I’ll use blinds and Alexa as an example.
I can use 0 and 100 to tell Alexa to open and close my blinds. So, I have to say “echo set my blinds to zero.”
What I’d LIKE to say is something much more human. “Echo open the blinds.”…”Echo close the blinds”
I could use a virtual switch and a rule…but I don’t even want to say on/off. I want to say open and close. Just like a human to human conversation.
What is the best way to make that happen other than write my own driver…which I’m not going to do.
I just made routines in Alexa that use a custom voice command.
Open the Bedroom Curtains -> 100%
Close the Bedroom Curtains -> 0%
If I want an in-between, I just use the percent command, though more routines could be made for 1/2 open, 1/4 open, etc.
Use a driver that exposes them as blinds/shades instead of dimmers (or remove dimming from what the device exposes to Alexa in the integration app if it does both and it’s grating in the way, though I don’t think it should). You don’t say what devices you’re using or what driver you’re using (I think all built in ones do already, so if you’re using a custom one and don’t want to modify it or write it own, I’m not sure), but the Alexa skill supports the “open” and “close” Alexa voice commands if you use this kind of driver. Do note that Alexa requires these to map to a percent and the Hubitat skill provides a couple options for what this means if you don’t like the default, but unfortunately, because of this, they won’t literally map to the “open” or “close” commands from the driver.
Of course, a routine like the above is another option!
Thanks!
I’m really trying to do everything in one place…I am integrating the Unifi platform for network and cameras now…but really doing what I can to keep things simple and in one place. I was a network guy…so I love tech..but at 68 years old…I know the day is coming that the KISS approach will be a good thing. 
Is there ANY way to do this with nothing but Hubitat?
Thanks…these are Smartwings Blinds. I am using the custom driver since in my mind ZERO would mean no coverage instead of completely covered…saying open and close doesn’t seem to work…if I create a group of blinds I want to operate all at once…and do use the dimmer approach. I will try changing the group from a switch to blinds when I get home…thanks!
This could be a reason to change back to the built in driver since with the custom…saying open when addressing a single blind…closes it
HI,
I have zwave curtains and they do respond to open and close commands on alexa. However for others it does not. It depends on what the Hubitat integration on Alexa supports for a given device. How to find out? Trial and error it looks like.
For situations the control words feel unnatural I also create a routine on Alexa with the natural sounding phrase and have that perform the desired command as suggested by Chris.
Cheers Rene
There was a discussion around grouping blinds using room lighting, virtual shades and Alexa. You COULD do the same for individual blinds. Bit of a pain but once you set it up, it should work the way you want. Makes adjusting open % easy too. This way if you want open to 50% for one room and 30% for another room you can adjust them individually in HE instead of the Alexa app.
So, I got this working…THANKS! You guys are great!
I don’t know why…but while working on different things I changed them to shades commands in my rule from blinds as well and they work flawlessly. Blinds probably works…but “it ain’t broke now.” I then saw in the logs that my IF statements needed to match on “opening & closing” vs “open & close” as that’s the first state change and they started changing instantly. The latter worked but takes almost 15 seconds to trigger.
You hit my next step on the head…
Thanks!