Issues with Alexa routines

jamesxheath · February 12, 2022, 9:48pm

Hi,
I've got some Alexa routines working nicely - I can get a voice command to trigger an HE virtual switch, and I use an Alexa routine to relay motion from my ring doorbell to HE so it can turn lights on outside.
however I can't make a routine announce on my Alexas from HE.
I know I could use Alexa TTS or Echo Speaks, but I just want to announce a fixed phrase, so a routine ought to be the way to go.
I've tried using a virtual contact sensor and a user driver, motion with switch.
In both cases I can see changes in state mirrored to the Alexa device if I look at the device details in the Alexa app, but the "when this happens" routine doesn't seem to fire.
If I set up a "when this happens" on my ring doorbell motion to announce, it works fine.

If there's not an obvious answer, I'll happily document the full setup procedure I've followed, and anyone with HE and an Echo device can test - I'm really not trying to do anything very complex - if you have an action in HE triggering a routine in Alexa, you've cracked it & I haven't!

What step have I missed? How can I debug this?

Cheers,

James

Sebastien · February 12, 2022, 10:36pm

If I understand your ask, you want Hubitat to trigger Echo to speak via an Amazon routine?

I have done this by exposing a virtual contact sensor that is also a switch via Hubitat. Alexa routines can be triggered by contact or motion sensors.

Here’s a link to the driver I typically use for this:

github.com

SebastienViel/HubitatVirtualSwitchWithContact/blob/main/VirtualSwitchWithContact

/*
 * Virtual contact Sensor with Switch and delay
 *
 * 
 *
 * Code derived from Ryan Casler
 * 
 */

metadata {
    definition (name: "Virtual contact Sensor with Switch + Dealy", namespace: "Sébastien", author: "Sebastien Viel") {
        capability "Sensor"
        capability "Contact Sensor"
        capability "Switch"
    }   
}

preferences {
    section() {
        input name: "openDelay", type: "bool", title: "Enable Delay for Open", defaultValue: false

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jamesxheath · February 12, 2022, 11:56pm

Hi Sebastien,

You understand perfectly!
I have tried with a plain contact sensor, a user driver "motion and switch", and now also with your driver (which is very neat!)
All three devices show in the Alexa app fine, and they reflect changes made within the Hubitat device web pages, but Alexa does not voice announce.
The voice announcements play fine if I click the arrow against the routine in the app, so I know the speaker is working fine.
I'm a bit stuck!!
Here's my device in HE:

I've then registered that device in the "Amazon Echo Skill" app in HE:

Got Alexa to discover the device, and then created the routine:

When I click on & off to set the contact sensor open then closed:

the routine does not fire.

Any ideas?

James

Sebastien · February 13, 2022, 12:28am

Can you confirm that when you turn it on/off the device it shows in that sate in Alexa?

Your setup is exactly like mine, so I’m not sure why it’s not working…

ogiewon · February 13, 2022, 3:25am

I just set up a test scenario. I created a Virtual Contact sensor, exposed it to Alexa via the Amazon Echo Skill application, then created an Alexa Routine, and finally toggled the virtual contact sensor. The Amazon Echo spoke the phrase without any issue.

I did have a similar issue (routines not firing) a few years ago, which required removing the Hubitat Skill completely from Alexa, deleting all Hubitat devices from Alexa, and removing the Amazon Echo Skill app from my hub. I then simply enabled the Hubitat Skill from within the Alexa mobile app on my phone, signed into my Hubitat account, and selected them devices I wanted exposed to Alexa. This automagically installs the Amazon Echo Skill on your hub. Afterwards, everything started working as desired.

jamesxheath · February 13, 2022, 8:56am

Sebastien - the states did show correctly in the Alexa app.

Ogiewon - thanks so much for doing a test.
So I tried a full teardown & set back up again (how did you remember how you fixed it? I always forget!) - this was a slightly different setup route to my original, where I specifically installed the Amazon Echo Skill app within HE.
I hit a new issue I didn't have last time for contact sensors:

Which is frustrating.... but it allowed me to select a motion sensor and the announcement worked!!

Thanks so much.

James