Alexa to Domoticz

[andytf]

With the launch of the Amazon Echo in the UK, there are probably a few people trying to use Alexa to control Domoticz, so I thought I would share the way that I have managed to get it working. It's a fairly simple method that doesn't use AWS.

I have a Android tablet with a SIM card in it (it's an Archos - very cheap and dual SIM) which is left at home and I use that as a bridge for sending and receiving SMS messages to and from Domoticz. I use Tasker to do that work, so the tablet was already sitting there.

The "path" from command to Domoticz is Alexa -> Yonomi -> Tasker -> Domoticz.

This is what I did:-

- Install Yonomi app on the Android and sign up for an account.
- Add a new Routine in Yonomi for the "on" command. The Routine simply sends a notification e.g. "Lounge light on". Save the routine as "Lounge light".
- Add a new Routine in Yonomi for the "off" command. The Routine sends a notification e.g. "Lounge light off". Save the routine as "Lounge light off". The naming is important as it means that Alexa will recognise this as one device.
- In the Alexa app, add Yonomi as a skill and link to your Yonomi account.
- In the Smart Home section of the Alexa app, run "Discover Devices". You should get "Lounge light" appear as one device.
- At this stage you can test the Alexa to tablet link by saying "Alexa lounge light on" - you should get an Android notification.
- In Tasker, I use "Notification Listener" to listen for a Notification posted by Yonomi by adding that as a Profile. The Profile then triggers a Task - I call it "Alexa Commands". I then have a series of "If" blocks that check the notification text (%nltext) and sends the command to Domoticz to trigger the light, using the format in this page https://www.domoticz.com/wiki/Domoticz_API/JSON_URL's

This may not be as elegant as the AWS approach but it was a lot simpler for me, as I had the tablet in place with half the work done already.