SmartThings Community

**mbuckingham** · May 16, 2016, 12:56pm

Digging more looks like Alexa only supports light…hope this gets fixed, seems like a major fail. Alexa + SmartThings would be huge!

**N8XD** · May 16, 2016, 1:18pm

It is huge…give this a try:

MichaelS:

RELEASED! I wanted to let everyone know Ask Alexa has been release (version 1.0.0), There are some notes I would like to pass along (I hope you have all read the manual : http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Ask_Alexa The naming of your devices are rather important. Be sure you don’t have an duplicate names you are trying to control (i.e. maybe a thermostat and switch both called “living room”. The installation of this app is NOT as easy as copy/pasting from GitHub…there are multiple steps with both the ST IDE and the Amazon developer/Lambda site. The app attempts to make it easy by outputting all of the variable you need to put on the developer site…but, you have been warned it will take probably an hour to set up. And…any time you add or remove devic…

**mbuckingham** · May 16, 2016, 1:26pm

Thanks I’ll check it out. A bit above my level right now, I haven’t installed any new apps outside of what’s built into the app.

Any good tutorials to getting started? I’d like to take full advantage of SmartThings and think it has a ton of possibilities, but looks like we have to build apps to make it happen.

**schapper05** · May 16, 2016, 1:39pm

On top of that, you can also create a virtual switch tied to those devices. Then add the virtual switch to alexa and tell her to turn on/off the garage door, it’s not as elegant as the Ask Alexa solution, probably a quicker setup.

**mbuckingham** · May 16, 2016, 1:45pm

How do I setup a virtual switch, and what does that actually mean? I’ve read a bit on the ITTT use, is that what you mean? I’m definitely going for elegant so the whole family can use it intuitively but worth exploring.

**cuboy29** · May 16, 2016, 1:57pm

Everything you need to get going with AskAlexa is in the excellent wiki. http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Ask_Alexa

**schapper05** · May 16, 2016, 2:20pm

This would be the same premise:

[DEPRECATED] 2015 Voice Assistant Run Routine FAQ--see 2017 FAQ instead FAQ

On October 1, 2016, Amazon added the ability to turn on a " routine" from Alexa. If you want to use that method, see the official support article. Note that the official method will not allow you to use echo to run any routine that includes a lock or a Smart Home Monitor armed state change or another device class that Alexa does not know. The method described below in this FAQ will, but it does require that you create a virtual switch. Although at present echo can only request that smartthings turn devices on, off or dim, by using a virtual switch, you can tell echo to turn that switch on or off, and then have all kinds of things happen in smartthings. For example, if you want to have echo turn on Party Mode, you would create a virtual switch in smartthings, authorize echo to use it,…

The biggest differences between the two approaches are the syntax you use with alexa. With the Ask alexa it would be “Alexa ask smartthings to unlock door”

Whereas with a virtual switch it would be “alexa turn on door” Or you could use an IFTTT’s syntax ‘trigger’ with a virtual switch I.E. “alexa trigger door unlock”

**mbuckingham** · May 16, 2016, 2:43pm

Signing up to AWS but according to the wiki I also need a developer account which is $50 a month?!

**mbuckingham** · May 16, 2016, 2:55pm

Set that up, works fine, certainly not mind blowing or sophisticated, but it works.

I was surprised I couldn’t do the same to close my garage door.

**schapper05** · May 16, 2016, 3:04pm

You should be able to use the same thing with a garage door. set up a smart lighting rule to open garage when switch turned on, and close when turned off. add the virtual switch to alexa.

**schapper05** · May 16, 2016, 3:07pm

FYI:

The Lambda free tier includes 1M free requests per month and 400,000 GB-seconds of compute time per month.

Signing up does require a credit card, but unless you go over those limits (which is unlikely) I believe you won’t get charged

**mbuckingham** · May 16, 2016, 3:14pm

It has my garage door opener as a contact sensor, not a switch.

**schapper05** · May 16, 2016, 3:18pm

Ah, you mean a momentary contact?

Set up a routine to fire the momentary contact called Garage door. Then use a virtual switch to trigger the routine.

Or use IFTTT to trigger the routine

**ero4444** · May 16, 2016, 3:18pm

when it’s really simple and elegant then it also works for somebody outside, shouting “Alexa, open garage door” .

**schapper05** · May 16, 2016, 3:20pm

I have mine set up to only close my garage doors / locks for this reason.

**mbuckingham** · May 16, 2016, 3:37pm

But I can’t find my “garage door opener”. I’m guessing since it’s designated, for whatever reason, as a contact sensor. It comes with a sensor to determine if it’s open or closed, but SmartThings is connected to the module that sends the open command to the opener. It’s the GoControl/Linear GD00Z-4 Z-Wave Garage Door Opener

**schapper05** · May 16, 2016, 4:07pm

**slagle** · May 16, 2016, 5:59pm

This isn’t a “bug”. We are using the Smart Home Skill of the Alexa api and are limited to what we are allowed to control. This is being expanded all the time and we add the new options when Amazon expands the feature set.

**mbuckingham** · May 17, 2016, 2:29am

Yeah, I meant a fail on Amazon’s part. Hope the two companies can work together.

**fswill** · May 17, 2016, 1:11pm

Alexa Helper

This what I use. Works perfectly. I just say “Alexa, open garage door”

Alexa not recognizing Shlage locks (or garage door)