Pretty simple question here that i can’t seem to find an answer for. Can i use and echo dot and a smart things hub without and echo hub? In other words use the dot to send voice commands to the smarthings hub without purchasing an echo hub.
Documentation that i have been able to find doesn’t seem to say specifically what hardware you need.
The Echo Dot is a full-featured Echo. It IS and Echo. If you have a SmartThings hub, it will work with it exactly the same as it’s larger sibling. The only real difference between the two is the Echo has a much larger and nicer-sounding speaker than the Echo Dot. (The Dot 2 also uses push-buttons to change volume, rather than rotating the top of the device like the Echo and Dot 1 do…)
I have both an Echo and an Echo Dot 1. They both work indepentently.
-Todd
Short answer to your question is yes, Echo dot will work directly with SmartThings, no extra hardware needed.
There’s no such thing as an Echo hub. As said above, each Echo device is fully functional by itself and doesn’t require anything else to work.
Like they have said yes you can. Alexa (the system behind Echo/Dot/Tap) is becoming more useful with ST and now allows routines to be run. You can also run the askAlexa app within ST that was created by a community developer to do even more than what Alexa can do on it’s own directly with ST.
I ordered a Dot earlier today. It should be here in a few days and I’ll let you know how it works. I’ve been playing with Alexa voice control with my Fire TV, and I have to say it’s kind of crude. I’m surprised there’s no way to just say say “turn the kitchen lights on”. It doesn’t, as far as I know, recognize rooms. Only devices and automations. So the goals can be achieved. It’s just annoying to set up.
You wil need to set up “groups” in the Alexa Apps, then you will be able to command all of the devices in that group.
then “alexa, turn on the kitchen lights” will turn on / off ALL of the devices you have in the group “kitchen”
In the Alexa app you can create groups. So if you have several kitchen lights, create a group called “Kitchen Lights” and add of your lights to that group. Then you can say “Alexa, turn on/off kitchen lights” to control all your kitchen lights.
Thanks! I think I’m getting the hang of this. I guess I’m conditioned to work with a more strict hierarchical architecture, so I viewed ST as the top of that and looked to configure everything there. It seems this stuff is more of a device partnership, whereas some handle some things, and others handle other things, but they all work with each other to get that done.
I got my dot in last night and it was very easy to setup…Just download the alexa app on your phone and follow directions. Worked great for controlling…Bing search is not so great
I received mine yesterday too. Yes, setup was ODDLY simple. I love how it finds music out of thin air. As a test I said “Alexa, play Kung Fu Fightin”.
Then I hear “Kung Fu Fighting, by Carl Douglass”. I just started laughing. Then I said “Alexa, play WMGK”. It went and found the radio station on either TuneIn or iHeart, and played it. Damn cool. Especially for the price. Best gadget I’ve bought in years. More Dots are in my future.
Yea I bought another one Thursday when I went and picked up an ecobee3. They were right next to each other at Lowe’s… Good marketing
The ecobee is nice, but it also showed me what a boob my HVAC guy is. Due to the wiring that was present, when I used Ecobee’s little adapter it made it so my fan would only go on and off with the AC. Worse than that, I turned the fan on, and it just put the AC on with no thermostat, lol. So test all that if you’re using their adapter. I’ve never been that comfortable in my house. Turned it into a meat locker.
I rewired the thermostat, took out their little adapter, and it works perfectly. Enjoy!
I didn’t have to use the adapter. But I hate it so far. Right now I have it set on auto with a setpoint of 69. Every morning, this is after I leave for work. It gets down to 63 or so. That temp is fine for me, but not the family. Even if it was just me, it’s not working as intended
You have to set your allowed temperature range, on page 21 of the manual. That keeps it from getting too warm or cold. So if you set your bottom to 67 and top to 72, it will never go outside that range. I personally don’t allow it to set my temp, but I do use its programming to change the temp throughout the day. I also use the remote sensors at night, so at night i have it get its temp from the remote sensors in the bedrooms, and ignore the first floor where it’s installed.
I think you may just have to figure out the scheduling. If you want it to hold 69 all day because your family is home, ecobee can easily do that. It may be a matter of disabling some of the settings like smart home/away.
I have the home starting for 345am so it’ll warm up a bit before they get up and moving. I guess I could extend sleep, but then it may get too warm. I think I’m gonna need a third party ST app.
Right. I think the issue is that I set the “home” for 330am. That’s when I wake up. I guess when I leave for work and I’m supposed to be “home”, it thinks no one is home before they wake up. I’ll mess with it some more tonight. I need to get the smartapp that uses ST motion sensors as well
After a few days, it will start pre-heating if it takes a while for you system to heat up in the morning. I have it set to go from 63 to 66 at 7:30. It starts heating about 15 minutes early, since my boiler takes a while. It figured this out on its own.
In the Sleep setting you can choose what sensors to use for averaging. It will use these even if there is no motion. I think it will add in others if motion is detected in those rooms.
Auto just controls the fan. Auto means the fan will automatically go on/off according to whats calling for ac/heat. The beauty of the Ecobee is the remote sensors. It averages the temperature and the average is what you are reading on the actual therm. This was not clear to me in the beginning! I was like, I know good and damn well it is colder than 78 degrees in the living room! Arrggg! This POS waste of money damn therm!..
Fast Forward and I am giving it praises beyond praises. You have to use the modes in order for it to work it’s magic. Also scheduling is totally kickass!
Once you figure those two options out then you can get even more out of it by adding sensors and some of the advance settings like Follow Me, Smart Home/Awayand Hold options.
Then, you can take it WAY forward by integrating it into ST!
The Charts are pretty cool once you understand the graphs.
The remote sensor will also help you balance the system and give you a good idea where you are loosing your a/c and heat.
Don’t give up on it. A small learning curve but my electric bill went from $600 to $180 within 4 months. Caulk is your friend!
A good friend. I’ve used 3 12 tube boxes of Alex Plus since I bought my house a few months ago. With ancient windows I’ll never get it very tight, but I don’t like to feel air blowing on me from the edges of the walls. . . . That’s not to mention the large tubes of Great Stuff foam for the pro gun. And I haven’t even started on the attic floor yet. . . . Weather stripping around doors, v-channel strips on windows, foam gaskets in dumb outlets with a lot of space. . . .
(Also: 2 buckets of hydraulic cement for the basement. 3 5 gallon buckets of waterproofing paint.)
I’m gonna look into it more this weekend. Thanks for the advice