I have my ST integrated with my legacy home security system via AlarmDecoder. I have a door that I would like to be “notified” when it is open/closed. Getting an SMS and a push notification is fine sometimes, but sometimes I want something more immediately noticeable. For example, it would be nice if I could have Alexa say “Basement Door Open” or something like that.
I did search and saw some other threads about this, but I didn’t see anything that looked like it would work for me. I saw something where you install a bunch of software and then pair BT to an Android phone. That is definitely not going to work for me. I don’t want to BT to anything and I don’t have an Android device that I would use.
Any suggestions/solutions for using Alexa or other options?
If all you need is for Alexa to announce that the door is open or closed when the door is opened or closed, then creating a routine in the Alexa app would be the simplest solution. You’d need to link Smartthings to Alexa using the Alexa app if you haven’t done so already.
If you want something more versatile such as notifying you if the garage door has been opened for x number of minutes/hours, then Echo Speaks in conjunction with WebCoRE is the way to go.
So which of these solutions is better? I notice that the latter one has to be done in the Alexa app. Any advantages or disadvantages to either of these?
I set one up to test in the Alexa routine. One thing I noticed is that I can only have one alexa device say something when the sensor is opened. Is there any way to select multiple devices? Or maybe even have one device say something during certain times of day and others on other times, eg night vs day?
Ok, I went ahead and setup a test notification with the Alexa app, but I am apprehensive about putting automation in an app outside of ST. I’d prefer to have it all in one place, but I am open to trying it.
I also went ahead and installed the Echo Speaks. I now see my Echo devices in “My Home”.
So my question now is, How would I use Echo Speaks to do this notification?
bamarayne
(Jason "The Enabler" as deemed so by @Smart)
11
Installing Echo Speaks is very simple and it will allow you to use all of your Alexa devices as speakers.
You can then use apps like WebCore to create your automation alerts.
It seems that you might be fairly new to the custom code available in this community. Dig deep and read. This rabbit hole has no bottom.
Just keep asking your questions, we’re happy to help you out as we can.
You are correct. I have zero experience with things like webcore. I looked at it for a few minutes in the past, but it was pretty complex as I recall. I am an IT person by trade, but this is very new to me.
Is there any way to use the Alexa devices with Echo Speaks without doing core?
bamarayne
(Jason "The Enabler" as deemed so by @Smart)
13
Webcore can seem to be pretty intimidating. I’ve been using it since it came out and I’ve only scratched the surface. There is an entire community based on it though, so there is plenty of help if you want to go that route.
I haven’t used the devices with any other apps except for ones I’ve written myself, but they should work with most that are available.
I am getting notifications all day that look like this:
"Echo speaks data refresh issue: The app has not received any device data from echo speaks service in last (16399) seconds. Something must be wrong with the node server."
Any idea why that may happen? I have not put anything in echo speaks yet. Still trying to figure out echo speaks and webcore.
On my dashboard in ST app, there is a Home Solutions block that I could add SHM stuff, but now it says “unable to load your home solutions”. It offers a reload button, but it never works. Also, if I go to Automation > SmartApps > Add > Samsung Recommends > Smart Home Monitor - Custom, and click it, the icon spins and never comes back. So it looks like nothing with SHM is working now.
Ok, well the SHM eventually came back and I can create stuff in there. I created a custom monitor so that when my basement door sensor opens, it will send a message to all my alexa devices. It is not working. I have tested it by opening the door many time, but nothing happens.
I do not know if this is Echo Speaks not working on the SHM. Any ideas?
On a side note, I did setup some routines in the Alexa app for notifications and it is working. It only allows me to use 1 alexa device, so that’s why I am trying to use SHM so I can do multiple.
I just created a new SHM monitor. It monitors a door sensor and will send me a push notification AND send an alert to 2 of my alexa devices. I opened the door and the push notification works, but alexa does nothing. So it sounds like this Echo Speaks is not working.
I removed Echo Speaks and started over. When I get to the heroku part, when I click deploy app I get an error: Archive URL not found. Also “Invalid Template Repository”.
Did you ever find a solution? I am having the same problem. I can send test messages to my echo devices in the device themselves, but cannot get them to announce in the SHM when a door opens.