Hi all.
Apologies if this has already been discussed.
I have been looking at the motion sensors.
I only want one for my outside shed to activate an Alexa command (voice) if triggered within a certain time frame.
Appreciate any help.
Jack
@JackRBaker, Im bkt quite understanding what you mean by activate an Alexa voice command. A little bit more context?
Thanks for your reply.
If the motion sensor is triggered Alexa will speak across all devices.
Understand, and youāre welcome.
Yes its possible. The easiest way is to have an Alexa Routine that reacts to a motion event reported by SmartThings. Its a pretty simple routine actually - i have this on my front porch.
So to have a ST (or any zigbee or ZWave motion sensor) you must have a hub. Your sensor needs to be in range of the hub (even though spec says its much greater - realistic range is about 50ft./15m.)if wherr you would put the hub v. The sensor is greater than that youll need repeaters (most mains powered devices repeat for thier spec. Zigbee for Zigbee and ZWave for ZWave)
So Hub, Motion sensor, repeaters if necessary, set it all up, add Alexa Integration then setup the Alexa Routine.
Thanks again.
So a hub is required.
On the Samsung website it states that hub is required OR a Smartthings compatible device.
See ref:
This is where my question comes from.
What is a smartthings compatible device?
Amazon Alexa has the smartthings skill which you can enable. I wondered if this can then be used as the ācompatible deviceā
Any ideas?
No the skill is for connecting the SmartThings system to Alexa.
SmartThings motion sensors are Zigbee. Zigbee is a mesh topology network used for home automation communications. What that note is saying is you need a Zigbee compatible hub of some type to connect to.
If you have an Alexa plus device with a Zigbee radio inside it will work as the hub. But the note about range still applies.
You left out an important part of the quote:
- Requires a SmartThings Hub or a compatible device with SmartThings Hub functionality.
Those compatible devices with hub functionality are plug in sticks which can be added to some models of television sets or the Nvidia shield. They have the same radios inside that a smartthings hub does. But to be honest, Iām not sure those are even still sold.
As @nathancu mentioned, all you need for what you want to do is a sensor, any brand, that can trigger an Alexa routine.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202200080
Some zigbee sensors can communicate directly with an Echo Plus or an Echo Show 10ā 2nd generation, The echo models that specifically say they have a āzigbee hub insideā.
If you donāt have one of those echo models, there has to be some way for the sensor to communicate with your Alexa account. Most will require a hub, but there are a few Wi-Fi sensors which do not.
Since right now all you have is an echo spot, I suggest you ask your question in the Amazon help forum and people there should be able to suggest sensors for you which will work without a hub:
https://www.amazonforum.com/s/topic/0TO4P000000t6llWAA/general-smart-home
Hi
Thanks for your reply.
My home is kitted out with Hive equipment.
They sell a motion sensor however all this does is send a notification to your phone when activated.
Pointless if you ask me.
Hence why Iām trying to find a bloody sensor that will do what I want.
I donāt really want another hub as already have the Hive & Sonos Bridge.
Looks like I will either have to scrap the idea of activating an Alexa routine for just an alarm or wait for Hive to catch up with their competitors.