the relay to on. 

[tmorse305]

From https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=ISY_Portal_Amazon_Echo_Integration_V3#Programs

Programs

• Turn On: “Alexa, turn on the kitchen light” - runs Then
• Turn Off: “Alexa, turn off the kitchen light” - runs Else

You can't run the IF directly from Alexa.

Instead of having your Alexa routine run programs you could have it set a variable instead.  Then on the ISY side your IF could include the variable as a condition.

 

Or you can eliminate the Alexa routine all together and expose the variable as "Device with Open/Close syntax in the Portal.  Then when you say "Alexa, open the <variable name> the variable will be set to the on value and vice versa.

[oberkc]

10 hours ago, Scud said:

I am now getting a little confused.  The THEN path on both Open and Close program's are the same. Both set the relay to on.

Yes, my mistake.  I should have suggested this approach:

 

 

if

nothing

then 

run open program (if path) <<< change

else

run close program (if path) <<< change

[tmorse305]

Here's what the programming would look like if you use a variable with "Device with Open/Close syntax.  In my case I choose Open=2 and Close=1 for the variable($sLeft_Control) assignment.  This eliminates the need for the helper program and also eliminates the Routines on the Alexa side.  I use a resource for the door control not an I/OLink but the idea is the same.

[Scud]

59 minutes ago, tmorse305 said:

Here's what the programming would look like if you use a variable with "Device with Open/Close syntax.  In my case I choose Open=2 and Close=1 for the variable($sLeft_Control) assignment.  This eliminates the need for the helper program and also eliminates the Routines on the Alexa side.  I use a resource for the door control not an I/OLink but the idea is the same.

Thanks for all the help. @tmorse305 quick test this morning and this seems to be doing the trick. 

Thanks again, Mike

 

[Scud]

Set it up for my gate and 2 garage doors and it is working Great! Thanks again for the help on this.

 

-Mike

[tmorse305]

You're welcome and thanks to @bmercier for continuing to enhance the Alexa interface.