+- Comfort Automation/ Security System Forums (https://www.comfortforums.com)
+-- Forum: Third Party (interfacing to Comfort) (https://www.comfortforums.com/forum-5.html)
+--- Forum: alphaWerk UHAI RPi (Community Edition) (https://www.comfortforums.com/forum-136.html)
+--- Thread: Comfort UPNP <-> SmartThings <-> Amazon Echo (/thread-4534.html)
- mattbrain - 10-28-2016
At the moment it requires Samsung SmartThings to act as an interface between the Echo and Comfort, however I am working on adding WeMo emulation which will allow an Echo to interact natively with Comfort. This will enable outputs and responses to be controlled by the Echo, but there isn\'t yet an unprompted mechanism in Echo (i.e. you can\'t wake the echo up programmatically to announce an event) to allow zones or status changes to make the Echo do stuff.
SmartThings itself has a lot of other products integrated and with this interface you can add Comfort to the mix - allowing you to write complex scripts linking all your SmartThings devices and Comfort devices together.
I mentioned some examples previously, my latest little script is automatic closing of Fakro windows when the alarm is set and setting the heating to economy mode.
Thanks,
Matt
- lwillerton - 10-29-2016
Hi All,
I have been doing some research and have recently decided to try and get Comfort to control some of my AV kit. However seeing this thread I wanted to run a few things by everyone.
My plan is to access the amps 12 scenes on the amp with a bit of IR code to turn on the TV select the appropriate input set the volume etc. This could be controlled by the comfort app or one of the comfort scenes switches. I would also program IR commands for the aircon / electric blinds and for TV / audio zones not connected to the amp. Please see the rough diagram attached.
Reading this thread I am now wondering if I should include a SmartThings hub and a RPi (the bits in the red box on the attached) to allow better control of my TV\'s and lighting (veralite) and to allow amazon dot to control the equipment in the kitchen (keep hands free)
If I buy SmartThings Hub will it detect vera, samsung TV\'s, Sony TV\'s etc (sorry don\'t know much about this)? how easy is it to get the interface between SmartThings and Comfort working using the RPi? I have a eth3 UCM do I need anything else? I have quotes for all the cytech kit but before I place the order though it would be worth checking to see if I need to add anything else to the list.
Sorry forgot to put on the diagram my heatmiser thermostat could this be included in to the SmartThings/Amazon dot config?
Best Wishes
Lee
- DavidJ - 10-29-2016
I cant answer all of questions, do I take it you currently do NOT have a Comfort system? If so I would consider how capable you are to set it up, its far from simple. Obviously if you are Very techy I guess you\'ll have no problem.
With regard to Vera and Smartthings, I\'d probably consider moving devices from Vera to Smartthings rather than running both although I do believe it is possible.
Although rteading this https://community.smartthings.com/t/smart-things-as-secondary-zwave-controller/2531 it does dound doable.
With regard to setting up the Rpi with Comfort and Matts App - thats a breeze.
- lwillerton - 10-29-2016
Sorry I have had comfort installed for 5 years controlling lights electric gates, guarage doors etc, self programmed with a lot of help from the cytech team (they are fantastic). Was considering control 4 but decided that I would buy the extra kit cytech produce to provide the AV solution. The idea of using the dot just becomes really interesting.
I will add SmartThing hub and a Amazon dot to the kit list, I am sure it has got to be worth a go.
- lwillerton - 10-29-2016
Sorry I have had comfort installed for 5 years controlling lights electric gates, guarage doors etc, self programmed with a lot of help from the cytech team (they are fantastic). Was considering control 4 but decided that I would buy the extra kit cytech produce to provide the AV solution. The idea of using the dot just becomes really interesting.
I will add SmartThing hub and a Amazon dot to the kit list, I am sure it has got to be worth a go.
- DavidJ - 10-29-2016
I had Vera plus in place for past six months with varying results. Since Matt\'s app became available I\'ve brushed the dust off of Smartthings and started moving everything back over. Also a new app on. ST called CoRE makes it much easier to set up rules.
- mattbrain - 10-30-2016
@Iwillerton:
In my day job I have written IP based controls for LG and Samsung TV\'s - they both support a variant of UPNP - I believe SmartThings support recent Samsung (2014+) TV\'s natively - although I don\'t know, I should think if the Sony is a recent TV with ethernet / wifi it most likely has a control interface exposed over IP.
I don\'t know about veralite - I haven\'t come across it before (is it z-wave? - if so it should work).
@All:
I have made some updates to overcome an issue David reported yesterday due to subscriptions not being renewed in a timely manner. Please download the updated Device Handlers and SmartApp and install over the existing (paste over the existing code, save and publish). This will automatically update the devices in SmartThings (no need to restart discovery) and the new refresh button in the Bridge device will force a global resubscribe. The refresh button in the zones / outputs will now do the same for that device and get the latest values.
Thanks,
Matt
- mattbrain - 10-30-2016
@All:
I have just updated the output device handler to allow each device to define a default action for \'On\', such as Flash / Flash Once / Turn on - this should help with external devices looking for momentary functions. Please download and paste over the existing Output device handler, save and publish to update. To enable Flash / Flash Once go to the settings cog in the device to select the behaviour. Default behaviour for existing and new devices will be \'Turn On\'
@Iwillerton:
Just had another look a your diagram, I think you could take out veralite and have the SmartThings hub replace any functions that offers - devices paired with it could be paired with the SmartThings Hub - this will likely make your setup more reliable as there are less links in the chain. It is entirely possible that code could be written to support the UPNP bridge I have built on vera but I don\'t have access to one (and would need to spend some time understanding how it works - I believe it does have a programming language of sorts but don\'t know how broad its capabilities are)
I would also have the Amazon Dot talk directly to smartthings and control other devices from there rather than a direct link to your devices in the kitchen (indicated by the yellow line) - native device support in Alexa is limited and there is an excellent plugin which exposes SmartThings devices and allows it to be tightly integrated.
Thanks,
Matt
- lwillerton - 10-30-2016
Thanks Matt, all make sence and I agree removing vera will be a positive step.
Before I order ST has anyone seen any posts about ST V3?
- DavidJ - 10-30-2016
ST2 Is just over a year old. Can\'t see them releasing anything very soon. Some good deals on ebay though. If you do get on ebay make sure the code comes with it. I\'d just get the hub only as the devices in the starter pack are Zigbee.