Smart App to turn on/off AC?

[jhamstead]

The default capabilities of the Amazon Echo with smartthings cannot at this time turn on or off AC or Heat. Because of this, Alexa will not accidentally turn either of them on or off. If you want, you can add this capability with simulated switches and CoRE or with the Ask Alexa app by @MichaelS. With Ask Alexa you give specific commands to set the thermostat to AC or Heat.

Otherwise you should be able to control these options through smartthings on your phone, though to give specifics we would need to know your thermostat model.

Using Simulated Switches

Ecobee Cool/Heat/Off control with Amazon Echo

Thanks to the great work done by yvesracine with his “ecobeeChangeMode” SmartApp, I was able to modify it so that the Ecobee thermostat can be set to heat/cool/off via the Amazon Echo. Before creating and deploying the SmartApp, a few things have to be done: The first step to this is to create 3 virtual switches, one for each mode. In my case, my 3 switches are “A C”, “Heat” and “Air”. (keep in mind that these are the switch names you will be telling the Echo to turn on, so name what comes naturally… for me it’s natural to say “Alexa, turn the A C on”) Next is to create 3 new SmartThings modes. In my case it is “Cool”, “Heat”, and “Air off”. Deploy the “Switch Changes Mode” app from the convenience section (it’s #32 currently). This has to be done for EACH mode. If using the same n…