Hi,
I am trying to send a TTS on Alexa from HE when Contact Sensor on Garage Door is left open for 30 min. Kind of stuck at this point. So far I have done the following.
Added HE skill in Alexa App. Can see HE devices in Alexa Devices. So skill is working.
Created a Virtual Contact Sensor in HE. But do not see this in Alexa Devices.
The goal was to somehow use this Virtual Contact Sensor to trigger a TTS. Could not move past the item 2 yet .
Not sure what are the next steps to make this work. Do you have any suggestions? Never played with Virtual devices before.
Did you make sure that you added this virtual sensor to the "Amazon Echo Skill" on your Hubitat? It will not get added automatically. Each new device has to be individually enabled in the "Amazon Echo Skill" on your Hubitat.
Thx. I have not done this:
"Did you make sure that you added this virtual sensor to the "Amazon Echo Skill" on your Hubitat?"
How do I do this step?
I initially got an option in Alexa app to add devices under HE when I was authorizing the devices to be used by Alexa. Not sure how to enable it again after adding the Virtual device.
OK. I got it now. I did not add Amazon Echo Skill on Hubitat. I have added it now and can see the Virtual Contact Sensor now.
How do I trigger a TTS on Alexa using Real Contact Sensor and Virtual contact sensor? Not sure if I am asking the right question. But the goal is to trigger TTS when Garage Contact Sensor goes open for 30 mins.
Create a rule on the hub, when the door opens and stays open for 30 minutes then have it flip the virtual contact sensor. Have it wait for the door to close then flip the virtual sensor back.
Then in Alexa you would need to create a routine that acts on that virtual contact sensor to do the TTS.
If you want to avoid making a routine on Alexa you would need Echo Speaks app to send TTS directly from Hubitat.
I have been using the following rule for over three years now. Mine is still kept on RM4.1, but it can of course be easily written in RM5.1 . . . unlike most of my other rules, I just have not taken the time to rewrite and âupdateâ it as it has been working fine on my C7. My rule is written per @jtp10181 âs suggestion with some modifications for my use case. BTW, I am also using Alexa for TTS (I used to have it done through Echo Speaks until the change with Heroku and all that that entailed so I went back to the old RM rule that I had written in RM4.1).
The trigger conditions for this rule triggers a virtual contact sensor âGarage Door Announcer - Left Open-VCSâ (exposed to Alexa via Hubitatâs Amazon Echo Skill) which acts as the trigger for the Alexa routine making the announcement. As you can see, my rule is set up so that if the garage door is left open for 5 minutes, then I receive a push notification that it has been left open for over 5 minutes, as well as Alexa making a verbal announcement as well. This repeats every 3 minutes (for up to 200 times, unless cancelled by the garage door being closed).
I have also included another virtual contact sensor/switch âGarage Door Announcer - Enabledâ so that I can stop the Alexa routine or prevent it from ever running. This is also exposed to Alexa via Hubitatâs Amazon Echo Skill so that it can be controlled via Alexa by voice commands.
The purpose of this âextraâ switch is so if I anticipate needing the garage door open for more than five minutes for whatever reason, and I do not want to be constantly reminded that the garage door has been left open, OR if I want to cancel the Alexa and Push Notifications at any time during the time the garage is still open, I can stop the announcements by telling Alexa âStop Garage Door Announcementsâ or âCancel Garage Door Announcementsâ. Once the garage door is closed and I wish to re-enable announcements, I just have to remember to tell Alexa to âRe-Enable Garage Door Announcementsâ if I had previously stopped them.
This has worked very well for me (and more importantly my wife) for over three years now. The physical contact sensor that I use is a magnetic contact sensor which is connected to my DSC security panel and interfaced with Hubitat via the Envisalink Integration and shows up as a contact âEVL006 Garage Doorâ. Any contact sensor you are using in your garage door system can also be interfaced, just your specific method of getting it to show up in Hubitat may vary depending upon the specific physical contact sensor you are using. Hope this helps to give you some ideas! Good luck.
I am using a tilt sensor from Digikey. Part number is CW1300-1, It is wired across the reed switch in the ring contact sensor. Drilled a hole on the top to bring the wires out. I 3D printed a mount and taped it using double sided 3M tape to the switch. The tilt switch uses a metal ball to make contact active or inactive. So there is no battery drain on the contact sensor. Works quite well so far.
[quote="Kepcoate, post:8, topic:119966"]
Like the idea to disable the notification.
Yes, this was an absolute for the WAF. I made sure to make it easy for her to just tell Alexa to âshut upâ when she would get annoyed when Alexa would keep reminding her that she had left the garage door open, lol.
I like your interface with Ring, but since Ring did not exist when I made my system and I already had a rock solid 64 zone DSC system in place that I had installed 20 years ago, my system is more âold schoolâ, utilizing a dedicated magnetic sensor system that was specifically designed for overhead garage doors. It is very sturdy and strong with a 2â operating gap:
As it is magnetic, it also does not use any power and is just another contact sensor on my DSC system. My security system is integrated to Hubitat via the Envisalink Integration giving me internet access as well as Hubitat control and automation capabilities.
Speaking of Hubitat garage control and automation, here are some links to other DIY projects that involve the garage that I have had fun with: Cutting out MyQ cloud from Garage Door control Garage Door Blockage Indicator System (my âfricken laser beams on top of sharksâparking guide design is towards the bottom of this thread)
Its really easy to start that trip down the rabbit hole! Hope these give others some ideas and inspiration to come up with even better implementations (again, my stuff was implemented many years ago, lol).
The magnetic switch you have will probably last lifetime and seems like a solid solution.
I used the Ring contact solution because Amazon made a shipping error and send me 18 of these and did not want them back. So I try to find a way to use them for hacks.
We also have DSC PC1550 system that came with the house. Checking the Envisalink website this panel does not seem to be supported. Would have been nice to upgrade it. Thanks for sharing it.
