This type of convo has appeared before on the Forum, but since I'm in the throes of developing a "Time for Hot Tub" routine with Hubitat + Alexa, I figured I'd ask you guys... "What elements do you find useful for household routines?"
For instance, I'm currently leaning toward:
- Create hub var called "Hot Tub mode" (boolean) with corresponding Switch connector;
- Expose that switch in Alexa app (do they make an outdoor speaker??)
- Design an Alexa-side Routine to do/say/control certain tasks
--or--
- Design a Hubitat-side rule to do/say/control the same tasks
The tasks in question might be along the lines of:
- Notify my spouse that I've started a hot tub session
- Silence phone or lower other volume settings
- Turn on yard lights if it is after sunset
- Signal me (lights? chime? other?) after XX minutes
- Adjust HVAC so that loud outdoor condenser (near patio) runs less often
Eager to hear about others' setups when it comes to stuff like this -- workouts, cooking, gardening, etc. that have a Start and End with specific (but temporary) home mods.
The best I have that translates is a Google initiated HE "News Time" rule for transitioning between different channels on my Harmony. There may be better ways to achieve this in more recent platform releases, and there may be some things that would be done differently in Alexa, but hopefully there is something useful in it for others.
I chose to keep the logic in HE and only have a way to initiate it via Google, in my case. This way, if I want to initiate the sequence of events for a different reason, such as arriving home in my case, it is available in other HE automations or from other platforms if I want it to be via Maker API. So in answer to your design question, I opted for Design a Hubitat-side rule to do/say/control the same tasks. You don't have to follow this approach 100%, particularly if you want to Silence phone or lower other volume settings, though I may have a solution for this at some point with a Tasker integration, if you are in the Android eco-system.
Anyway... My setup includes
- A HE Virtual switch that has an automatic off option configured and is included in my Google Home Integration App
- A Google Home routine to respond to a "News Time" voice trigger, turning the virtual switch on
- A HE RM Rule triggered by the switch turning on
- Depending on the time of day, I may just turn on the national broadcasters (ABC) 24hr News channel, but if it is closer to 6pm, I will cycle through the news on another channel, then the evening news on the main ABC channel and some lighter entertainment on another of ABC's channels
The detail of what my rule does is less important for your situation, though the use of the conditions and the delays plus the ability to cancel the rule may be of interest.
One question will be whether you have options for the actions you want to take within HE, or whether this needs to be spread across HE and Alexa.
You may run into some complications in dealing with coming out of the automation, though if it will be a simple timer, this may not be the case. I would consider something like:
- A virtual switch as a trigger, like I described earlier, i.e. in Alexa / Google
- The virtual switch triggers the timer, this could be an RM rule or something similar
- The timer mechanism just manages the time the mode occurs over and the triggering of, for example, another rule where the start actions are defined, plus the triggering of (potentially another rule that includes) the end actions to move out of the timed sequence
I'm definitely over-complicating things with that last set of suggestions. I just like having the separation between the three parts, the triggering via Alexa or Google, the timer and the list of actions to perform at the beginning and the end.
Alternatively, after all that, Room Lighting may be worth a look 
1 Like
I like Scenes. We have several that are primarily enabled by Alexa although they also appear on a Dashboard. "Cooking" which turns on lights in the kitchen area and island to appropriate brightness and CT. "Evening" same as above except for living room / TV area, turns off most of kitchen and dims the island. "Morning" wake Harmony TV and turns on island and living room table lamp. "Cleaning" which turns on every single light in the house full bright, triggered by Alexa or our cleaning person's lock key code. A couple of those can also be turned on with Inovelli scene capable switches. I've converted a couple of these to Room Lighting but I think Scenes is much easier to master. Room Lighting instances, once you get the hang of it, are easier to edit and modify.
1 Like
I have a LIFE SAVING routine that reminds me not to engage my wife in long discussions for the first hour and a half. 
This mug conveys the general requirement behind this rule. Since I retired we discovered that I often am happy to engage in deep discussions first thing in the morning. My wife, not so much. So, when she gets up I start a 90 minute timer. She only requested an hour, but I like to live so...
It's very rare that she gets up before me. So when I get up, I push a button that arms this. Then when she exits the bedroom the timer starts.
Kept me alive for 3 years so far.
3 Likes
All these are quite thought-provoking, but especially that last one! That's a keeper lol!!
2 Likes
