Does a HE hub that is registered to the Hubitat Portal automatically update the status of all its devices to the Hubitat cloud service?
I am trying to understand how Hubitat shares information with Amazon Echo. I assume Hubitat's cloud communicates with Echo's cloud, is this correct?
One last question: I want to receive a notification on my iPhone if a water sensor connected to Hubitat goes wet. What is the best way to do this? Can the Alexa App I already have on my iPhone receive this notification? I'm trying to avoid having to add another App to my phone or to create another online account besides the Hubitat and Alexa accounts I already use.
As far as I can tell, the Alexa app doesn't recognize Leak Sensors. So you have a few choices:
Install the Hubitat app on your iPhone and configure RM or HSM to send a notification when the leak sensor trips.
Create a virtual contact sensor that is exposed to the Amazon Echo Skill (Alexa app). Then, create a rule where the status of the sensor flips from closed to open when the leak sensor goes from dry to wet (and vice-versa). Because the virtual contact sensor is exposed to Alexa, you can create an Alexa routine in the Alexa app to notify you when the status of this virtual sensor changes. This solution is more complex, but will not require you to install the Hubitat app on your iPhone.
Thank you for this info.
I already have a virtual switch that both Hubitat and Alexa can control. That part works just fine.
However, I'm having trouble figuring out how to configure Alexa to notify me when the virtual switch goes on. I've read that Alexa can send voice notifications to the Echo device, which is fine, but what I really want is a notification that is sent to the Alexa app on my phone.
Virtual switches cannot be used in Alexa Routines (which are needed for device notifications). It has to be a virtual contact sensor or virtual motion sensor.
Once you have a HE Rule that sets the state of a Virtual Contact/Motion sensor based on the state of your Leak Sensor, then you can create a Routine in the Alexa app that sends your phone a notification when the virtual sensor changes it's state.
In the Actions section of the Routine, choose Messages. You'll then see this screen:
Use "Run Custom Action" in RM under actions. Choose the virtual contact sensor as the device, and set its status as open() or closed(). A sample rule is pasted below:
I keep getting thrown off because when I click on the "Add Virtual Device" button, the drop down for "Type" shows real devices as well as virtual devices. Since the virtual devices are all near the bottom of the list, I end up selecting a real device instead (thinking the VD will emulate a real device). I've done this twice now. I suppose I will eventually catch on, but it would be helpful if the "Type" drop down showed only virtual devices.
IMHO, the user shouldn't be allowed to add a real device from the Add Virtual Device dialog.
Again, thank you very much for your assistance. I really appreciate it.
