I am having an issue with the virtual switch in Alexa. For some reason Alexa sees the virtual switch as a Light. I checked the setting in the Alexa app and it’s set as a switch and not a light. I am using this virtual switch to run some automations. For example, when the Alexa routine runs to wake me up in the morning it reads my schedule, weather, and turns on the virtual switch. Hubitat uses this virtual switch to then dim up the lights and then opens the blinds after sunrise. The issue comes in when you tell Alexa to turn on all lights it is then also triggering all virtual switches and associated automations. I am using the auto off (after 1 second) to treat this switch as a momentary. I searched through the device list and cannot find any other device type that works. I tried using a button, but Alexa cannot see this device.
Anyone have any ideas on how to get a momentary switch / button that Alexa can see that it doesn’t think is a light?
If you go into the Alexa app, and bring up the switch properties you should be able to tell it that it is a switch instead of a light.
Correct, it's set as a switch when you look at the settings of the device in Alexa. But when you pull it up in the Alexa routines it is showing as a light. Same if you say turn on all lights.
Correct, the device is set as a switch but Alexa still sees it as a light. You can see that when you try adding the device to a routine, it's under lights even though the device type is set to a switch. I'm not sure if this is an issue on the Hubitat or Alexa side.
Does anyone know of a momentary switch device type that Alexa can see that is not seen as a light?
Did you find a solution? This issue has basically rendered virtual switches useless.
I tried some alternate virtual devices - a virtual lock seemed promising, but Alexa routines can only lock it, not unlock. The virtual shade might be the best bet at the moment since it seems to work, though Alexa reports that 'something went wrong' for some commands.
Sadly, I never did get it fixed. I eventually got fed up with Alexa's advertising and moved to Google Nest Hubs. The Shows kept adding more and more ads and dedicated pages for things to try and what felt like every 3rd time I would ask it to do something it would reply with "did you know" then a bunch of stuff I didn't ask for. The Nest Hub is not as developed as Alexa and the wake word (hey Google) is horrible but at least it doesn't spam me all day with things I didn't ask for. The ones with screens have a much more useful layout too. It also sees the virtual switch in Hubitat correctly.
