So finally the Amazon is catching up with its smarter group of Alexa 3rd party developers. They finally announced today, the official integration of temperature status updates. A feature that has been available for a long time to ST members using the @MichaelS s Ask Alexa app or more recently EchoSistant.
The temperature status updates seem to be available for the main connected Thermostat Players, at the moment. I hope the Home Automation companies will update their skills soon.
Alexa whatâs the temperature in my Home, and then tell Alexa to turn the lights off in the same session, without the need to wait for Alexa to go to sleep and then say Alexa turn the lights off.
Looks like itâs just available for connected thermostats that have native Alexa skills. I donât see it for wink or Insteon, for example. So itâs not just that smartthings doesnât have it. Itâs that thermostats got it. Not hubs.
Actually, because both are 'skills", YOU actually define the invocation name. So, Ask Alexa is capable to respond to âhomeâ, or even a room name. So you can say âAlexa, turn on the light in this roomâ and it will operate. And, I just added instructions to allow for a multi room install.
If you need assistance installing either, the wiki or the community can assist.
Tastes sweeter! lol and with a little naming creativity, you would not even realize that you are using a custom skill but still get all of its benefits. The ask/tell/use connectors. are a thing of the past.
Let us know if you need any help getting startedâŚ
Thatâs exactly it. I couldnât get it to work either until I excluded my Ecobee3s from the ST â Alexa integration and ran discovery in the Alexa app to pick up the thermostats directly. Now it works like a charm, and even queries the remote sensors.
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bamarayne
(Jason "The Enabler" as deemed so by @Smart)
12
Me: Alexa whatâs the temperature upstairs in my home?
Alexa: 74, anything else?
Me: itâs too hot
Alexa: ok, adjusting your temperature upstairs to 73
OR
Me: Whatâs the temperature in the master bedroom/family room?" (notice there is NO difference how you ask)
Alexa: 71, anything else?
Me: switch to CNN
Alexa: ok, starting Harmony activity
OR
here is favoriteâŚ
Me: Whatâs the temperature in the master bedroom/family room?"
Alexa: 71, anything else?
Me: is downstairs thermostat running?
Alexa: No, the downstairs thermostat is not runningâŚ
Can your native Alexa skill match this!
@anon36505037 ⌠this is what I mean by the âbenefitsâ of a custom skills
It doesnât work for me and my direct Nest to Echo integration. When I ask the question it just ignores me and says nothing. Standard alexa is so limited. I just treat it as an alternative to a light switch and a slightly enhanced speaker. Everything else is just so mehâŚ
In the US, we get an email from Amazon every Friday listing whatâs new. The temperature feature was listed on the one for this week. But the other featured skills were about the Oscars, so it might be region specific.
Do you get a similar weekly email in the UK, and if so does it mention the temperature feature?
Youâre probably right as usual. We do get regular mailings, possibly weekly, not sure. It all gets randomly bundled as spam every now and again.
Have found the interface so finicky and if you donât know exactly what and how to ask for things itâs too stubborn to understand you⌠but thatâs a whole other topic
@JDRoberts is always right, donât you know it? Here is the proofâŚ
âToday we are happy to announce support for thermostat query, a new feature for Alexa skills developed using the Smart Home Skill API. The feature is now available in the US, with support for the UK and Germany coming soon.â
