Group devices to one Alexa Custom Device Name

Other Devices & Integrations Voice Assistants
#1

I have a couple of places in my house where I have two (or more) dimmers controlling one area of light. Ex; We have an wall insert where there is light both in the top and bottom of the insert and each light source have a dedicated dimmer. As the Alexa integration are now I can only name each of these dimmers with unique names, I would like to have these in Alexa as one device.

Iow; I would like to say: Alexa: set insert light to 50.
Not; Alexa: set insert top light to 50. Alexa set insert bottom light to 50.

I guess I can make a scene for this and trigger that, but in my humble opinion it should be possible to group devices in such a way.

Or is there something I’m missing here?

#2

Done in alexa app. Create a device group. I have living room, family room, outdoor, master, inside, downstairs groups in alexa. I can say turn on family room lights or dim to level. The more the name is unique to the light name the better or else you may get ?several items share that name, which one do you want??

Sent from my mobile device

#3

Has anyone successfully used the “Group” feature of the Alexa app to “link” Vera devices with non-Vera (e.g. Smart Life) things that Alexa talks to?

The neat thing about “Groups” is that Alexa tries to synchronize the Status (“On” and “Off”) of each component item, so that turning on your Vera-connected switch, for instance, should cause the other grouped Smart Home devices also to turn on.

I see this as a potential workaround for Vera not talking natively to certain APIs, at least for binary (“Plugs”, “Lights”) classes of controlled devices.

Thoughts?

  • Libra
#4

I have groups and I use them, but I’m not sure the effect you what you said. I can turn on/off the group, but if I turn manually on/off a single device of the group, the others are not affected.

#5

I was afraid that would be the case. I’ve come to believe “Groups” in the Alexa app are intended for things you want to control FROM (and exclusively from) the app, and not from their respective endpoints.

Guess it’s back to the drawing board, then, insofar as getting Vera to interoperate with other universes of IoT, like Smart Life gadgets or LG appliances.

#6

you can link smartlife devices via ifttt maker and therealdb’s http switch or node-red/http switch

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#7

I also run Alexa’s routines via Vera, using my VeraAlexa plugin (currently, only on private beta on Vera, working on Openluup).

I use this to turn on TV, turn Vera’s lights on, manipulate Hue Lights (colors, etc) via Alexa, and send a TTS announcement at the same time. It works very well and you can you use it to basically trigger anything you want.

EDIT: my favorite one is the DND mode sync’ed with us sleeping. I have a scene putting in DND all the echoes at night, and disabling it when the scene associated to the blinds is ran (usually when everyone is waken up). In the meanwhile, echoes on the open space are turned on automatically when night alarm is deactivated. This is all tied to Vera. I lost count of the things that I integrated this way.

I have a scene starting my favorite playlist on Amazon Music, dim lights, close blinds, and so on. Fantasy is your only limit :slight_smile:

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