Migrating from Alexa to Hubitat. Do I have to connect all devices to Hubitat first?

KandL · October 18, 2020, 4:26pm

I bought the Hubitat Elevation, which I'm very excited about. But I think I mis-understood how the network would work vs how It actually works.

I expected to:

Keep all my Alexa-compatible devices connected to Alexa account.
The Hubitat would connect to Z-wave devices.
The Alexa-Hubitat connection would allow me to voice control the Z-wave devices.

But from what I'm reading:
1- Disconnect all the devices from Alexa
2- Reconnect them to Hubitat.
3- Connect Alexa to Hubitat.
4- The Alexa-Hubitat connection would allow me to voice control all the devices connected to hubitat.

Is this Correct?

If yes, here's my problem.
I have Smart Life Sockets (Smart Socket SP10). They are compatible with Alexa, but not with Hubitat. Does this mean I must keep these devices on Alexa [until someone creates a Smart Life App for Hubitat]?

thebearmay · October 18, 2020, 4:40pm

Instead of disconnecting from Alexa and connecting to Hubitat, you could create virtual devices in Hubitat and then have Alexa monitor those to control the real device. Eventually you may want to consider disconnecting/connecting to get local control with Hubitat if your internet drops, but until then the virtual should work.

bob8 · October 18, 2020, 7:15pm

I have my Fan Bond devices connected to both Alexa and Hubitat. I just do not enable them in Hubitat to be seen by Alexa.

The reason is that even though Alexa would turn on the fan it complained that something went wrong. I presume that there was too mugh lag going from Alexa to Hubitat to Bond to the fan.
So if its direct voice control I go through Alexa and if its Automation I go through Hubitat for the fans.

steve.maddigan · October 18, 2020, 8:00pm

I agree but it’s a lot of routines to do on the Alexa side to support this.

So I have 16 Teckin SP10s. They are esp8266 based and you can load them with Tasmota firmware and then control them directly with HE without the cloud dependency.

I will find the link to @markus drivers.

KandL · October 18, 2020, 10:23pm

Yes mine are branded Teckin as well. Well this is going deeper into configuration than I imagined. At least it's possible. Thank you for the guidance.

KandL · October 18, 2020, 10:24pm

This sounds like a much easier solution than trying to flash the firmware. I think i'll try this first. Thank you.

KandL · October 19, 2020, 1:28am

I get your idea:

Creating the new Virtual Switch on Hubitat
Add it to Alexa
Set a new routine: When Virtual Switch is on, turn on the Smart Socket

I ran into a problem, I can't find the Virtual Switch as a trigger to start the routine, but I do see it as an Action.

KandL · October 19, 2020, 1:40am

I think I figured it out

I need 2 virtual devices for this to work:

Virtual Switch
Virtual Contact Sensor

On the Hubitat: New rule

When switch is on, close the sensor.
When switch is on open the sensor.

On Alexa: New routine

When the sensor is closed, turn on the smart socket.
When the sensor is open, turn off the smart socket.

Ugly, but that does matter, because this is equivalent to back end development, and it gets the job done.

thebearmay · October 19, 2020, 1:50am

Try this one, it combines the two into one device:

Use a Motion Sensor or Virtual Switch to trigger an Alexa Routine

sensor at the Alexa end. You might find it useful.

metadata {
	definition (name: "Virtual contact with Switch", namespace: "cw", author: "cwwilson08") {
		capability "Sensor"
		capability "Contact Sensor"
        capability "Switch"
	}   
}

def on() {
    sendEvent(name: "contact", value: "closed")
    sendEvent(name: "switch", value: "on")
}

def off() {
    sendEvent(name: "contact", value: "open")
    sendEvent(name: "switch", value: "off")
}

def installed() {
}

KandL · October 19, 2020, 2:11am

This did the trick...That wasn't so hard after all