Alexa cannot “discover the shade” directly. Alexa is only able to control a certain limited set of devices, and Z-wave isn’t within that capability. However…
What you can do (as I have done) is to set up the “ha bridge”. (Search in the micasaverde forums for it; it’s available from GitHub.) The ha bridge is a piece of Java software that emulates a Philips Hue Hub. Alexa knows how to control a Philips Hue Hub (which in turn would normally control multiple Philips Hue lights linked to it.) So by installing the ha bridge and setting up Alexa to discover it, Alexa then thinks that it’s controlling the Philips Hue lights. In turn, the ha bridge is configured to talk to your Vera controller (via http), which then performs the actual on/off/dim actions on your Z-wave devices.
You then configure the ha bridge with the appropriate http command syntax for each of your blinds (e.g. “on” is fully open while “off” is fully closed). And then you can say “Alexa, discover devices” (which will contact the ha bridge – thinking it’s a Philips Hue Hub – to get the list of devices you’ve configured in the ha bridge web interface), and finally, you can say something like “Alexa, turn on living room blinds” to open them all.
You have several choices of where to install the ha bridge software. Whatever you choose needs to keep running, and be connected to your network of course. I already had a NAS device, so I installed it there. Works great.
It’s not super-simple to set up. Needs some technical expertise. But it works well once done.
Oh ya, I forgot to mention that. Several months ago, Vera came up with a “Smarter Home” plug-in for Alexa called “Vera Control”. I installed it during their beta-testing phase, and found that while it “worked”, it had severe lag issues. In a side-by-side comparison, I created two names for turning on and off my kitchen light – and set up one of them, “vera light”, to be accessed via the Vera Control plugin, while the other, “bridge light” to be accessed via the HA Bridge. When I said “Alexa, turn on vera light”, it would consistently take 5-8 seconds to respond, where as “Alexa, turn off bridge light” would happen within a half-second. I found this unusable. I reported it to the Vera folks running the beta program and they admitted to some delays that they were working on.
The Vera Control plug-in is now out of beta status; it’s ready for anyone. Perhaps they’ve improved its responsiveness; I haven’t checked. But it can never be as fast as the HA Bridge, because Alexa controls the bridge “directly” through your home network, whereas any Smart Home plug-in has a bunch of network hops back and forth to the Amazon Web Service platform where the plugin actually runs.
I still use the Vera Controller, but for only one specific device: my hope thermostat. That’s because the HA Bridge doesn’t currently have full support for thermostats (no setting of a particular temperature), whereas the Vera Controller plug-in does.
Anyway, for a non-techie, the Vera Controller plug-in to Alexa “Smart Home” is probably the best way to go … and just live with the response-time lag.
I completely missed this post/question from long ago. Sorry.
I zoomed in on a clear picture that I found somewhere of the official Springs Window Fashions “wall wart” label, where I could clearly read 12VDC. I also confirmed with the Blinds.com salesman (who went and asked someone).
The odd thing is that they chose to use a micro USB form-factor for the power lead. As you know, USB is always 5VDC. But anyway, it makes a good and compact connector, and I simply ordered some long micro USB leads from Amazon for my hard wiring (cutting off the “big end” and using the red + and black - for power).
i agree: plugin may not help. Gregreid, you mentioned that java software emulates Philips Hue Hub. So if i buy the Philips Hue or the Smarthing Hub ($60 and $80 respectively at amazon) and make one one of them as the primarily controller just for the autoview bali shades, will it solve my problem? meaning since you said alexa can communicate with Philips Hue Hub, then i can ask alexa to turn on/off the shade.
i agree: plugin may not help. Gregreid, you mentioned that java software emulates Philips Hue Hub. So if i buy the Philips Hue or the Smarthing Hub ($60 and $80 respectively at amazon) and make one one of them as the primarily controller just for the autoview bali shades, will it solve my problem? meaning since you said alexa can communicate with Philips Hue Hub, then i can ask alexa to turn on/off the shade.[/quote]
The free java program (HA-Bridge) doesn’t require an actual hue hub or a smart things hub.
It does mimic a hue hub but allows you to add non hue devcies to it using http or url. So all of veras devices can be added.
No. A Philips Hue hub only knows how to control Philips Hue lights, AFAIK. It has no way of controlling Z-wave devices. So although Alexa can talk to the Hue, the Hue doesn’t help with your blinds.
A SmartThings hub is similar to a Vera controller, for Z-wave devices. But Alexa doesn’t know how to talk to SmartThings any more than she knows how to talk to Vera … which is to say, not at all.
I suggest you try adding the Vera Controller plug-in (aka “Vera Controller Smart Home Skill”) and allowing it to provide the interface between Alexa and your Vera Z-wave devices (including your blinds). There will be some lagginess, as I mentioned earlier, but it is much easier to set up than the HA Bridge.
No. A Philips Hue hub only knows how to control Philips Hue lights, AFAIK. It has no way of controlling Z-wave devices. So although Alexa can talk to the Hue, the Hue doesn’t help with your blinds.
A SmartThings hub is similar to a Vera controller, for Z-wave devices. But Alexa doesn’t know how to talk to SmartThings any more than she knows how to talk to Vera … which is to say, not at all.
I suggest you try adding the Vera Controller plug-in (aka “Vera Controller Smart Home Skill”) and allowing it to provide the interface between Alexa and your Vera Z-wave devices (including your blinds). There will be some lagginess, as I mentioned earlier, but it is much easier to set up than the HA Bridge.[/quote]
“Vera Controller” is already included as smart home skill and Alexa can control all my zwave devices (except autoview bali shade) including Wink devices and harmony hub. my wife is very fond of Alexa: Alexa turn on/off TV, dim light1 to 50%, turn off kitchen light, turn on stereo, etc. now i am in trouble - last night she ask if Alexa can open/close this new shade. i lied and said they are still fixing the problem - LOL. i have 9 corded shades that we open and close manually since year 2000. i bragged about autoview and told her pretty soon you dont have to do this manually. By the way, YouTube shows autoview bali blinds can be operated by SmartThings hub. anyway, thanks for all the input
By the way, YouTube shows autoview bali blinds can be operated by SmartThings hub.
Yes, a SmartThings hub can control autoview blinds, as it can control most any Z-wave device. Ditto for Vera. But Alexa can’t talk to the SmartView hub, AFAIK.
So you ALREADY have the Vera Controller skill for Alexa Smart Home? And you’re using it to control lots of other Zwave devices (via Vera). Great. I’m surprised that it doesn’t know how to control blinds, but I know that it does have some “filters” on what it’ll control. For example, it refuses to control any time of “lock” device “for security reasons”. Still, it ought to be able to control blinds, I’d think. You did re-run the discovery process after adding your blinds, right? If so, maybe you could take it up with the Vera support folks.
By the way, YouTube shows autoview bali blinds can be operated by SmartThings hub.
Yes, a SmartThings hub can control autoview blinds, as it can control most any Z-wave device. Ditto for Vera. But Alexa can’t talk to the SmartView hub, AFAIK.
So you ALREADY have the Vera Controller skill for Alexa Smart Home? And you’re using it to control lots of other Zwave devices (via Vera). Great. I’m surprised that it doesn’t know how to control blinds, but I know that it does have some “filters” on what it’ll control. For example, it refuses to control any time of “lock” device “for security reasons”. Still, it ought to be able to control blinds, I’d think. You did re-run the discovery process after adding your blinds, right? If so, maybe you could take it up with the Vera support folks.[/quote]
Yes i ran discovery 3 times after “forget all devices”. good suggestion, i will contact vera support and will update you. thanks.
I operate mine with homeseer and vera can do it too. The problem like already said is Alexa control not vera. you can control the blinds with vera app. You need alexa to understand it.
I know that the bridge will work for you. I also know that homeseer (and probley vera but i’m not sure) see’s the blinds as a dimming bulb. So by nature alexa finds my blinds from homeseer as a dimming light bulb. Problem comes in when you use the words up and down 50% vs. saying dim to 50% or turn on or turn off.
I operate mine with homeseer and vera can do it too. The problem like already said is Alexa control not vera. you can control the blinds with vera app. You need alexa to understand it.
I know that the bridge will work for you. I also know that homeseer (and probley vera but i’m not sure) see’s the blinds as a dimming bulb. So by nature alexa finds my blinds from homeseer as a dimming light bulb. Problem comes in when you use the words up and down 50% vs. saying dim to 50% or turn on or turn off.[/quote]
Yes Vera also detects it as a dimming bulb. I used VeraMate app and shows with a slider. VeraMate has a voice control; I just gave a command dim office shade to 50% and it did. Vera support ask me to rename the shade from Shade1 to Office Shade but still Alexa did not discover it. I will have problem using the bridge; I am not familiar with coding, programming, even lua code. If I need a lua code I search this forum and/or ask for help. thanks.
The bridge uses no code. its a java program that when runs allows everything to be setup via a web browser. On a windows computer that means you double click the icon and it runs.
The bridge uses no code. its a java program that when runs allows everything to be setup via a web browser. On a windows computer that means you double click the icon and it runs.[/quote]
thanks. i started to google how to install HA bridge. with my 72-year old brain, i’ll probably have a hard time or will take me longer to make it work. do you still need vera if you have HA bridge successfully running?
Yes! The HA Bridge is a piece of java software that forms the “bridge” between Alexa (who thinks she’s talking to a Philips Hue Hub) and your Vera (which actually controls the Z-wave devices, like your blinds).
I’m able to control my Autoview shades with Alexa by creating scenes in UI7 (no ha-bridge required). For example, I have scenes named “Shades Raised” and “Shades Lowered” which open/close the shades. Alexa is able to find these scenes through discovery. It’s a little awkward to say “Alexa, turn on shades raised,” but it works.
i also have scenes in UI7 “close office shade” and "open office shade. Alexa was able to discover these 2 scenes. i did exactly your command: “Alexa turn off close office shade”. her answer: office shade doesnt support that. i will try to rename the shade.
If you have Alexa controlling blinds through Vera scenes, then you must have the Vera Smart Skill added to Alexa’s Smart Home capabilities. And that’s fine … it does work and is relatively easy to set up, but as I mentioned before, I was disappointed in the several second lag between my voice command and the action. I already had the HA Bridge installed and set up, so I stayed with it.
As for “open” and “close” commands not working, Alexa waffled back and forth on this a few times in the past several months. Initially “open” was equivalent to “turn on”, and “close” was equivalent to “turn off”. And that was great! (Note that folks in the UK often use “open the kitchen light”, so it made sense. But then Alexa started tightening things down, thinking that “open” and “close” would be used to control locks (like your front door) and they didn’t want to support that (for security reasons). At least that’s my hunch of why they stopped supporting open/close. Yet, a few weeks after they stopped supporting the open/close as equivalent to turn on/off, they reverted to supporting open/close again. And then back to not supported yet again. It’s stayed not supported for some months now. Pity.
So anyway, I currently have scenes for my blinds so that I can “Alexa, turn on living room blinds” to close then, “Alexa, turn off living room blinds” to open them, and “Alexa, turn on (or off) living room blinds halfway” to set them to their 50% position. It was so much nicer to be able to say “Alexa, open living room blinds” (for example), but Alexa won’t let you do that anymore.
IMO, Alexa’s settings should allow a configurable checkbox for us to specifically tell it that “I want to allow open/close as equivalent to turn on/turn off, and I accept the security risk of doing so”.
i removed the shade from vera and paired it with my Wink hub successfully and Wink can open and close the shade. usually, wink will create that device in vera and alexa will be able to control it but NO GOOD. the GE bulb and Cree bulb for Wink appeared in vera. something is wrong. anyway thanks for the input. vera support did not get back to me yet for follow up. i just emailed alexa support. very frustrating.