Now that TTS is available on Hubitat Elevation, we want to know how you plan or do currently use it throughout your house?
From the speaking alarm clock, to the reminder that the garage door was left open, or just a fancy doorbell, let us know how you are using spoken word through speakers in your smart home.
I have it announce arrivals and departures of the five occupants of the house (based on Life360 presence sensors), so we can know who is coming or going. It also announces that the HVAC has been turned off when a door has been left open for over five minutes, so we don't wonder why it is so warm or cold in the house and the heat or air conditioning is not kicking in.
What do you use for the announcement hardware?
I have four Fabriq Riff speakers and a Fabriq Chorus speaker. I am using the Media Renderer (app)/DLNA Player (Driver) from Ulises Mujica (Ule) that was originally ported to Hubitat by @veeceeoh and I made some additional alterations to get it to work for me.
I'm doing the basic stuff too...everything is using webCoRE and a Sonos speaker.
Going to have to take a look at those Fabriq speakers though and get that DNLA player going. Great job guys!
For the time being, I'll be using the extremely hacked Media Renderer app/DNLA solution to send TTS messages to two Eufy Genie Speakers (@ only $20 each last holiday season). I am holding out hope and crossing my fingers that a Hubitat "native" app/driver will be included in a future Hub update (wink wink, nudge nudge).
I plan on using TTS messages for
• Schedule-based reminders
• Window is open alerts (when departing, heat is on, or for certain weather changes)
• Front door left open for more than 1 min
• Leak sensor alerts
It seems like a short list, but the window open alerts will be really helpful.
I use SO many announcements, our house is seldom quiet!
I use tts with sonos for:
Laundry & dishwasher announcements (using power sensing)
Medication reminders (3 times a day for one of my dogs)
Weekday wakeup alarm (random message shouting to get up)
There is someone at the front door (break beam sensor connected to a contact sensor)
Mailbox announcement (contact sensor on mailbox door)
Reminder if I leave the shed door open after 10.30 pm (contact open at a certain time)
Reminder if I leave the garage unlocked after 10.30pm (contact open again)
Announcements as people arrive (combined life360 with ST presence sensors)
Alert if one of the cars goes off the drive after midnight (ST presence sensors converted to AA batteries)
Dog feeding reminder (twice a day)
Irrigation reminder (water plants if it hasn’t rained for a couple of days and there is no prospect of rain for the next two days)
‘It’s raining and the following windows are open’
‘It's raining so I closed the conservatory windows’
“Alexa, check security” - ‘the following doors or windows are open...’
‘I have enabled (or disabled) guest mode’ when I flick a switch on the wall
‘Your robot vacuum cleaner, Henrietta, is about to start - please ensure there is nothing on the floor to obstruct her!’
‘Henrietta has started/stopped’
Water leaks (water sensors under every appliance and sink)
I’m sure there must be more I’ve forgotten 
The only problem I have, is hitting the 128 character limit with some of my random messages (I’ve had to shorten a few of them)
With some of the longer messages I’ve had to convert to mp3s and play them that way.
What would life be like without TTS??
Andy
I announce incoming telephone callers by a CID name lookup and also display a small PIP mugshot pic on TV.
Following my Nest Hello purchase I hope to do this from front doorbell cam too and I intend to include name (if face recognition identified) by TTS, if I can extract that info. Google Home already speaks the ‘name’ by default. Was almost working before with DoorBird and ST.
However in the evening when this happens, most often it is interrupting TV sound and the ‘resume’ TV audio doesn’t work quite right yet on HE Sonos with a SoundBar so currently I restrict this to other speakers when the TV is on.
This uses some external helper apps (MQTT) to HE and I’m using BrightSign video PIP over HDMI with IP control. Maybe I’ll get them integrated into one HE app eventually.
We just got done testing a fix for this today, this will be out in the next release.
Here is a screenshot of the rule machine rules configured for TTS. Titles are for the most part descriptive.
most of the same as has been mentioned
I also have a
I want to do something like this...how did you implement it?
I use an echo dot and a Sonos Play1
I created a "good night" routine in Alexa which triggers a virtual momentary button that activates a routine that closes and locks all doors. (might not need the virtual button anymore now that alexa allows for door locks but I haven't tired it yet)
Then in Webcore I created several routines that when the virtual button is pressed and all doors are closed/locked or not closed/locked sends a phrase to the Sonos play
but i am going to try and move all of that over to the rule machine instead of webcore now that we have TTS
Goodnight piston, checks all doors and windows, advising of any which are open. If all closed, everything shuts down for the night. If open, just tells me which to close, and run it again.
Mrs leaving work, so I have enough time to sort the place out (work from home).
Front/Back doors being opened etc
Love them!
I just received 3 Fabriq Chorus speakers. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to add them to Hubitat. I went into this thread hoping for a guide, but I don't see one.
I also cannot find any documentation on how to set up TTS - for example, when a door is opened (contact sensor), I would like to have the speakers say something. How would I go about doing this?
I don't see any way to add a Speaker device, even though I see reference to them in Rules Machine.
I am stuck.
Post # 3 in this thread has the code for the driver and the app that I am using. Make sure your Fabriq speakers are setup with the Fabriq app on your network first. Add both the app and driver from post #3 to your Hubitat hub ( copy code into a new 'Apps Code' and 'Drivers Code' entry) and then go to 'Apps' and click the 'Load New App' button. Scroll to the bottom and add the new app your just added to the 'Apps Code' section. Once the app is added, open the app to discover the speakers.
While it did work, and I have not had to touch it since I added my speakers, it was touchy. I had to add one speaker at a time, then exit the app and go back in to add the next speaker. I was eventually able to add my five speakers. No issues ever since. I use webCoRE and the speakers show as devices and the TTS commands are available to send statements to the speakers.
Good luck.
Thanks Matthew! It's been running for over 5 minutes now, but nothing discovered yet. I have 80 or so devices on my LAN/WiFi - I hope it finds the speakers eventually. Is there a way to speed up the process? I already have the speaker IP addresses, since I can check the DHCP server's leases.
My recollection was the speakers were found almost immediately? The issue I had was if I tried to select more than one it would not select any of them. I had to select just one and add it, then exit the app. I could then go back in and add the second speaker, exit, go back in add the third ... etc. I have not had to go back in since that post back in May. There have been a lot of Hubitat updates since then so perhaps the app to add the speakers may not be working the same way, if at all?
Well, my Hubitat is still running 1.0.8 I think. Whichever one that first had TTS. The discovery isn't finding anything after 10 minutes. Oh well, maybe I can poke around some more, or perhaps try adding the device manually.
Oh - what ports do the Fabriq speakers use?
Download the Hubitat app
