@tonesto7
So went to go set up Echo Speaks and got to the server setup. At this point during login I get to the page that said that amazon removed the websocket method and no longer works with it through groovy. Am I missing something or do I just have to wait until a solution is found?
I get this
and when I click goto login
You guys are always so much help for me, I wish I could help more. Had this many months ago (before Amazon broke the link), before this latest update and it worked. I removed it back then and was sad. I recently reinstalled this version and it works perfectly. I still show the error message "..broken link...", but it all works beautifully.
Just wanted to follow up to say I now have it working. I just removed the app and then ran through all the (very clearly detailed) installation steps again.
This app is amazing!
Just installed this - amazing app already, so tyvm op - but I'm having some trouble setting up a particular trigger. I'm probably missing something very obvious.
I want to trigger on my Samsung Washer/Dryer completing a cycle or other triggers. They're currently all set up through Smartthings and working fine pushing notifications to my phones/TVs.
When I look under Actions for a trigger, I don't see any way to trigger Speak from the notifications. I'm guessing I need to do something further to make the washer/dryer visible in HE?
Under actions pick send, speak, or log a message, send http request
pick action (send/speak)
put in message
pick notification device
I select Speak, name the Action, that brings me to this page. Selecting Triggers pulls up a list of devices, but does not include the washer/dryer.
So what device are you using on HE for the washer/dryer?
What attribute does it flag for different statuses?
Ah that must be my issue. I'm still pretty new so I just assumed it could detect devices added in Smartthings. It worked with some of my other devices that way.
The washer and dryer are currently only added/notifying through the Smartthings app, not Hubitat. Any idea what I'd need to do to make them visible in hubitat? I also have a Smartthings hub, but I don't use it since I picked up the HE. I had thought Echo Speaks could see both HE and Smartthings devices.
First of all, kudos to @tonesto7 for the excellent work on the Echo Speaks App. I am new to heroku and Echo Speaks and due to the excellent documentation, had absolutely no problem in getting this to work.
In the past, I had virtual contacts with auto-off switches used as triggers for my numerous Alexa Routines in order to trigger announcements since I already had Echos in almost every room of my house and I wanted to avoid having to put additional Sonos in every room due to the cost and WAF (too many gadgets and wires in each room). For some key security announcements I am looking into local only speakers but that is another topic.
My current method of using HE virtual switches to trigger Alexa Routines has been extremely reliable for the last 1 1/2 years as I have had very reliable Wifi mesh and reliable ISP (knock on wood). My foray into Echo Speaks has been triggered by the 200 routine limit on Alexa Routines. I am currently at that limit and must always make decisions as to what routines to sacrifice whenever I need another routine. I am hoping to offload some of my announcements to Hubitat in order to free up some Alexa “slots” for routines (particularly for those instances in which I have to use Alexa due to incompatibility of some of my WiFi devices with Hubitat).
My questions for users with longer experience using Echo Speaks:
Sorry if these questions are those of a newbie but I TIA for any insight into my concerns. Although I am relatively new to Hubitat (and definitely a novice with Echo Speaks) I do have 3 decades of home automation experience and have built out many systems (some from scratch, although with now defunct technologies), hence some of my questions/concerns. Thank you again for any help!
Sorry thought you were using rule machine..
Any input? Thanks for any help.
In general there have been very few issues with Echo Speaks. There have been some instances where Amazon was down, or Amazon changed something on the back end and this app was "broken". The developers tonesto and nh.schottfam have been pretty good about fixing things almost immediately when things have changed.
Of course this app adds some complexity and more points of failure. I don't think you can get around it. But it is a lot more flexible and versatile than using native Alexa app and virtual switches.
I think what I am reading into your question is "will this app go away?". I think that is a concern, Amazon could probably lock everyone out tomorrow. But in reality I don't see that happening. And the developers here have shown a commitment to keeping this up and running.
Thanks @neonturbo ,
You got to the gist of my questions and addressed them all. The flexibility of Echo Speaks is a big plus while the potential for being “locked out” in the future and having to redo all my automations using announcements is a risk. Also, it is good to hear that ES has been pretty reliable to date (given it introduces more complexity and so another potential point of failure). Since my announcements via Alexa are triggered by virtual switches, the Alexa Routines are very simple. Because of this, if Alexa allowed more than 200 routines, I would be OK with sticking with Alexa Routines for my announcements as they have been very reliable. My main reason for looking into ES was to get around Alexa’s limit on the number of routines. Thanks for the information. It was very useful.
First of all, fantastic job done by @tonesto7 on this app. The flexibility and and utility incorporated into ES is incredible.
A simple newbie question however. In setting the volume of the devices (see below):
My use case is that I would like security announcements to be made at a high Volume Level, but would like my Alexa devices to return to their “normal” quieter volume level settings after the security announcements are made.
The reason I ask is that I assumed that the Volume Level setting was the volume that my announcement would be announced at, and the Restore Volume setting would then reset or restore the volume setting of my device to the lower volume setting after the announcement was made.
However, when I set the Volume Level to 50 or louder so the announcement would not go unnoticed, ES would indeed make my announcement at “50”. But, when I would also set the Restore Volume Level to say 20, subsequent “normal” Alexa responses would stay at 50 and not restore to the lower volume level.
Also, if the Restore Level is left blank, does the volume of my devices stay at the Volume Level set in ES, or does it automatically return to the volume as set in the Alexa app? Thank you for any clarification as I cannot seem to get this to work the way I wish. I figure that I am missing something simple (as usual, lol).
My Echo zones no longer work since the update and I’m seeing this error:
What update? I don’t see any ES updates.
It’s been a couple weeks, when the socket device was removed from it.
Reaching out to @tonesto7 and @nh.schottfam (or any others in the know). Any instructions on how the Volume Level and Restore Volume is supposed to work (per my question posed in my previous post). It seems that when I set the Volume Level to 10 (for a verbal alarm warning), and the Restore Level to 35 (my normal volume on my Echo devices), ES only plays the initial tone at 10 (not the announcement), then immediately lowers the volume to 35. When I look up my device volume in the Alexa app, it shows that the volume is indeed set to 35%. I am obviously not understanding how this is supposed to work. Thank you for any help/instructions in advance.
I see the bug and sent a pull request to Tony
the workaround is
I would check that your devices updated - HPM repair or manually update the zone device and echo speaks device code
Download the Hubitat app
