Echo Dot telling you door is open

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#1

Not sure if this is possible yet based on this video "How to Connect Amazon Alexa Devices to Hubitat Elevation - YouTube".

I have a freezer door that got left open. I have now put a contact sensor on it and have a notification setup to send a push notification to me if it is left open for more than a few min. Is it possible to have Alexa send the same message out over my echo dots? I see a spot for audio notifications but nothing appears in that section when I open it. I have gone through all the steps listed in the above video. Do I need to redo my setup as something may not have took correctly?

#2

In order to push audio notifications to your Alexa devices you will need to install one of the community maintained apps, or to create a "Routine" in the Alexa app.

For community maintained apps, check out this post: Custom alexa announcement with temperature - #2 by aaiyar

If you'd like to create a routine on the Alexa app, check out Alexa Routines on Amazon website

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#3

Ok..so i tried a basic alexa routine but that is to basic for this need.

I went through all the steps to get the package manager installed, installed alexa speaks (I think, as I see it in package manager) and now i dont see what to do next. i tried adding a virtual device and im either not doing that correct or that is not the correct next step.

#4

Echo Speaks is in HPM. Anyway, did you setup a Heroku server as indicated in the Echo Speak documentation?

Here's the main Echo Speaks thread. Posting for additional help there is more likely to be seen (and responded to) by Echo Speaks developers and users.

#5

I was just going in and doing all that and now im stuck on the heroku server portion. I get to step 4 and what I see and what the direction say/show are different. Its wanting me to install a heroku CLI as the next step.

#6

I would follow up on the original thread for Echo Speaks, as I donā€™t use it, and canā€™t help with that issue.

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#7

holly cow...some how some way i fumbled around and managed to get it setup. Little challenging but I got it.

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#8

I have noticed that my fridge and freezer - both of which have alarms - can easily get left in a position where the contact sensor is closed but the door is slightly open. So I use temperature sensors instead of contact sensors. It will also alert you in the case of a failure, which can be handy.

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#9

That has crossed my mind as well. I'm trying to stick to as few brands as possible and I'm using Zooz stuff. I just looked at theirs and the range is only down to 5 degrees. Who do you use? Do you know if that is the case with yours as well?

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#10

I've not had luck with Zooz products in general so I shy away from them. I've had good luck with the SmartThings multisensor (now made by Aeotec). It's zigbee. Seems to work just fine. I've also use the ST water leak sensor because it also has a temperature sensor in it. The leak sensor at least handles well below 5 degrees. With the leak sensors I put them in a small container of glass beads. I find this insulates them from a defrost cycle.

Screen Shot 2022-03-23 at 2.08.45 PM

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#11

if you dont want something as complicated as echo speaks just use this which i do and is smpler to use in my opinion.

no external setup.

then you just link it to your account and use the built in notification speeach options.

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#12

I was able to get it all setup but thank you for this information. Good to know there are at least a couple different ways of doing it.

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#13

Go with temp sensors in the fridge and freezer. Check out ebay for the centralite contact sensor. It has temp readings built in. They go for 5 bucks if you buy a couple. I went a little nuts and have like 20 of them now but ran out of things to do with them. Oddly enough, the only place they don't work for me is on my garage doors. Think it's all the metal.

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