First I want to thank all the programmers of Home Assistant. I really like the program and enjoy it every day.
A few days ago, I received my Alexa / Amazon Echo. It was very easy to get it working with the emulated hue component (https://home-assistant.io/components/emulated_hue/). I can turn on/off my lights, dim the lights, execute scripts and switch scenes.
I also like to control my radio section via Alexa / Amazon Echo. See my radio section below:
It would be great if I can say for example “Alexa, play 538 dance department in the living room” and that it automatically updates the input_select item “Room” to “Living room” and the input_select “Radio” to “538 - dance department”.
If I need to configure the custom commands, am I right that I need to port forward my Home Assistant configuration to the internet via HTTPS? I prefer to leave my Home Assistant configuration only available in my LAN.
Are there any better options to achieve the described functionality?
The disadvantage
You need to port forward your Home-assistant server.
It is an external service and sometimes it takes some time to let IFTTT perform the action.
@acambitsis You’re welcome! If you want to implement this solution in your configuration and anything I described is not quite clear, feel free to ask.
@HAppy. Great work! I’m also working on Alexa + Emulated Hue + HA. I can make the light and switches working but not scripts. Alexa kept telling me my script name not found. Can you shred me some light how to make scripts work with emulated hue? Thanks in advance.
@oscarliu Thanks! I am not at home right now, so I can’t check it in my configuration.
Did you check if the script is exposed to your Alexa? Open the following URL (replace it with your IP address):
http://HA_IP_Address:8300/api/pi/lights
If your script is not listed, you can try to set the exposed_domains as described in:
If I read the instructions right, you are only allowed to use 49 devices across all domains (lights, scenes etc.)
@oscarliu Good to see that your script is listed. I think that you need to use the word “run” or “execute” for executing scripts. So in your case, you should call your script: “Alexa, run hello”.
@HAppy. After I say “Alexa, run hello”, it replied “Sorry, I couldn’t find a device or group named hello in Oscar’s account”. Does script behaves like light and switch? If it’s the case, should I say “Alexa, turn on hello”? But it didn’t work. What command did you use to trigger the script?
@oscarliu At the moment I am only using IFTTT triggers, but they react too slow.
I will add an emulated bridge again in my configuration, so I can help you better. I think it will be ready today/tomorrow.
I thought that I executed my scripts with the word “run”, but I will check it again. Did you upgrade to a new version of home-assistant? As soon as I know more, I will directly inform you.
Did you also press on the “Discover devices” button in the Alexa app under the section Smart Home?
@HAppy. Yes, after I installed Emulated Hue, I press “discover devices” and the light showed up. I confirmed that Emulated Hue is working. Just that I couldn’t use Alexa to trigger the script. Thanks a lot for your help in advance. Hope that you can make it work at your end.
