My virtual house sensor is listed as a switch. You can verify the state of the device in Alexa by clicking on the “Switches” button in the Devices tab and locating your device or you can click on the “All Devices” button in the Devices tab, find your device, click on it and you will see status there as well. Either way, when you change the state in ST, you should see the corresponding change in Alexa in either of those views.
To make it easier to see what is going on without having to switch between the apps, you might want to use the my.smartthings.com website to change the state of the virtual device in ST while watching it in the Alexa app.
@TAustin,
When the momentary switch is set as a simple toggle, can we have the device, in the room, show the current state instead of it being momentary? In this screenshot, both devices are in, but the momentary is showing off.
Is it possible to add a vacuum cleaner? Mine is just a whim, I would like to try to replace the no longer functioning Neato smartapp with an automation thanks to Google home (now allows the trigger to unleash the automation as alexa). I can use the switch, it’s just a cosmetic issue to have the correct icon, nothing more.
So I have 4 glass break detectors in my house. I have them wired into some EcoLink tilt sensors using the external contacts. If they sense glass breaking they close, otherwise they are open/normal. Of course this doesn’t work with SHM. Would the idea be to create 4 virtual contact sensors, link them to the physical tilt sensors, have them reverse polarity, and then add the virtual contacts into SHM like they would be “doors”? So if the system is armed and a glass breakage goes off (closes) it would then open the virtual contact and in essence set of the alarm? Or is there a easier way to do this without virtual devices?
I also have a tilt sensor on a garage heater. I wish I could just change the labels so Open would be “Off” and Closed would be “Running” but I can’t. Would that be the same thing?
You may want to use @philh30 “Z-Wave masquerade” driver for your Ecolink sensors. It will make your Ecolink tilt sensor look like one of 12 different items, some of which like contact sensors can be connected to STHM.
@Pouncer did you get this to work to meet your needs? I think I’m looking for something similar. I use ActionTiles and would like one tile that both controls the garage door and tells the state of the door (open/close). Currently, I have 3 routines that I thought could make this work, but doesn’t seem to be. One routine controls the door relay. One changes the door icon to open when the contact sensor is open. One changes the icon to closed. Any insight to your routines would be helpful!
That would be great! However, if they already selected the current setting as a simple switch, then it could be assumed they also want the visual display of the device to be that as well. I’m not sure a separate setting is required. Thanks!
@TAustin would you happen to know why the garage door isn’t working as expected in ActionTiles? I have three routines setup for the virtual garage door. One to control the door, one to show open state, and one to show closed state. All seems to be working in ST. In ActionTiles, however, I can’t control the garage door (the states do show correctly) when the tile is pressed. I’m hoping to have one tile that both controls the door and shows the state (I have desynced in the ST settings).
New to this topic. Trying to find an alternative to the groovy-based garage door app that I was running (LGK). I have downloaded vEdge creator and created a virtual garage door - easy peasy. Now I am struggling on how to use it in the routine(s). Searched on this topic and on the web for an example with no luck.
In the groovy app you configured the virtual device by telling it about the corresponding physical sensor and physical momentary push button. After that you could test the door for open-close and/or tell it to open-close. I suspect this will be a little more involved and probably will not work exactly the same…That’s ok!
I realize that I to create need a routine to mirror the status of the physical contact sensor. I think I also need to mirror the momentary push button (maybe virt2phys and phys2virt)
If anyone can point me to a working example/tutorial or is willing to share it will be appreciated. I for my part will share when(if) I get it working to my satisfaction.
When any presense sensor arrives, open the door - unless already open. (like I’m Back)
When all presense sensors leave, close the door - unless already closed. (like Goodbye)
Close door at 11:00pm unless already closed (like Goodnight)
If door is opened/closed manually (using the RF remote for example) mirror the state of the door.
I used to be able to do this in the I’m Back/Goodbye/Goodnight routines by telling the LGK app to open/close the door - the app did all the conditional testing to make sure that if didn’t try to close an already closed door or open an already open door.
Assuming there is an Edge driver for your garage door opener, you can manually open/close it via the ST app, and the state of the door is accurately reflected in the app, here is how I think I would handle it:
If pre-condition “Garage Door is Closed” with trigger condition of “when any one of the presence sensors shows present” then “Open the Door” and send a Notification “Garage Door Open by Presence”
If pre-condition “Garage Door is Open” with trigger condition of “when all presence sensors show not present” then “Close the Door” and send a Notification of “Garage Door Closed for Absence”
If pre-condition “Garage Door is Open” with trigger condition of “Time is 11:00pm every day” then “Close the door” and send Notification of “Garage Door Closed for the Night”
If trigger condition “Garage door opens” then set virtual garage door to “Open”
If trigger condition “Garage door closes” then set virtual garage door to “Closed”
Now, I’m not sure what you want to do with the virtual garage door state, but the last two routines will mirror the state every time the door opens or closes regardless of the reason (routine or manually).
