[Alexa] Devices Exposed via Skill App: Device Type Issues

[cjkeenan]

@april.brandt So I asked over on the Node-RED thread here on the forums and they directed me to the post below. First impressions are good and I have two of my use cases transferred over. Just trying to work out the kinks of Alexa not finding what I am talking about or recommending random skills.

My flow to replace the built in " ... turn on/off lights" command which I like to call, "Now this is Podracing" :

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Node-RED nodes for hubitat

I largely followed this guide when setting up the echo commands. From the link - A “change” node is used to strip the wake word from the command, if present (i.e. if the user didn’t pause for Alexa to respond before uttering the command); the wake-word is stripped ahead of time rather than simply being matched in the regex-based router for reusability (specifically, for sharing with you all, as some of you may use a custom wake word) and also to shorten the required pattern string If you fo…

[april.brandt]

There are two people that come to mind that may be able to help here. @JasonJoel and @csteele. But can you paste your flow code here also?

[bdydrp]

@cjkeenan

Just trying to work out the kinks of Alexa not finding what I am talking about or recommending random skills.

This is where i believe the alexa local nodes solve this. They create a virtual device inside alexa app

[JasonJoel]

I'll have to defer to one of the others on this one, as while I know node-red very well - I don't use Alexa at all.

[csteele]

@JasonJoel

I'll have to defer to one of the others on this one...

Me too. I'm in April's camp.

@april.brandt

wouldn't ask, dance or sing

I have Hubitat's Amazon Echo Skill installed but it gets used once a month or less. As a result, I've never had interest in adding it to Node-Red.

[cjkeenan]

Here is the flow code for the picture I posted, one thing to note is you may have to change the wake word you strip out, which in my experience is altogether unnecessary since out of the device activity output message, specifically the summary, which contains what was said, does not contain the wake word, but that is what the guide said so whatever. Also, the configuration nodes will have to be switched to yours obviously:

[{"id":"68ba5945.906288","type":"tab","label":"Generic Light Control","disabled":false,"info":"Turns lights on and off per the room you are in."},{"id":"80bb010d.082ce","type":"switch","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"Phrase Handler","property":"payload.description.summary","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"regex","v":"turn off ( the)?lights","vt":"str","case":false},{"t":"regex","v":"turn on ( the)?lights","vt":"str","case":false}],"checkall":"false","repair":false,"outputs":2,"x":520,"y":320,"wires":[["af996470.7bf118"],["e0acbb82.c84ac8"]],"outputLabels":["Turn on",""]},{"id":"1737ebff.565734","type":"hubitat command","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"GR - Lights Off","server":"b130c189.ea4d2","deviceId":"67","command":"off","commandArgs":"","x":720,"y":120,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"af996470.7bf118","type":"switch","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"Device Handler","property":"payload.deviceSerialNumber","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"eq","v":"G090U509912423CC","vt":"str"},{"t":"eq","v":"G6G0XG100134018V","vt":"str"},{"t":"eq","v":"G090U5099117264T","vt":"str"},{"t":"eq","v":"G090U509911620T7","vt":"str"}],"checkall":"false","repair":false,"outputs":4,"x":520,"y":180,"wires":[["1737ebff.565734"],["6f6ae5ea.792f9c"],["c73b5d38.e4ed6"],["83b32c58.41ce"]],"outputLabels":["Great Room","Downstairs Bedroom","Kitchen","Master Bedroom"],"info":"Great Room - G090U509912423CC\nDownstairs Bedroom - G6G0XG100134018V\nKitchen - G090U5099117264T\nMaster Bedroom - G090U509911620T7"},{"id":"3407811a.1e9e4e","type":"change","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"Summary Handler","rules":[{"t":"change","p":"payload.description.summary","pt":"msg","from":"^(echo )?","fromt":"re","to":"","tot":"str"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":330,"y":320,"wires":[["80bb010d.082ce"]],"info":"Strips the wake word from the summary (May not be needed anymore)"},{"id":"6f6ae5ea.792f9c","type":"hubitat command","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"DB - Lights Off","server":"b130c189.ea4d2","deviceId":"69","command":"off","commandArgs":"","x":720,"y":160,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"c73b5d38.e4ed6","type":"hubitat command","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"K - Lights Off","server":"b130c189.ea4d2","deviceId":"68","command":"off","commandArgs":"","x":710,"y":200,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"83b32c58.41ce","type":"hubitat command","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"MB - Lights Off","server":"b130c189.ea4d2","deviceId":"501","command":"off","commandArgs":"","x":720,"y":240,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"666629d2.9fdf18","type":"hubitat command","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"DB - Lights On","server":"b130c189.ea4d2","deviceId":"69","command":"on","commandArgs":"","x":720,"y":440,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"a4468c2.dde517","type":"hubitat command","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"K - Lights On","server":"b130c189.ea4d2","deviceId":"68","command":"on","commandArgs":"","x":710,"y":480,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"5b9d4c70.22d984","type":"hubitat command","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"MB - Lights On","server":"b130c189.ea4d2","deviceId":"501","command":"on","commandArgs":"","x":720,"y":520,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"f5561f49.28d01","type":"alexa-remote-event","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"","account":"4553eef5.ffc05","event":"ws-device-activity","x":130,"y":320,"wires":[["3407811a.1e9e4e"]]},{"id":"cd66091.af90cf8","type":"hubitat command","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"GR - Lights On","server":"b130c189.ea4d2","deviceId":"67","command":"on","commandArgs":"","x":720,"y":400,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"e0acbb82.c84ac8","type":"switch","z":"68ba5945.906288","name":"Device Handler","property":"payload.deviceSerialNumber","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"eq","v":"G090U509912423CC","vt":"str"},{"t":"eq","v":"G6G0XG100134018V","vt":"str"},{"t":"eq","v":"G090U5099117264T","vt":"str"},{"t":"eq","v":"G090U509911620T7","vt":"str"}],"checkall":"false","repair":false,"outputs":4,"x":520,"y":460,"wires":[["cd66091.af90cf8"],["666629d2.9fdf18"],["a4468c2.dde517"],["5b9d4c70.22d984"]],"outputLabels":["Great Room","Downstairs Bedroom","Kitchen","Master Bedroom"],"info":"Great Room - G090U509912423CC\nDownstairs Bedroom - G6G0XG100134018V\nKitchen - G090U5099117264T\nMaster Bedroom - G090U509911620T7"},{"id":"b130c189.ea4d2","type":"hubitat config","z":"","name":"Beach House Hubitat Config","usetls":false,"host":"192.168.2.240","port":"80","appId":"801","nodeRedServer":"http://192.168.2.253:1880","webhookPath":"/hubitat/webhook","autoRefresh":true,"useWebsocket":false},{"id":"4553eef5.ffc05","type":"alexa-remote-account","z":"","name":"","authMethod":"proxy","proxyOwnIp":"192.168.2.253","proxyPort":"3456","cookieFile":"authFile","refreshInterval":"3","alexaServiceHost":"pitangui.amazon.com","amazonPage":"amazon.com","acceptLanguage":"en-US","userAgent":"","useWsMqtt":"on","autoInit":"on"}]

[cjkeenan]

@bdydrp

This is where i believe the alexa local nodes solve this. They create a virtual device inside alexa app

Yeah what I ended up doing was a combination of making virtual devices in Hubitat that I expose that literally do nothing but provide an endpoint for an Alexa command, along with a few routines for commands that are not turn on/off or for commands that are not playing nice. For instance, I made two routines, turn on the lights, and turn off the lights that serve as an override to the normal, unreliable function, that that command serves and all is peachy, at least for now.

On another note, and not to derail this thread too much, what are your thoughts on bringing my motion lighting rules from the built-in app to NR. Most of the endpoints for those rules are Kasa Switches and I was wondering if it's better to expose those with the Hubitat integration or to use the NR integration directly.

[bdydrp]

@cjkeenan

On another note, and not to derail this thread too much, what are your thoughts on bringing my motion lighting rules from the built-in app to NR. Most of the endpoints for those rules are Kasa Switches and I was wondering if it's better to expose those with the Hubitat integration or to use the NR integration directly

I would say that if motion lighting app is working for you, no need to change. Unless of course you just want all your logic in NR
Really up to you..
Thats the beauty of HE and its integrations!

[cjkeenan]

Yes, it is all working for me perfectly except for the hub slowdowns (example shown in picture below) I began experiencing once I added motion sensors. I am thinking it's an issue with my Kasa switches and the HE integration rather than my code but who knows.

I have been thinking of axing all my Kasa plugs in favor of Inovelli's, thoughts?

Hub Watchdog Examiner Child

One virtual switch and two zigbee plugs, one close, but not closest, to the hub, and one the furthest from the hub

[bdydrp]

@cjkeenan

I have been thinking of axing all my Kasa plugs in favor of Inovelli's, thoughts?

I dont use either sorry, so unfortunately not much help in this regard sorry

[Ken_Fraleigh]

I had 10 Kasa devices on my HE last year and noticed a big improvement at that time when I replaced all but 3 of them with zigbee devices. I would see slowdowns if someone turned off any Kasa lights manually. I think Dave is working on improvements to the drivers to help mitigate this, but haven't followed it very closely.

[cjkeenan]

Has anyone here noticed while using remote2, that every once in a while, I have not determined a pattern yet, that the Alexa devices, controlling echo dot volumes in my case, just error out like the screenshot below with the 'no body' debug message? Sorry I didn't get a screenshot of the error on the node I fixed it before documenting. A simple restart of flows got it working again but I rather not have that manual intervention.