All,
Please read this: Amazon Echo soon will control thermostats natively
It appears the Echo can NOW natively control your SmartThings thermostats! That is great. However, some may ask “Then what use is Alexa Helper”…well, in testing this there is still a few possible use cases:
Thermostats: The Echo does NOT natively allow you to change modes on your thermostats. Alexa Helper allows not only this, and puts safety limits in just in case the Echo hears the wrong temperature.
Baseboard heaters: Just like any other thermostats, you CAN control these natively through the Echo. Alexa Helper brings to the table, using an Alexa Switch, can not only replicate this behavior, but to set up standard setpoints so you just have to say “Alexa, turn on heat” (assuming ‘heat’ is a switch name) and set a group of thermostats to go to a low set point, in essence turning the baseboard heaters off. And, just like above, Alexa Helper puts safety limits in just in case the Echo hears the wrong temperature.
It is great that ST is continuing integration with the Echo (especially with the new devices Amazon just release), but I will continue to expand Alexa Helper, finding more ways to bring value to the user community!