I am considering buy Alexa to integrate with HA.
I’ve read the component specs and I have a question, can someone help?
the point is:
assuming I will use emulated-Hue component, should i do something else on configs?
For example if i want to turn a light on/off, should work out of box? or should i add some code/command (intend?!?!?!) in home assistant config?
I think I can summarize by asking, it is just turn on feature on HASS? or i should turn the feature on and then configure?
another real example i would have it: can i turn on my house alarm using alexa and make sure it CANNOT be turned off using alexa?
If you have dimmable light switches emulated hue can make them visible in alexa and you can switch on/off and dim.
Further you can send scripts, automations and scenes as well. If your alarm shows in the HA Frontend as a two way switch on/off, then you can switch it on and of via alexa. If you use a script or automation which is one way only the “on” command will work.
For example in my case I have light scenes running as script to get the colors I want with for example “alexa switch on relaxed” to shut it down I use the normal light switches grouped in alexa directly to a group “Light” “alexa switch light off”
Configuration is easy just tell with exposed_domains what you want to be seen in alexa
otherwise you can use customize to show/hide
it could be just a turn on if you have very little in HA.
i tried just adding Alexa and it didnt work because of overload.
so i had to chose which entities to reveal to Alexa.
like derdude showed that is simple. just place the emulated_hue: True line for everthing you want exposed to Alexa.
you can expose input_booleans to Alexa, so with an automation or an app you could let that automaticly switch back to off after you have set it to on.
i use that for example to turn off all lights at night.
i have no need for an all lights on function, but all off makes sence.
so i have an inputboolean for Alexa an when that is switched off an app switches all lights out and sets the input boolean to on again.
that raised another question.
if I have 8 hue lamps, and about 10 zwave switches. is the emulate_hue option all or nothing?
when i see the code above saying:
customize:
light.gr:
emulated_hue: True
that gives me the impression that i can cherry pick, meaning i could have only half of the bulbs/switches linked to hue, is this correct?
my point is: today, i have an alarm system working great with Zwave, my keypad for the alarm is an tablet in the wall, where i use the tablet PIN to unlock the device, then i simple slide the alarm switch to on/off.
I was hopping to have a way to set the alarm using alexa, but i dont want the alarm to disarm by voice.
i was hoping to understand a little better before i buy it…
If i could select just a few commands to be on alexa (for example, i can create an automation to “set” the alarm using input boolean and have a second boolean to “reset” it, but i would only link the “set” to alexa, and would leave the reset out of it). or can i simple set a command on the turn on for alexa, and leave the turn off out of it?
you can make a simple automation which just switches your existing input boolean to on
connect that automation to Alexa and you can arm your alarm with it.
(i dont know how to connect automations directly to Alexa, but if thats not possible you can use a second input boolean for that)
do you know you can also install Alexa on a tablet?
seems a better option for your case, because you only want a few options on a certain place, where you already have a tablet.
