Ok so I decided to recreate a Amazon routine that announces when any of my doors are opened I use Iris first gen contact sensors.
I used to have the routines running but the wife said she was tired of hearing the announcements now that we had some incidents in our neighborhood she now sees how useful the announcements were, So I went back into the Amazon app to recreate the routines and to my wonder they wouldn't work with my contact sensors so then I created a virtual switch to get around that but now they also don't allow that so what da hell give, We have like 10 Alexas around the house and I purchased them for just this reason so if Amazon has changed the way routines can be used what's the use of using there system for routines or anything else.
I can create routines that are triggered by either real or virtual contact sensors. Switches have never worked to trigger routines. Not sure why your contact sensors wouldn't work. Are you sure they are visible to Alexa?
Yes Jabecker they are definitely visible the problem is they only show up now as tempature sensors, see attached image, that wasn't the case before they use to show up as contact sensors.
Hey terminal3 I use to use Alexa Speaks but in my case there was a 3 to 5 second delay and I could never discover why that was but when I switched to Amazon routines the announcement was instant when I had it setup before with Echo speaks it would sound after the door was closed but through regular Amazon routines as soon as the door opened a little bit it announced.
Can't help you with that. Mine show up as contact sensors.
Are they contact sensors that also sense temperature? Maybe there's something about that driver that's causing Alexa to see the temp sensor vs the contact sensor. I think I remember seeing other discussions about that...
Thx Jabecker I contacted Amazon support and they confirmed that and of course they advised that I purchase a Amazon compatible contact sensor great help they are.
Could could you share a screenshot of this rule in Rome machine as I have tried to do an announcement through notifications and I get to a certain part of setting up Alexis speaks and then I hit a wall I can't get no further
Hey Darrenmonk87 I dont use Alexa speaks so i can't help with that I just go straight through Alexa with my announcements I create a virtual contact sensor for what I want to happen and Alexa then reacts I stopped using Alexa speaks because there was a 3 to 5 second delay in the announcements that i could never hunt down, So I just started going straight through Alexa.
This is one I use that lets me know if I leave this door open for more than 30 minutes. The playannouncement is the command you are looking for. You can send it to any Echo device and since it is an announcement it plays on all devices.
Do I need to install anything to get this going?
As I have sai j have tried to get Alexa speaks and I get to a certain part and then I can't get any further. At the moment I got it to notify the mobile phones but only 2 of the 4 are receiving the message.
You need to install Echo Speaks, The best way to install IMO is to use Hubitat Package Manager.
The Hubitat code install should be straight forward using HPM, getting the Heroku server installed can be a bit tricky. If you are having trouble installing Echo Speaks best to go to that thread and ask questions.
I just added a V1 contact to test and it is available as a contact sensor although the icon shows it to be a temp sensor. I also have some SmartThings multi purpose sensors and they behave the same, show a temp icon but work as contact sensors.
Try creating a routine, not from the device and select the sensor as a trigger. The motions also show a temp icon but work as a motion in routines.
I can't imagine why yours would be different, especially on a V1 contact as there's only one driver.
I created a Universal Device Type specifically so I could integrate Alexa Routines (and IFTTT). It's a virtual switch that can also act as a Contact Sensor, Motion Sensors, Smoke, Water, Sound, etc. Chose the capabilities you want. Recommend Motion for Alexa routines. Has an auto off capability too.
