Working with Alexa

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1

So, I learned the hard way that working with Alexa is a bit frustrating and I’m hoping there is a better way… We were gifted the Ring system, but at this time only have the cameras up since it’s not very practical to install the alarm with all the contractors going in and out of the house. So, I thought I would just use virtual switches to go from HE -> Alexa -> Ring. How hard can it be?

One very practical use case I have is setting my Ring based on my HE Mode. For example, when Mode switches to Night, I want it to set to “Armed Stay” and when the Mode switches to “Away” or “Vacation”, I want it to set to “Armed Away”. Alexa actually does NOT allow you to use the Location triggers to set the Ring modes.

TIL:

  1. Alexa flat out does not recognize virtual buttons.
  2. You cannot use a virtual switch as a Trigger in an Alexa routine… only as an action. You HAVE to use a sensor as a trigger.
  3. There are cases where I DON’T want to keep track of state (like a button). A switch with the auto off would have been perfect, but Alexa can’t use switches as triggers.
  4. So, then I thought… Oh! Combo sensor/switch! I tried the virtual presence sensor w/ switch, but Alexa recognized it as a switch and not a sensor :woman_facepalming:

I ended up using a contact sensor so I could use it as a trigger in an Alexa routine. I create an RM rule that literally opens then closes the contact sensor to simulate a “momentary press”.

All I want is a combo sensor/switch that Alexa recognizes as a sensor with auto off so that I can turn it on like a switch using Basic Rule. Is that too much to ask? :frowning:

2

All my stuff is going from Alexa to HE. I use the combo virtual presence switch.

Try the Universal Virtual Device Switch uDTH which can be found in HPM and see if it does what you want. I have not used it but it has everything you need I think.

Also you could do it with a simple RM rule or basic rule, a virtual switch and virtual motion sensor. Just set the rule to set motion active when you close the switch and inactive when it opens. Use the virtual motion sensor to trigger the rule.