Controlicz - Easy Domoticz to Alexa Integration Topic is solved

[heggink]

Ah OK, well thanks for the info.. Hopefully they will release for UK soon, as it will make things much slicker.

I don't really get why they do the whole feature release thing in US months before anywhere else..

Simple: imagine us Europeans getting the same at the same time, then they would no longer have the advantage. That would be unfair...

[Madgeni]

out of interest - which version of the app are people using? i've got android v2.2.191.12

[blacksn0w]

I was driving into this, because my new (and first) Echo arrived.
After setting up the most possible secure environment (cert, fail2ban, iptables) and configuring Controlicz im amazed of the easy functionality and the perfectly working skill!

The "Device Group" feature is working aswell, so i've created a group "Wohnzimmer" (Living Room) within the Alexa App and put all the devices in this room in there. If i say "Wohnzimmer An" (Living Room On) all of my devices in are powered on.
Absolutely great!

Review and donation is coming tomorrow!

[Swifty]

tCan't check my version at the moment, but it updated about two days ago to include new look smart home section.. will double check the version when I get home.

Not sure if people are aware, but there is also a new feature in the app (that actually works in Europe!) called 'Routines'

From here, you can configure a bunch of actions for specific phrases / times etc.. eg; when you say 'Alexa, Good Morning' you can have it read you the news, weather, turn on the kettle etc...
And 'Alexa, Good Night' could turn off all (or some) of your devices - looks like it could be useful for the smart home scenario!

[Madgeni]

Yep -
just checked these, and with the new version of Controlicz, this works
So you can create a new routine - "Alexa, i'm home" - then add in devices, or Scenes which will then trigger. "Alexa, it's Movie Night" etc.

Cool!

[Swifty]

Timely; https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alex ... -alexa-app

[Madgeni]

cool - just need to get the new version tested for release

[sach]

I'm happy to help test if required mate.

Just a reminder guys....Madgeni has created this awesome skill in his own personal time and has invested in hosting for controlicz....so if you haven't contributed to his efforts already, please do so.
Thanks

Sach

[blacksn0w]

out of interest - which version of the app are people using? i've got android v2.2.191.12

Same version here.

[IDANIT]

Does this new feature works fully with Controlicz? Coz I have strange problem, all "Turn Off" actions works perfect, but not even one "Turn On" action happened. I got simple On/Off switches (Z-Wave, ESP and RF433) but after "Turn On XXXX to 100% percentage" on Domoticz my On/Off switches are set to 99%, but no physical action whatsoever.

Domoticz (1).png (38.39 KiB) Viewed 1676 times

Both are exactly the same switches, left one is triggered by "Routine" but light are still off and right is triggered "by hand" light are on as it should.

[Madgeni]

Hi, you're all still running on the current version - so nothing should have changed

so i'm clear:
'Turn on xxx to 100%' sets the state in Domoticz, but doesn't actually control the light?
Does 'Turn on xxx' work on it's own?

Thanks

[julianmclean]

@IDANIT I’m experiencing something similar. Lots of dummy state switches which seem to be interpreted as lights in Alexa via Controlicz. In the Alexa app, you have the option to set level OR set on/off in the device view, but under Routines the view is combined and so it always seems to send “set level 100%” rather than “turn on” resulting in the switch not toggling.

Not sure if there is a different way of setting up the switch in Domoticz so it gets interpreted differently, or if Controlicz can present to Alexa as a different type perhaps?

[IDANIT]

Well, when I say Alexa, Switch on Kitchen One (Kuchnia Mały), domoticz switches light on and set it to On (Wł.)
When I make an Routine in Alexa App, called let say "Alexa, Dinner" with action "Turn On Kitchen One to 100% percentage" and I say "Alexa, Dinner" domoticz sets Kitchen One (Kuchnia Mały) to 99% not to On (Wł.) and did not turn light on. Wrong behavior.

When I make an Routine in Alexa App, called let say "Alexa, Good Night" with action "Turn Off Kitchen One to 0% percentage" and I say "Alexa, Good Night" domoticz sets Kitchen One (Kuchnia Mały) to Off and turn light off. Expected behavior.

All "Off" actions works fine, all "On" actions, do not work at all.

[IDANIT]

but under Routines the view is combined and so it always seems to send “set level 100%” rather than “turn on” resulting in the switch not toggling.

Sure, but all "Off" action are also set level to 0% but domoticz switches them off not setting to 0%

[Madgeni]

so this is to do with Routines?

I'll do some testing

[blacksn0w]

Would it be possible to add the idx to the Skill? There is the Settings per Device in the Alexa App where you can see if it is a dummy or zwave device and so on. I've changed some names and have similiar devices and now i cannot recognize my devices anymore

[julianmclean]

so this is to do with Routines?

I'll do some testing

Yes and possibly no...

When I look in the Alexa app and examine the Type of each device, I can see the following:

Nest shows up as a “Thermostat”
Sonos devices show up as “Other”
ALL Domoticz devices show up as “Light”, irrespective of whether thy are:
- Real dimmable lights (LWRF in my house via RFXCOM)
- Real switches (LWRF sockets in my house)
- Dummy on/off switches
- Dummy push on switches
- Selector switches

My *guess* is that Alexa treats all these devices the same in terms of functionality. On the devices view, you get button options to turn on/off or set brightness to Min/20/40/60/80/Max. Slightly strangely, when setting up routines though, the view presented to decide the action to take on that devices is totally different, with a slider for 1-100. You can also tap the on/off state, but visually this just toggles the percentage between 0 and the last place you left it on the slider. So I suspect that the routines functionality cannot currently sent explicit on/off but just 0-100 set level instead.

So, either this is just basic first round routines functionality in Alexa that we’re stuck with for now, and there is no way to do explicit/simple on/off. Or, possibly the device types that Alexa is getting via Controlicz could be tweaked to get that functionality.

Let me know if you need logs from Domoticz for what it sees when routines fire vs. manual device changes.

[Madgeni]

ok, so i'll need some time to investigate Routines more thoroughly - however, the new version of Controlicz (based on the new Amazon Smart Home API) provides the correct image - you will be able to drive this from Domoticz (from the Switch Icon).

Until now, the images were irrelevant, as the voice controls are based on the data I provide. However, routines clearly have to derive information from somewhere, so presumably are basing it on the type of device (based on the displayCategory at the point of discovery).

P.S if Routines are handling on/off for lights via the 0-100 rather than on/off, that's a pain, as it's a different call for Domoticz - more work for me

[joshmosh]

Routines seem to be still a little buggy (on the Alexa side). As Madgeni mentioned above, all switches are handled as 0 ... 100 %, which (for my taste) is silly. On top of that, I cannot set such a "switch" neither to 0 % (lowest is 1 %) nor to 100 % (highest is 99 %). Same homework for Amazon to do ...

In addition, Rules in their current state are not so useful (at least for me). My morning "routine" is:

- "Alexa, shades up"
- "Alexa, good morning" -> this very brief summary is just perfect for me
- "Alexa, my update"
- "Alexa, play tunein" -> switch on my favourite radio station

One Rule for this ("Alexa, good morning" for example, or any other phrase) would be fine, but this does not work (yet). The list of things you can do with rules is currenntly very limited - not much use for me. Let's hope that this will improve.

At least we can say: Controlicz rules !

Cheers
Josh

[blacksn0w]

Another question: I want to delete some switches from Controlicz, so i've revoked access for them to the controlicz user and deleted the device from the Room Plan. But after a new search of devices, it is stil in the list in the Alexa App.