I’ve had SmartThings for years and have connected many devices to it including Alexa. I see that there are nice inexpensive wifi outlets and devices from Amazon, FEIT and others but have no idea how to connect them to SmartThings. The officially supported device list is rather small compared to what’s out there. So, if I connect this device to Alexa (it’s a FEIT outdoor outlet), can ST tell Alexa to turn it on/off (I don’t think so but I’m not sure.). Can I connect these devices another way, say via IFTTT? I’m a pretty basic type of user (no IDE stuff) but figure there must be somebody smarter than me that has done this. Thanks!
There is no direct integration, and also unfortunately FEIT does not have an IFTTT channel.
As you mentioned, it is possible to do it through an echo routine, although it’s a little tricky, because you have to also create a virtual Sensor since at the present time Eco routines will only trigger based on a sensor, not on a switch. But it’s definitely doable, lots of people have.
See the following FAQ. The topic title is a clickable link. Edited to update and as @Paul_Oliver Notes below, another option in the FAQ, the smart life app integration, would probably be even simpler in this case. 
BTW, by the end of 2022 this may all be much easier as the more manufacturers adopt the new matter standard. But we are probably a year away from that now.
Matter - smart home connectivity standard (formerly Project CHIP)
There are at least 2 ways to do this:
-
Pair the plug with the SmartLife (SL) or Tuya apps. Open the device in SL and click on edit (pencil) in upper right corner. It should list 3rd party integrations. It will probably list Alexa and Google. If you are really lucky it might list Smartthings (ST).
Assuming ST is not listed create two tap-to-run automations (scenes) in SL. One to turn the plug on and one to turn the plug off.
After you do that go to ST and click + sign, add device, by brand, Tuya, other and run the integration. The 2 scenes you created in SL should show up in no room assigned.
Create a virtual switch and use that switch to create 2 ST automations. One to toggle the “on” scene and one to toggle the “off” scene.
The imported scenes will probably be listed as off line. If so go to the ST web portal (my.smartthings.com) and operate each scene. This will wake them up and only needs to be done once. -
Use Alexa. Create a Simulated Alexa Switch (SAS) in ST. Then go to Alexa and use the SAS to trigger and on routine and an off routine.
The 1st option is more reliable and does not depend on Alexa.
If you are in the US you can easily create a virtual switch for option 1 in ST Labs under the menu tab.
If you have questions let us know and we will try to help.
1 Like
Yes, those are options 4 and 5 in the community FAQ that I linked to.
Thanks, my Wyze outdoor power outlet does not support Tuya, Smart Life or IFTTT. I have tried option 2 with Alexa in the middle. Alexa connects to Wyze and turns the outlet on/off with no issue. I set up a Simulated Alexa Switch in ST and see it in ST and Alexa discovered it as a Sensor. The sensor/switch toggles in ST. I used the SAS as a trigger for two Alexa routines (on/off). The routines run manually perfectly and toggle the power outlet. The only issue is that when I use ST to change the state of the SAS (open/close), Alexa fails to trigger the routines. Any suggestions. I feel like it’s so close (but yet, so far!).
1 Like
I’m replying to myself just to say that I solved this. I reread all of the articles and found one tidbit which was “if it doesn’t work, disable SmartThings in Alexa and re-enable”. This fixed it and now it works. Thanks JDRoberts and Paul_Oliver for the quick replies and help! I’m looking at the 10 open browser tabs trying to find who posted the tidbit but can’t find who. This community is awesome.
2 Likes
Glad to hear you got it working. This gets much easier after the 1st try.
It’s in the FAQ on using a virtual sensor to trigger an Alexa routine:
in particular, if echo can see your sensor but the sensor will not trigger an echo routine, follow the steps in the how to article exactly and that will fix that problem.
Yes it does get easier. I set up the second outlet in 5 minutes
This started when I bought another Echo with the clock feature for my nightstand that’s currently a Black Friday deal and saw Amazon offered an outdoor power outlet for $10 more. The device is manufactured by Wyze and each outlet is independently programmable. I probably spent more time than I saved in money getting it going, but I think of these things as puzzles, not problems, and with a little (ok, a lot) of help from my friends it got solved. Thanks again. And also to B. J. Pierron, whose code allows the Simulated Alexa Switch to operate as a switch and sensor!
1 Like
That has been a great contribution to the community. Unfortunately, it will stop working once the groovy cloud is discontinued.
However, another community member has stepped up to offer an edge driver version which can do the same thing. it is still in beta because the entire edge platform is still in beta, but there are some community members using it and you can read more about it here:
[ST Edge] vEdge Creator: a virtual device generator for end users
I’m not up to speed on what this means to me. It sounds like another time sink for users like the move to the new app from Classic. And now I’m hearing about the older hubs being relegated to the dust bin in the near future. I’m a V2 user. I’m in the software business and understand that these are required. We try to limit the impact to our users in both frequency and severity of required migrations. Similar to my customers, I made a decision years ago and am now vested in the ecosystem. But, it does make me wonder about all the new alternatives.
Smartthings is in the middle of a major architectural change.
Major major.
Up until now, most smartapps and many DTHs, all of which were written in the groovy language, ran in a cloud that was hosted for free by Samsung and made available to any customer.
That service is going away.
Instead, DTH is which run on the hub will be written in LUA, a different programming language, and are described as “edge drivers.“
Custom Smart apps and any other custom DTHs will have to be hosted by the customer themselves and then communicate with smartthings cloud to cloud.
The DTH is which are already using the new cloud architecture show up in the IDE as “placeholder.“
Once this transition is complete, the IDE itself will go away. So again, major major changes.
It’s not just a matter of updating existing Groovy code: everything will have to be rewritten from scratch unless you find that you can now use the official features.
There have been multiple official announcements about this:
.
.
.
.
.
. Staff have said multiple times that the majority of smartthings customers have 15 or fewer devices and never use any custom code. So they won’t see any differences and won’t have to change anything, it will all happen behind the scenes for them.
But those using custom code will have to find substitutes for that code. 
I don’t use SmartThings at all! Why bother? I’m assuming you either have Android or smartwatch, right? … and you can easily handle Feit electric products (I’m Costco shopper) either via Alexa or via Google directly!! why bother with a Samsungs Smart Things?
This forum is specifically for people who are using the Samsung SmartThings ™ home automation platform, so all of the questions and answers are assumed to be in that context. Everyone has their own reasons for why they chose to use that platform, but everyone who is here is using it. That’s why they’re here.
In most cases, it’s because they wanted more complex logic rules and schedules that are available with just one of the smart speakers, but again, different people have different reasons.
Here’s the section from a commmunity FAQ on complex rules logic, which gives several examples of “why bother“ things that smartthings can do and the other platforms you mentioned cannot as of this posting.
Level 3: Stacked Conditionals: Or, While, Unless
.
The next level is where the rules start to get really complicated, and most of the low-cost home automation systems fall away. This is when you start combining conditions and also checking for the absence of a condition.
.
If I arrive home AND the time is between sunset and sunrise OR if the motion sensor on the front porch detects motion during the same time, turn on the porch lights UNLESS The date is between Thanksgiving and New Years (keeps the porch lights from spoiling the effect from the outdoor holiday lighting)
.
If I press this switch AND it is before 11 PM, turn on that outlet UNLESS I have guests, in which case ignore the time restriction
.
If the closet door opens AND it is before 9 pm OR the mode is “baby sleeping” turn on the closet light ( to keep from waking the baby up)
.
If it is 15 minutes before sunset AND I am home, turn on the Living room light UNLESS I am watching a movie
.
If there has been no motion in the bathroom for 15 minutes AND the humidity levels have not been rising, turn off the bathroom lights (this keeps the lights on if someone is in the shower where the motion sensor might not detect them)
.
If the indoor temperature is above 78° AND The bedroom window is not open, start the bedroom air conditioner UNLESS I am not home
.
And a community favorite:
.
If there has been no motion in the living room AND I am home turn off the Living room lights UNLESS the lights were turned on with the wall switch (manual override of the automatic light turn off)
.
Stacked conditionals can get really complex. Maybe you want to combine several different devices, so that a rule only gets triggered if a door is open AND there is motion in the room AND you are not home. (so your dog moving around doesn’t trigger your burglar alarm siren)
.
The point is that most low-cost home automation systems, including HomeKit and Google and Alexa routines, just can’t handle these kinds of rules. But SmartThings can, and much more complex ones as well.
But regardless of the reasons for why people are using the smartthings platform, this forum is for people who are using it. 
If you are looking for a general forum, the Reddit home automation forum is brand agnostic.
1 Like
Get some life, relax