Garage door control with Alexa

Need a little help with integrating garage door controls with Alexa, if possible. First I have a Qubino 1D relay controlling the door (simple 2 second contact closure to initiate door open/close/stop), and the input 2 wired to a prox switch that detects the door is fully closed. Second, I have an EcoLink door tilt sensor on the bottom panel of the door, that detects the door is fully open. In Rule Machine I have one rule that sets a string variable to “Open”, “Closed”, “Partial”, or “Conflict”, depending on the states of the two sensors. Also, a Boolean variable with a connector to a virtual switch, that turns the relay on when the Boolean state changes. It all works well from a dashboard.
Now for the questions.... I have the Boolean variable tied to the Amazon Echo Skill app. I can tell Alexa to “Turn the garage door On” or Off to open close the door. Is there device or configuration that gets Alexa to understand “open” and “close” instead? Lastly, getting the status to Alexa, any suggestions? Doubt I can get her to understand all 4 statuses, but hopefully at least open & closed.

Just use Alexa routines that control your relay when you say "Alexa, open the garage door" or "Alexa, close the garage door".

1 Like

Thanks, forgot about them. That works for the control side.

Expose real or virtual contacts corresponding to open & close to Alexa. Then use Alexa routines to do whatever you want (announcements ?) based on contact status.

2 Likes

Got it all working. Thanks for the tips. A little obvious once I thought about them.
Got the right variable connector type (virtual contact) for Alexa to recognize as open/closed. Fixed the Open/Close command, Alexa always sets it true, and the rule machine clears it once it applies it.
Two things would make this better:

  1. if Alexa could just say the value of my multi-state, string status, or support a multi-state status.
  2. If I could find a z-wave accelerometer that would tell me when the door is actually moving or not.

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.