[OBSOLETE] BigTalker 2.0 -- Development

Apologies in advance in case I missed the solution in this thread, but I can use some help.
I’m a complete mewbie when it comes to SmartThings (only installed it this past weekend), but I’ve manage to get a lot of thing running, the usual gambit of smart things and a couple Konnected boards.

I went down a rabbit hole hoping to improve upon the “Beep Beep” of the Konnected system and here I am.

Long-Short related to this thread:

  • I got VLC Thing working with several successful tests, once I figured out the firewall wasn’t playing nice.
  • I got BigTalker 2.0 installed and configure on my SmartThings hub using the GitHub installation guide
  • Ran a few test using the "Talk Now: feature on my SmartThings App running on an Android phone.
  • Configure a simple test event, again following an online guide, but NO AUDIO comes out. I run another test using “Talk Now” and that works, but when I trigger a programmed event (Door Open), nothing.

Did I miss a vital step somewhere? I can expand on everything I done, but I’m hoping the brief summary might be enough for now.

Oh, platform, currently using my Windows 10 Desktop running VLC 3.0.3, I ultimately plan to run this on a Pi, waiting for the bits to arrive in the mail towards weeks end.

And for S&G

The Initial Rabbit hole of a link
https://community.smartthings.com/t/chip-pi-zero-w-vlc-thing-big-talker-sonos-killer/35899

Other guide I referenced
https://devhub.io/repos/rayzurbock-SmartThings-BigTalker

The links you referenced (specifically the code) is for an old version of BigTalker (1.1.7 to be exact).
BigTalker 2.0 was a major change.
The current release is 2.0.6.
I recommend removing 1.1.7 and installing 2.0.6 and hopefully that will resolve the issue.

Please see this wiki for info and various install instructions: http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=BigTalker

Thank you for the quick response, yes I know the links are outdated, they just happened to be the first ones I cam across and frankly the only tabs I still opened at the time I wrote my message.

I did install and configure version P2.0.6 and I did reference the page you linked and originally had it on my post, except this forum would not let me link more then 2 URLs.

I saw the inclusion of a debug feature, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out where the logs were going to. If you can point me where those are store, I can give it another look this afternoon after work.

Again, I apologies if I missed something, by the time I got to the debugging portion of this adventure, I was 3 hours pass my normal bedtime.

I was following a different thread (mobile presence issue) and following some recommendations, I was on my mobile phone’s add new device menu screen. There I saw the BigTalker device as something that needed/wanted to be added.

Was this the step I missed? No way to prove it right now since I’m at work, just curious if I stumbled across the missing piece of this puzzle.

eureka?!
Turns out that was the step that was missing, adding the BigTalk device on the SmartThing’s phone app.

Still would like to know how to view the debug logs for future troubleshooting.

1 Like

Good deal.
Logs will show up in the IDE (where you login to add code). In the top menu click on Live Logging. Logs only appear while Live Logging is open. Once it’s open, cause speech to occur and the logs should appear under BigTalker or whatever you named the event group.

I’ve just installed Big Talker 2.0 and am hoping what I’m looking to do can be done with it. I’m using Actuon Tiles with an Android tablet as a alarm panel. I have Sonos speaker which I have set to ding when a sensor is opened. I’m also using SHMDelay so that I can set the alarm and exit. I constantly forget to disarm when I come home and the alarm goes off. Is there a way to have it alert me when I come in the door that the alarm is armed using Big Talker 2.0?

In BigTalker2, Unfortunately no. BigTalker2 processes and acts on specific events and doesn’t take other events outside of that specific event into consideration (ie: it’s not a rule engine; if this happens then do that). BT2 can announce the SHM mode when a contact is opened, but it would do this every time that contact opens. If that’s what you want (probably not) announce %shmstatus% which will translate to “Disarmed”, “Armed Home”, or “Armed Away”. ie : Home alarm is %shmstatus%

You can do what you are likely wanting in WebCoRE though. ie: (not real WebCoRE code but the idea) if contact opens and SHM is armed, announce “Warning, alarm is armed, disarm asap to prevent notification and sirens”

That’s exactly what I want it to do! I have Webcore installed by cant figure out the variables to enter. It should be pretty simple but I’m lost. I’ll post in the forum and see if anyone who knows webcore can help. Thanks for your help and the things you do for this community.

Here’s my code for a once per day announcement.

{lastday} is differentthen ($day)

Thank you for this answer, solved a problem I’d been trying to fix all weekend!

1 Like

@rayzurbock Hello! I need to have Big Talker not talk when in a certain SHM status or when a certain switch is ON… currently there is no restrictions for SHM Status or for when a switch is on (only when off is available).

Is this something that can be added or that I can maybe add to the code myself for the time being until it is (hopefully) added later?

Thanks!

Is the singleInstance: false setting still working? I tried changing the code to that and I still can’t get both Music Player and Speech Synthesis devices to show up.

Nevermind, I figured it out. I wasn’t familiar with the setting and thought it would allow me to use all devices in the same intallation, now I see that it just means I can install BigTalker twice. It’s working fine.

1 Like

My SHM status was tied to house mode (Home, Away, Night, etc), so I just used mode as a restriction.
I suppose you could have an automation that turns OFF a virtual switch based on a real switch being ON, then configure the virtual switch in BigTalker to disable speech as desired.

@rayzurbock Couldn’t find any info, but is it possible to add the option to choose an assigned Smart Locks user code under Lock so that I can create a specific message based on the user that unlocks the door lock?

Not sure if anyone here is interested (those who are bilingual or speak other languages) so I modified the Big Talker 2 code to allow for the additional languages from Amazon Polly (such as Mandarin) as well as add support to use VoiceRSS which requires you to register for a free key (need to input in Big Talker App). VoiceRSS provides more languages and accents than Amazon Polly so it’s a nice to have. PM me if you’re interested in it.

Push it to main git/repo

Hi all, which domains (urls) is Big Talker 2.0 using? Have a pihole, and have to whitelist them, but can’t find them.
Thank you.

rayzurbock - is there any way to extend the play of the MP3s? I’m hosting a couple that we use at our home but they seem to cut off at 10 seconds. Is there anything in the code that I can change to make them play longer?