jwagner010 Posted May 18, 2022 Share Posted May 18, 2022 (edited) I am pretty sure this is not possible but will ask given I am always surprised with this forum and its ability to come up with solutions. I use Amazon Alexa throughout the house including in family members bedrooms who use their Alexa Echos as their alarm clocks and they use the Alexa app to update their individual alarms. Is there a way for Alexa to update a variable in the ISY when a particular Alarm goes on and off? I know I can use Alexa routines to do this, but the kids will only use Alexa Alarms. Wondering if this is something folks have solved for? Edited May 18, 2022 by jwagner010 Link to comment
Geddy Posted May 18, 2022 Share Posted May 18, 2022 My kneejerk reaction is no. Only because the way I see it is the Alexa alarm is contained/confined within the Alexa environment. There's no way I see verbally setting an alarm and having it do something when the alarm goes off works. That would be like me asking Alexa to set a 1pm alarm then turn the light on somewhere. That's not something it can do (yet). Sounds like good feedback/suggestion to give to the Alexa developers though. When you say you can do this through Routines I'm assuming that you have a routine that will just trigger a variable on the ISY. Can that routine set a random alarm time though? (I've never thought of that, and so haven't tried it) Perhaps @bmercier might have additional insight as the resident Alexa guru. Makes me wonder what you're trying to achieve though. Link to comment
jwagner010 Posted May 18, 2022 Author Share Posted May 18, 2022 Thanks for the reply. re: what I am trying to achieve is when the kids or for that matter my Alarm goes off, certain things happen, HVAC turns on, shades open, certain lights turn on, etc. For most in our family our schedules are not fixed and so the alarm time from one day to the next changes for us all, so I was hoping that the alexa alarm (which everyone sets through the alexa app) could be a trigger for the ISY to do these things. re: Routines I can set a routine in Alexa to trigger at a certain time and play music to wake us, and then to your point change a variable on the ISY that then does those things above. Problem is getting the family to use/update an alexa routine each time they need to change their wake time is next to impossible on my end, its clunky and they just use the Alexa alarm feature instead. I suspect what I am asking for is not possible but thought I would ask in case someone had figured it out. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts Link to comment
Geddy Posted May 18, 2022 Share Posted May 18, 2022 @jwagner010 I'd setup a "good morning routine" on Alexa. And the first person up tell Alexa good morning and that does what you're trying to do. Not really automatic, but if the kids (and whole family) is used to talking to Alexa that's a simple routine that everybody would use. Using groups could even make it more user/device specific for whichever one activates it first. Then, part of that routine set a variable to not trigger the automations again if somebody else uses the routine not knowing it had already run. I know @asbril uses the HolidaysGoogle node to trigger wake-up routines, but that requires full day events entered into a Google Calendar. That might automate the process some, but not entirely automatic like you're wanting when a simple Alexa alarm goes off. I have known others to use Siri Shortcuts and charging status to activate some automation functions. Those options are endless. But, none quite as simple as "Alexa, set a 6am alarm" and have everything just work. But, after the setup of any of these it should be almost as automatic. Good luck! 1 Link to comment
asbril Posted May 18, 2022 Share Posted May 18, 2022 22 minutes ago, Geddy said: @jwagner010 I'd setup a "good morning routine" on Alexa. And the first person up tell Alexa good morning and that does what you're trying to do. Not really automatic, but if the kids (and whole family) is used to talking to Alexa that's a simple routine that everybody would use. Using groups could even make it more user/device specific for whichever one activates it first. Then, part of that routine set a variable to not trigger the automations again if somebody else uses the routine not knowing it had already run. I know @asbril uses the HolidaysGoogle node to trigger wake-up routines, but that requires full day events entered into a Google Calendar. That might automate the process some, but not entirely automatic like you're wanting when a simple Alexa alarm goes off. I have known others to use Siri Shortcuts and charging status to activate some automation functions. Those options are endless. But, none quite as simple as "Alexa, set a 6am alarm" and have everything just work. But, after the setup of any of these it should be almost as automatic. Good luck! I usually go to sleep before my wife and then I tell Alexa "Dark" upon which all lights in the bedroom, except her night lamp go off. When we go to sleep at the same time, then I tell Alexa "Obscure", and all lights go off. The reason that I use Dark and Obscure is that I had problems naming the routine with my wife's or my name. For whatever reason, Alexa would not always react. I tried various alternatives and finally came up with these. During weekends, or other days without set wake-up time, we tell Alexa "Open dark curtains" and then we don't really need lights. I have all this set up on both Alexa and Google Home, but my absolutely-tech-hating wife can not get beyond Alexa 1 Link to comment
MrBill Posted May 18, 2022 Share Posted May 18, 2022 @jwagner010 You can trigger an Alexa Routine when an alarm is "Dismissed" but not when the alarm goes off. (For that case we really should be saying when the alarm goes "on".. but English is weird. ?) So yes, if the alarm is dismissed you could set an ISY variable etc... 1 Link to comment
bmercier Posted May 19, 2022 Share Posted May 19, 2022 6 hours ago, Geddy said: My kneejerk reaction is no. Only because the way I see it is the Alexa alarm is contained/confined within the Alexa environment. There's no way I see verbally setting an alarm and having it do something when the alarm goes off works. That would be like me asking Alexa to set a 1pm alarm then turn the light on somewhere. That's not something it can do (yet). Sounds like good feedback/suggestion to give to the Alexa developers though. When you say you can do this through Routines I'm assuming that you have a routine that will just trigger a variable on the ISY. Can that routine set a random alarm time though? (I've never thought of that, and so haven't tried it) Perhaps @bmercier might have additional insight as the resident Alexa guru. Makes me wonder what you're trying to achieve though. There's no solution that I can think of. Benoit Link to comment
jwagner010 Posted May 19, 2022 Author Share Posted May 19, 2022 Quote You can trigger an Alexa Routine when an alarm is "Dismissed" but not when the alarm goes off. (For that case we really should be saying when the alarm goes "on".. but English is weird. ?) So yes, if the alarm is dismissed you could set an ISY variable etc... Good to know, I did learn something today !!! Thanks. Perhaps I can send a suggestion to Amazon on it triggering a routine on an alarm activating and wait the 3 years to be implementedd !!!! 2 Link to comment
DaveStLou Posted May 19, 2022 Share Posted May 19, 2022 (edited) 10 hours ago, jwagner010 said: I am pretty sure this is not possible but will ask given I am always surprised with this forum and its ability to come up with solutions. I use Amazon Alexa throughout the house including in family members bedrooms who use their Alexa Echos as their alarm clocks and they use the Alexa app to update their individual alarms. Is there a way for Alexa to update a variable in the ISY when a particular Alarm goes on and off? I know I can use Alexa routines to do this, but the kids will only use Alexa Alarms. Wondering if this is something folks have solved for? Before I retired I used an Alexa routine to set a variable called Night Time to 0 which in turned triggered ISY programs that set the lights on, reset the HVAC and started the coffee. The trigger is the alarm being dismissed. Here's an example of the routine I used. Edited May 19, 2022 by DaveStLou 1 Link to comment
Geddy Posted May 19, 2022 Share Posted May 19, 2022 14 hours ago, jwagner010 said: I did learn something today !!! Thanks. You and me both. Never tried such an interesting thing. That's a neat way to possibly achieve what you're going for. Good luck! Another option might be motion detectors based on where activity starts for the day. Link to comment
jwagner010 Posted May 19, 2022 Author Share Posted May 19, 2022 (edited) Quote You and me both. Never tried such an interesting thing. That's a neat way to possibly achieve what you're going for. Good luck! It gets me part way there, the challenge is the Alarm dismiss is not device dependent, so you cannot tell which echo device has its alarm dismissed. Edited May 19, 2022 by jwagner010 Link to comment
DaveStLou Posted May 19, 2022 Share Posted May 19, 2022 4 hours ago, jwagner010 said: It gets me part way there, the challenge is the Alarm dismiss is not device dependent, so you cannot tell which echo device has its alarm dismissed. Yeah, I forgot to mention that limitation. You can restrict the routine to certain days and time periods but not devices. Link to comment
Recommended Posts