Alexa doesn't find any emulated_hue devices

Third party integrations
1

Hi,

I’m in the process of setting up my Echo.
For starters, I’d like to control two (input_boolean) switches with Alexa.
I also have an actual Hue bridge.

I currently don’t have the Philips Hue skill installed as that adds a separate device for every light and scene to Alexa.
I’d like to keep it simple for now, so controlling single lights is currently enough.

I have set up my emulated_hue bridge:

emulated_hue:
  type: alexa
  advertise_ip: 192.168.xxx.xxx
  listen_port: 8300
  expose_by_default: false
  exposed_domains:
    - input_boolean

I am running HA in a Docker container and the advertise_ip address is the IP that HA can be accessed from anywhere in the local network (i.e. an IP address on the Docker host).
I’m also mapping port 8300 to the Docker host ip:

# docker port hass
8123/tcp -> 0.0.0.0:8123
8300/tcp -> 0.0.0.0:8300

I can access the emulated_hue’s description.xml file with a browser through http://192.168.xxx.xxx:8300/description.xml and I also see the two input_boolean switches when opening http://192.168.xxx.xxx:8300/api/pi/lights.

But letting Alexa search for Smart Home devices only results in all my Philips Hue devices being found, but none of the emulated_hue devices.

Is there an equivalent to “pushing the button on the hue bridge” that I need to initiate, to have Alexa find the emulated_hue devices?
Or what am I missing?

TIA,
Sebastian

2

Try telling Echo to look for devices immediately after restarting Home Assistant. This is the only way my instance find any new devices.

I usually restart Home Assistant and repeatedly search for devices why it loads.

3

I tried that multiple times, but unfortunately that is not working.
It only finds the Philips devices.

Sebastian

4

Does nobody have an idea? I must be missing something.
Is anyone running emulated_hue in with HA in a Docker container?
What exactly does Alexa need to discover the emulated_hue bridge?
Is there anything I need to take care of regarding the multicast address (239.255.255.250) mentioned in the emulated_hue docs?

Sebastian

5

Hi Seb.

DId you sort this out?

I am in a similar boat.
I am trying to connect Alexa with emualted_hue.
I have a docker container for HASS.
I can also ping ans see the interface on the browser.
I cannot find any device. :frowning:
I also cannot find my Phillips hue devices.

I my case, i am pretty sure that the issue is related to subnets. I use PFsense as router/FW. the echo dot and the docker container are in 2 different interfaces.

I am about to start looking for another bridge (i’ve read something about HA bridge) that might do the trick in my case… i am also considering using IFTTT to connect Echo and HASS.

It is frustrating not be able to use ECHO in a different subnet. if anyone have any idea, please let me know too…

Luis

6

Unfortunately I haven’t made any progress. I’m currently out of ideas and I haven’t found any technical documentation on how exactly the Echo discovers smart home devices.
Regarding your issue, I assume that all devices have to be on the same network/subnet.
So if you put your Echo and the Hue bridge on the same subnet, the Echo should find your Hue lights.

Sebastian

7

Have you figured anything out? I am in the same boat here. My Google Home’s and HASS instance are on two different subnets, also behind PFSense. I currently am trying to use HAProxy on PFSense where the Advertise IP in HASS is the gateway IP of the subnet that has the Google Home’s. And it proxies over to the other subnet on port 8300. Which looks like it works as in I can access the /description.xml page on the gateway IP and it pulls up. But still no emulated hue access. I use macvlan’s on my docker hosts to segregate via different vlans/subnets.

8

i sorted it out in my case using IFTTT, which is not the best thing to do, as it is the first element on my setup that is managed outside my house…

9

That is what I did as well, just wanting it a little more local as I am sure you do as well. I will continue looking into it.