I have a Home and Alexa.
I have 2 garages using GoControl/Linear GD00Z to open them. they are working fine with the smarthub V2
I want to say “ok google” “open garage door 1"
or
"alexa open garage door 1”
I have created a virtual switch using a tutorial found here. that is where i am stuck, now what do i do now?
I have searched on the board but every topic i find with people asking the same question I am asking all the comments are of people talking about there own experience with totally different hardware. or other people hijacking the thread.
if anyone has the same hardware that i have and can help me, PLEASE do so with my appreciation in advance
I’ll assume your Virtual switch is linked to the garage door opener and it already functions within ST. I’ll try and assist as best I can. I have an Echo Dot but not a Google Home, so just Alexa help from me I’m afraid…
You will need to install Amazon Alexa as a SmartApp within the ST app. Once that’s complete, you’ll need to connect your ST hub to Alexa using the Amazon Alexa app and the “Smart Home” menu option (it guides you through it quite nicely so I won’t go into detail).
The either use the Alexa app to discover devices or simple ask Alexa to discover devices. It takes about 20-seconds to complete.
Once complete, you should see your virtual switch as a device in the Alexa app. From now on, you can simply say “Alexa, open garage door 1” (or whatever the device name is) etc. Or if you want to give ask the garage door to open without using the device name; setup a Group in the Alexa app with just Garage Door 1 as the only device in the group and name the group whatever you’d like to say.
e.g. “Alexa, open the bat cave” (the Alexa device group being called “bat cave”.)
the alexa app is already connected to smartthings i use the alexa app to turn on&off light already
all i did was create the virtual switch, i do not have anything connected to it i do not know how
Do you want to use the virtual switch to control the garage doors?
Because if they’re already working in ST using the hub, once Alexas has discovered them as devices, they’ll also work with no virtual switch needed.
I’ve not done a lot with Virtual Switches so far. But if they’re like everything else created in ST, you should be able to assign it to a routine, device, IFTTT trigger etc. from within its own settings, usually under the Things tab or the SmartApps tab (where you’d setup the virtual switch to start with).
Let us know what you’re looking to end up with and we’ll work through it on here.
