Anyway to expose a sensor value to Alexa/Echo/Google

[msauto (Mike)]

You seem to really know what is going on and have achieved what i am trying to achieve.My hat is off to you sir! I have read thru so many different ways to do something that should be so simple that my head hurts, and have accomplished nothing but a headache, lol. My problem is i am not a coder by any since of the word and wind up getting lost, and all the different ways run together. Could you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put together a step by step of how you accomplished what seems unachievable to me. I would be willing to pay you for your time.

[bart56]

I have a script that will run based on an emulated hue light where I expose the script like this:

   emulated_hue:
      type: alexa
      expose_by_default: true
      exposed_domains:
        - script
      entities:
        light.ha2:
          name: "ha2"

Alexa discovers the scripts as lights. When I toggle the light, the script plays the house temperature over the last_alexa. After seeing it, I understand how the emulated_hue is seen as a light.
In your example, you don’t use emulated_hue but the alexa_virtual template
which appears to have the same brightness feature as an emulated_hue bulb. When I run discovery on Alexa app, all that shows up are the scripts as light devices. It does not see the alexa_virtual light.

That said, I can get a script to run by setting up an Alexa routine in the app which turns on the script directly. In your example you show a sensor and a switch (in configuration.yaml?) and an automation. I don’t understand how the automation gets run if the alexa app doesn’t seem to see the virtual light which is set up like yours after discover devices.

So at the moment, I have an automation called ‘virtual’ that has your automation in it with some changes but I don’t know how to get alexa to see it and set a brightness level.

BTW: if I tell Alexa to set the script to 50% bright, the script ‘light’ goes to 10% in the Alexa app. Does this behavior seem odd?

Sorry this is so long and hits on several questions, but I’m flapping about here for a while without much progress. Any hints to get me off the ground on this?
Thanks

[lonebaggie]

I use dummy bulbs like you use the scripts .

Create a virtual Dimmer or light template for Alexa

I have created lots of automation’s via the Alexa routines feature, which then switches input boolean components in HA to action the request. This is getting cumbersome using one input boolean for each routine. I would like to create a virtual dimmer in HA then expose this entity to Alexa. This would give me a 100 different responses via the dimmer, using just one entity, is this possible?

I have to convert from 0 -100 (alexa) to 0-255 (HA) that why you maybe getting odd results , however I cannot emulate your results

Percentage Calculator - Step by step

[ptdalen]

@ptdalen

if (states.light.alexa_virtual.attributes.brightness | int / 255 * 100 ) | round == 1

I’m not using appdaemon, but the yaml automation has worked great for me.

if (states.light.alexa_virtual.attributes.brightness | int / 255 * 100 ) | round == 1…
This should help with the math.

My alexa routines set values of 1 to 100 (I actually only have 10 right now, so 1-10), and have not had any issues at all

[bart56]

@ptdalen Thanks. The math in @lonebaggie s solution and the one you point out is clear. I was seeing the odd numbers before I tried that automation/script. Yes that part all works fine now but it is limited to returning a TTS action. Thanks to both of you.

[ptdalen]

Ahh, I think I misunderstood. Are you setting a “script” to a percentage? Do you have a dummy bulb set up and exposed to alexa using emulated hue?

like this one

- platform: template
    lights:
      alexa_virtual:
        friendly_name: "Alexa Dummy Light"
        turn_on:
        turn_off:
        set_level:

Then expose the light.alexa_virtual with emulated hue, then discover it with alexa, then set the levels on the light.alexa_virtual, and have the levels of that light trigger scripts, automations, etc using alexa routines.

While you can expose the scripts, I dont think you can set a level on them. I have a couple scripts that I use, and just turn them on.

[bart56]

I do have the virtual light set up and working fine. So I’m all set there. I do just turn scripts on and off.
Thanks

[snicker]

I’ve found that using an input_number helper and an automation to synchronize a sensor value to that input_number is a functional method. You can expose the input_number entity to Alexa and ask for the value.

Alexa, what is the value of <sensor name>?