Justin. That was it. When I did it before (clucking on the Amazon app from
within ST app, it showed ‘switches’ and my defined rooms. I never thought
of clicking anywhere, since I did not know it was clickable…
I added it ti my amazon portion inside ST by clicking on the box next to the phantom.
Thanks
Justin
I am not sure if you saw my entry modification I made last night? I’m at a lost. I added Alexa app in ST and authorized the KitchenRGB WS2812B unit in the Alexa app.
Alexa STILL does not discover this device - what am I missing here?
As I mentioned before - I want to be able to control my blinds with Alexa too and use the same photon device and there are videos out here of people that control their photon-blinds with Alexa and it works.
Any ideas?
Thanks
I’m not too sure. If you go back into the Amazon echo smartapp in SmartThings app do you still see your device as an authorized device? If not add it and make sure you press next and done and don’t hit your back button in the smartapp.
YEP…Alexa can control it, now. THAT was the problem (DUH!!!) - I backed out and did not ‘Done’ the selection.
How STUPID can I get??
Thanks a million for your help Justin - I REALLY appreciate your time and patience.
Bert
No problem I just walked through the things I usually do wrong
Justin
Now I have a brand new problem and I do not have any hair left on my head. Let me explain: I got my first string of LED’s to work just fine with the Photon device(called IO)- and in ST its called Kitchen Long - on the one side of my kitchen counters - but I have another, opposite side that is separated by a doorway.
Since I cannot get wires through the doorway - I have decided to add another Photon device for that second string of LED’s.
Well, I program the second Photon (device is called Ganymede) with exactly the same code I had on the first, I only change the amount of LEDs in this second string. Programmed fine. I got the unique Device-ID and Token.
Added a new device (Kitchen Short) and selected the same device-type as for Kitchen Long into ST, added the DeviceID and token - no problem.
Kitchen Short turns on and off…but now I cannot control Kitchen Long anymore…
So, I went back into Build IDE, select photon IO and program Kitchen Long (change the amount of LED’s, Device-ID is the same as it was before and even re-generated a new Token - programmed IO Photon.
Went back into ST and edit the device to change the new Token.
Access Kitchen Long from my ST-app and it works - NOW kitchen Short is not responding…
So I went through this process about two times then I realize something…Do I have to create a unique APP in the Particle IO build for each device, because it seems that although each device has its own DeviceID and Token - the last one I program with the code (only the LED count has been changed) - that device is the one that is working?
I am SO confused.
Ideas?
Keep your hair. Do not generate a new access token. Your access token remains the same for both. The device ID is different. So set the same access token on both. Set the unique device IDs and you should be good.
Hmmm,… and I thought both the “DeviceID” and the “Access token” were unique entities for each photon.
Interesting, this makes “half sense”…lol
Does this also mean once I get my other Photons to control the blinds, I still use the same access token?
I learned something new thing today! Thank you
Yeah, access token is the unique token for your use of Particle API. DeviceID is of course the unique id specific to the device.
Yes you will use the same access token for all Photons that you add.
Thanks Justin - Got it all to work just fine.,
However, Alexa can only turn the LEDs on, off and Dim - she does not get the other ‘modes’ that I programmed into the Photon and the ST-app.
How do I get her to respond correctly to “Green” and “Blue” or even the “Rainbow” events that has been programmed?
Although I have to admit, I have not tried the keyword ‘Trigger’ - ie. “Alexa Trigger RGB (etc) green”.
I am not too sure on this Bert. If it were to work your phrasing would need to be something like: “Alexa set ‘device’ to color blue”.
But I don’t know if all capabilities are exposed in the API. That would be a question for @slagle.
Our official Alexa integration does not provide any more functionality other than on/off/dim for lights. We use the Smart Home API for Echo and this is a more limited API, but it allows us to skip the “ask SmartThings” part of the action when interacting with Alexa.
Ok well there you have it Bert, but all hope is not lost. What you can do is create a virtual switch that Alexa can control and make it blue lights. Then you can say “Alexa turn on the blue lights”. In the background you will have a rule that when the bike lights virtual switch is turned on the blue command is sent to particle.
How hard would it be to port this ws2812 smartthings project to the ESP8266 instead of the Photon? I have some experience with the ws2812 leds with the ESP8266 board, but I dont have any experience with writing device handlers.
Sorry for the late response, I missed this.
I actually think the device handler could be kept except for the put command. It could remain a put command, but it would probably need to be a local call. Since the ESP8266 can run arduino as well the code there can be the same too.
This should be a pretty easy cutover.
Thank you for your reply! Unfortunately, I’m unfamiliar with put commands… I’m pretty good at patching multiple codes together from various sources, but not yet familiar with coding specifics. How much would be involved in reworking your code to function on an esp8266 in smartthings? I feel like many people could benefit from this code, as these boards are available for as cheap as $4-6!
If you’re interested in adapting your code, I could send you one of these boards? Or it would be awesome if its a simple adaptation to update your code to feature both boards?
I am working on an edge lighting project and would like to use these LED strips:
Will they work with your solution? What is the maximum number of addressable pixels it can control?
It may I don’t know what the 2811 statement is with that strip. I would just look for a regular ws2812b strip. Also that doesn’t look like that great of a price. To answer the question of power. The max load of vin on the particle is 1amp. A separate power supply can be used, and then I would say you would probably be limited by a memory capacity on the photon, but I would think you would be looking T several hundred lights. I have 30 lights/meter strip that I am powering 88 lights on without a problem. That is over the 1 amp rating, but I haven’t seen a problem. The general rule of thumb is 20 mA per pixel, but like I have said I have seen better results. Btw the 30led/m are what are in my video. They put out a good amount of light.
From what I’ve read on other web sites, they are WS2811 compatible and others have had success.
30 LEDs per meter may be fine for brightness, but has a bigger edge lighting “V” affect compared to 144 per meter. So eighteen cents per LED seems reasonable when you consider the etched glass I’m lighting runs in the thousands of dollars.
Can you show a SmartThings screen shot of your device type. I can see the code, thank you, but a picture is easier for me to comprehend.