Before I invest loads of my time I want to set off on the best path. Therefore I am asking if anyone has got any advice or opinions on which is better or could eventually be better, Amazon Echo or Google Home; for use with OpenHab2 and the BTicino BUS?
From what I have seen so far it seems Amazon Echo is going to be easier to get working with OpenHab2 and the BTicino binding. I don't think Google Home is even available here in Austria.
I want to use it mainly for TTS notification announcements, in English, so that I know what and why the BUS system is doing something and to confirm some user set actions when its not obvious that a command has been received.
e.g. The following scenarios already run but it would be nice to get a voice announcement:
Automatic initiated
Wind limit has been exceeded. The blinds will now retract until is calm againIts getting too warm. Blinds will move to the sunny windowsills positionGood morning. Wake up blind sequence is starting.User initiated
Auto workday mode is setGuest mode in East bedroom is setGarage door is openingRain water cistern pump is on for 30mins.The above actions are controlled via MH202 scenarios that are initiated by either by a contact interface changing state or by an actuator in switch mode, or dummy actuator, changing on/off state. In some cases a scenario is initiated via CEN and or CENplus command. eg phone or LCD panel.
After TTS then some voice commands could be useful for setting mood lighting but as I have a touch screen LCD panel centrally located its not that important to me. I can already control everything via the MyHome phone app as well.
Non BUS stuff: I have multi room music via Squeezbox (Touch, Radio, RPi squeezelite) and RPi LMS and some RGBW Wifi LED strips.
Nice to have would be for Google or Alexa to respond to queries like:
What temperature is it in the lounge. (BUS zone control but I rarely need alter temperature settings)
And who knows what in the future
edit... I am too impatient when I have set my mind on something and you guys are too slow I ordered Alexa to play with
Mark I didn't disappear but I got problems with my ankle! Nice to read that you went forward with your OpenHab! I will touch it again in a couple of days!
Update on getting the BTicino BUS to speak to me....
I managed to get Openhab2 to send voice messages in two ways..
First... to Logitech Touch, squeezelite using VoiceRSS TTS service.. some issues at first but eventually worked.
Second and the best using Amazon Echo.
Alexa now speaks to me; anything I want. I can get Alexa to announce whatever message I like when a selected switches changes state. She has a nice voice too and could do other things as well. I need to do a bit more work with the Rules but announcements were working from the openhab console.
edit... also found that from Openhab control panel I can get Echo to shout out anything I type on the Speak or Remind channels text input boxes. And the best bit if using openhab cloud binding I can then do this remotely from any browser. I have already had some laughs at my partners expense with Alexa seemingly coming to life without any prompting and chatting to her when I am out of the house
I am now just waiting on an improved BTicino binding from @massi00 so that Openhab tracks the switch states properly and hopefully blind actions at some point
One reason for this is that I use dummy switches to change and show the 'state' of some things. Rain, wind, sunny, guests, deactivate specific blinds etc etc These 'states' are then used as a start or in 'only if' condition for a scenario. Now with Alexa the BUS can announce a change of state and what will happen next etc etc No more surprises and puzzles when something happens.
on my side, I'm slowly but surely almost able to configure devices with my python app...
if all goes well, I should have this tested in a month or two...
I will then add devices as my finances allow me to purchase them...
If anyone wants to participate, you are more than welcome
Some progress with my test but I need a bit of help.
Alexa can now announce when a light is switched off or on. What she says is defined by me.I can now voice command Alexa to turn a light on or off and Alexa will say OK and then tell me what she did using the announcement I set up.The problem I have is that the name of the light is 'switch' to Alexa . I set everything up using PaperUI and gave the the light a name 'Office light' in PaperUI but Alexa sees it as 'switch'. The name Alexa has appears to be the channel name from the binding. So if I add more items they could all be the same name!!!
How do I change it the name so Alexa sees it as 'Office light' ?
Update...Fixed it myself after an evening of reading useless information and then an inspired guess... The trick was to select expose item in OpenHab cloud service and select item. Then remove devices from Alexa and rediscover. Now the switch appears in Alexa devices list with the name 'Office light' and 'switch' as before.
So, I am all set now. Alexa can respond to my voice commands to turn BUS lights on and off. If I set it up Alexa will also inform me when a light is switched off or even when its done in the old fashioned way ... I have a good use for that
Next to do will be dimmers and then blinds when the binding has been updated.
update: discovered a bug in the current F454 firmware when diagnosing an H4652/2 with one of the buttons in "CEN" mode... the gateway doesn't send the appropriate '*#1001*0*32#1*1*34##' saying this CEN is sent at address 34 ... but it does put it in when configuring the device
Update from me too. I've been helping Massimo test the BTicino binding for Openhab2. New features are coming
I still have problems trying to find a consistent method to get my devices found by Alexa and with nice names for voice commands. I am learning a lot a long the way.
The best approach so far in Openhab:
Add 'Things' without the automatic linking (simple mode off)Then manually link the 'items' with a nice Alexa friendly name.Then use REST API user interface to add the tag 'Lighting' for Alexa. There is a useful tool for this ...addons>Misc>REST documentation>>install, then use link http:///doc/index.html to access the handy tools to view and change the tagging.
The following may or may not be needed to get things working even if Alexa appears to find the your items in the web browser but then responds 'can't find device' when trying a voice command out.. It will not hurt anyway.
I have seen some comments saying that for Alexa you do not need to 'expose' the devices in the Openhab cloud connector but it seems not work until I do otherwise Alexa doesn't find them. More testing needed by me to check what's going on here.Toggle the devices on and off until they appear in the openhab cloud event log openHAB Cloud - Log in. Then Alexa will find them and you can check the name is OK.
Along the way the cloud connector add in uninstalled itself and needed to be reinstalled. Clue.. went offline in cloud web page.
Help.....I need a way to remove an Openhab item so that it appears in the inbox again. If I do a scan for BUS things then my BUS needs a reboot. I found that scenarios with switches used in the MH202 'Only if' stop working after a openhab scan. No idea why!!
Note: Using 'Simple mode' linking results in horrid Alexa unfriendly names but with the Alexa 'Lighting' label already added... doh! It doesn't seem possible to later change the name for a simple mode created item.
Author: m4rky_m4rk
1-12-2019 21:38:53
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