pimatic-echo

pimatic-echo is a pimatic plugin that enables Amazon's echo to control pimatic devices. It does this by simulating WeMo switches, which are natively supported by the echo. All network communication happens on the local network, so pimatic doesn't have to be accessible from the internet.

Currently it supports just switching on and off, since a WeMo switch also just supports this.

These device classes are supported currently:

• DummySwitch
• DummyDimmer
• ButtonsDevice (just the first defined button)
• All devices extending from ShutterController (Shutters will go up when switched on and vice versa)
• All lights from pimatic-led-light and pimatic-hue-zll

If you are the developer of a pimatic plugin that defines a device class, that implements switch functionality, just create a feature request.

Installation

To install the plugin just add the plugin to the config.json of pimatic:

    {
      "plugin": "echo"   
    }

This will fetch the most recent version from npm-registry on the next pimatic start and install the plugin.

After that you tell your Amazon echo to search for your devices or use the web frontend.

Configuration

The configuration of pimatic can be extended by adding an attribute called "echo" on every supported device.

Example:

"devices": [
  {
    "id": "switch",
    "class": "DummySwitch",
    "name": "Switch",
    "echo": {
      "name": "EchoSwitch",
      "additionalNames": ["AnotherNameForMyEchoSwitch", "YetAnotherName"],
      "exclude": true
    }
  }
]
 

The name setting will change how the device is called when using your voice. This might be helpful if you have multiple devices in different rooms with the same name or if you just want to have a more meaningful name. To work with Alexa these names must be unique. You can also define additional names for your device. For every additional name a new device will be listed in the Alexa app.

To exclude devices from being available to Alexa, just set the "exclude" flag to true. By default all supported devices will be available.

Sponsoring

Do you like this plugin? Then consider a donation to support development.

Changelog

0.1.0

• add support for trafri devices
• #20 randomizing device discovery responses befor sending them out. This way you can discover more than 16 devices within a few scans with the echo.

0.0.6

• fixed error when switching ButtonsDevice

0.0.5

• #10 additional names for supported devices

0.0.4

• #3 Rename devices
• extend device config schema to get rid of error message
• Copied files from fauxmo dependency into lib folder and removed dependency
• Reuse UDP port 1900 for UPNP

0.0.3

• #5 Exclude specific devices from being available to Alexa.

0.0.2

• minor bugfixes

0.0.1

• initial release