I am wanting to work on fixing my automations after ignoring my system for over a year of ignoring tech.
Ignoring tech and everything in life honestly.
Anyways I am starting to feel better, and I have performed updates on my system, my NAS is now back online, and a new server.
One of my alert system no longer works and I was wondering what is the most reliable way to get notification from speakers.
I dont care what platform: Alexa, Google, or Apple. I want my alerts to work with high reliability.
I want alerts for when my washer is done (based on a reading on a smart power switch).
I want notifications in multiple levels of the house for when the dryer is done.
Once I have those two under control I will work on stuff like sending voice commands; turn off TV (send it to harmony). Turn on Playstation, turn on lights, and other commands.
I am making this question because in the past the best way to do this was using Alexa, these days that just does not work for me.
You say you don’t care what platform, but then at the end you say Alexa doesn’t work for you. Care to elaborate as to why or how it doesn’t work for you? I have found Alexa works just fine for what I use it for.
Do you have dashboards throughout the house? I figured out a way to have a flashing alert ticker that scrolls across the screen, and I plan on using it for alerts, such as “the washer/dryer is done”, weather alerts, etc. If this interests you, I can send you the YAML.
I generally only use Alexa for my voice announcements so I can’t speak directly to Google or Apple but I think I understand that using Google speakers work natively in HA. So for something less expensive I would look into those.
Alexa, unfortunately, only works using a custom integration that some people have had problems with recently. The original maintainer has moved on but the integration has had others step up to maintain it so it’s still working fine for me. But there’s no way to know if it will still work tomorrow.
One thing you didn’t mention that is a good alternative to those above is Sonos.
They are pretty expensive but if you already have them for whole house audio then being able to use them for TTS is a cherry on top.
The only reason I haven’t switched fully over to Sonos for TTS is because I already have the Alexa devices for voice control via HA and I use them for actionable TTS notifications (“do you want me to turn off the lights?”). But if the Alexa Media Player ever goes away I’ll still have Sonos as an almost as capable alternative.
I was using an Alexa integration but it would randomly stop working due to an authentication issue.
How are you sending loud audible alerts to echo dots?
Do you have multiple dashbooards around the house? what tablets are you using? I may need two. I guess those have speakers, that may work. Not wanting to spend $500 total for two tablets thopugh
I’m saying I “believe” that I “remember” hearing that google speakers work natively in HA for TTS and don’t need a custom integration. But I could be misremembering because I don’t use them.