Yes it was included with early Echo purchases but now separate:
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Yeah, I control my PC via BT. I believe that the PS3 and Wii is also BT as I have to pair them to work with Harmony. HmmâŠseems like the Echo is more than capable of receiving commands via RCâŠCome on Amazon! Unleash the code!
Unfortunately, the echo remote does not itself have a mute button. The button with the speaker that is on it is a microphone button that you hold down to talk. So even if you could get echo to recognize the harmony in place of this remote, it doesnât solve the problem.
As others have suggested, you could set up an inexpensive android device near the echo that can handle TTS with LANNOUNCER, and then have it literally say âAlexa, off.â But that still leaves the echo in âalways listeningâ mode, so Iâm not sure if itâs what the OP wanted. But you could automate the equivalent of a person in the room saying âAlexa, offâ pretty easily.
If what you want is the equivalent of pressing The deactivate button on top of the echo, which is what some people do when they go out to make sure that no one from outside can yell commands that the echo would process, then the only way I know to do that is, as @anon36505037 suggested, with the prota microbot. But youâd need the $89 Prota bridge (to get IFTTT capability) plus the $49 Microbot, so thatâs a pretty expensive solution.
Some people with limited hand function might find it worth it, but I think most people would just go with the smart plug instead, and just reboot it a second time if the wifi didnât connect on restart.
Hmm, so itâll only pair with that remote. Not a firetv remote I guess?
Unfortunately I donât have a fire tv so unsure if it can pair with that remote. You can try via settings in the Alexa app.
I have an Android tablet running ActionTiles mounted near my Echo Dot, and I have Lannouncer running in the background. Using that for voice synthesis, Iâve been able to use CoRE to make it have conversations with Alexa. For a while I was having it ask her to tell a joke every night after the goodnight routine ran. It understands the voice perfectly, so I can pretty much perform any function I want through that âintegrationâ, like play specific music when the Iâm Back routine runs, etcâŠMy dog may be kinda confused about all the talking while Iâm not home, but sheâll get used to it.
Edit: So in this case, you could setup the routine (or CoRE piston) to have the tablet tell Alexa to pause the music when the Goodbye routine runs and everything else turns off.
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Yeah, I use mine to control my PS3.
Hi guys & gals,
Just a thoughtâŠ
In terms of muting the Echo: if youâre prepared to sacrifice your warranty & youâre proficient with a soldering iron, you could open-up the Echo, carefully solder two wires onto the terminals for the mute button (looking at the Echo-dot tear-down photos; thereâs an area that should take solder - but I havenât done this myself yet, so I canât confirm).
You could then connect the wires coming from the Echo to any Z-Wave momentary switch to âpressâ the mute button (i.e.allow current to pass across the switch contacts). This can all be done neatly (if youâre skillful) with an external connector on a wire (2.5mm mono audio jack etc) so trailing wires can easily be disconnected from the Echo if needs be.
I personally wish to pause playing music on my Echo when my office is vacant for more than 3 minutes⊠so i think Iâm going to buy an Echo remote and apply the same wiring method to âpressâ the pause button. Of course, the remote would no-longer be portable as itâs be tethered to the relay device. I have done this many times with remotes over the years - normally works a treat!
Iâll report back on progress.
In the meantime; does anybody have recommendations for a cheap z-wave relay / momentary switch that ST can interface with please?
Al.
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As of right now Iâm using a smart plug with power monitoring. When the âGoodbyeâ routine is ran and if the plug is drawing more than 1 watt it will turn off and then turn back on in one minute. this minimizes the times it needs to be reset due to not reconnecting to wifi since it is usually off when people leave. Still waiting for Harmony to add the remote so I could just pause music though and it would also free up a plug for me to use somewhere else.