Goal is Custom Siri Command --> Hubitat Actions. Is virtual switch really the way?

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Recently switched from Echo --> Homepod + HE C8, aiming for a fully local setup and better customization than I had with Alexa.

My first goal was to set up automations so that when I say to my Homepod's Siri:

  • "Close Shades" (both shades shut all the way)
  • "Open Shades" (both shades open all the way)
  • "Lazy Shades" (one shade opens all the way, one opens part of the way)

In trying to set up these commands for my two Ikea Fyrtur shades, I found that I had to:

  1. Add each shade (near shade and far shade) as devices in Hubitat
  2. Create the 3 commands as separate rules in rule machine
  3. Create 3 virtual switches in Hubitat to trigger the separate rules
  4. Add the 3 virtual switches to Homekit
  5. Create 3 Apple shortcuts with the names of the command (e.g. "Lazy Shades") that turn on the respective virtual switch through Apple Home. (note I wanted to have "Open Shades" be "Let There Be Light" but Siri couldn't figure that out given I also have a light in my room :-1:)

Is there a better way to do all of this? It seems crazy to go through all of these steps for a relatively simple command. It also seems slower than Alexa did which is weird?

Additional context: I honestly hate clicking things on phone or computer so I'm hoping for scheduled + voice control as much as possible. Comfortable coding and happy to get in the weeds, but want an overall simple setup where I'm managing everything in one place!

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I get what you mean in terms of the multiple steps involved, but I can't think of another way to circumvent the need to have each step along the way.... Siri needs something to act upon (the HE devices added to Homekit), then on the HE side you need to establish the relationship between the device and the action to perform. You could try to cover it in one RM rule with each device as a trigger then a conditional based on the device that triggered the rule, but the gains would be minimal.

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3

Actually... (I'll preface this by saying I'm an Android shop here....)

Can you not bring in the shades using the Homekit integration in HE?

4

You can bring in the shades to Apple Home, but then I would have to configure the logic of what % the shades go up and down within Apple Home/Shortcuts.

But maybe the move is: timed/complex automations in Hubitat Rule Machine, simple Siri-controlled automations in Apple Home/Shortcuts. I'll experiment and follow up

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This is what is I do, serious automations are in RM ie open in the morning, close at night and partial close due to sun position. I also have a scenes in the home app to open or close all the shades so i can “siri, close the shades” and all the shades close.

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6

Found a middle ground. Was having some weird behavior with the Fyrtur Shades through Homekit where they would raise when I said open and lower when I said close (I guess because 100% open means the shade is down aka open?)

I replaced these with Virtual Shades which work a lot better. I can say "Near Shade x%" and it works perfectly. And I have a virtual Shade called "Sesame" where I can say to Siri "Open Sesame" (or "Close Sesame") to open (or close) both shades manually.

So basically, the logic for all of my automations are in Hubitat, including the basic scene you mentioned @sidjohn1 . I just need to remember my commands: "open sesame", "close sesame", "near shade 1-100%", "far shade 1-100%"