Vera, Autelis and Amazon Echo on a Jandy iAqualink

[eyoung71]

I have been reading and reading here. Lots of great information. I am looking to send simple pool commands to my iAqualink via Amazon Echo (Alexa). In my reading it seems I need to get the Autelis controller attached and the plugin developed for Jandy. I am not sure how Alexa would fit in here. Any suggestions or information?

THANKS!

[Sammy2]

So far Alexa voice commands don't work with Vera and the Autelis plugin.

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[eyoung71]

Thanks for the reply.
I saw you posted over at TFP. Did anything every come of the adapter that poster mentioned there?

[Sammy2]

I'd have no idea. I got permanently banned over there for "Repeated Thread Hijacking".

Things like your question above are considered hijacking there.

They have a closed minded bunch of over zealous mods over there that didn't like me posting things that didn't match their mantra but are sound chemistry. The real reason is they don't want anyone challenging them..

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[rstrouse]

Hey guys,  I don't have an Alexa.  However, I am not sure why it wouldn't work.  The child devices are almost all BinaryLight devices.  Even for those that are not they can all be controlled via scenes.  Doesn't Alexa support scenes and binary lights?

[eyoung71]

rstrouse,

Can you explain a bit more what you are saying?
It seems like it would be easy to create simple commands to do on/off type of things for the pool. I know you can create a custom skill for Alexa via the Amazon website but I don't think Jandy shares the API.

[eyoung71]

https://developer.amazon.com/docs/custom-skills/host-a-custom-skill-as-an-aws-lambda-function.html

This is way over my head but it explains what I'm talking about.

[rstrouse]

The plugin translates the pool equipment, with the exception of the heaters, chlorinator, and light color selection to standard devices on your Vera.  These will either be BinaryLight or Dimmer that use the standard service model.  If there is already a skill for turning on/off binary lights and dimmers this should work for all those.  The heaters, chlorinator, and watercolors are a different matter altogether as there is much more involved with setting the heater selections and choosing predefined colors and themes.

If you don't have an Autelis yet you can run the plugin in simulation mode.  This will allow you to define arbitrary pool equipment, then attempt to control it via Alexa.  I would be surprised if the pool equipment didn't show when you queried the devices in the Alexa skill.

[eyoung71]

OK.
At this point I don't even have Vera so a purchase would be required first. I wish there was a way to test before I bought all of this stuff.

[Sammy2]

I have tried issuing pool control commands via my Echo Dot / Alexa and the Vera Skill for Alexa doesn't seem to translate the command. No big deal mostly with the Macros built into the Pool Control Plugin are pretty easy to execute with my phone (but could be easier, not fault of rstrouse as it is on Vera here)

I have a macro for "Backyard Lights" that is tied to scenes Back Yard Lights On and Back Yard Lights off.

To execute this through Alexa I have to say, "Alexa, turn the Back Yard Lights On ON" and then, "Alexa turn the Back Yard Lights Off ON". Sort of funny but it works.

The Macros don't work in Alexa through the Vera Skill for any of them. I feel this is in some way related to the way they (and other things like Rachio Plugin, Harmony Control Plugin, etc) don't work in the app but do in a mobile Chrome Browser.

[eyoung71]

I installed rstrouse's plugin and put it in simulation mode. Then I installed the Alexa skill. I could do simple commands like turn on waterfall etc. I am happy with is for now.
The main problem I have now is the Autelis Pool Control for Jandy is Out of Stock! UGH! I was ready to take the next step with this.

[Sammy2]

I installed rstrouse's plugin and put it in simulation mode. Then I installed the Alexa skill. I could do simple commands like turn on waterfall etc. I am happy with is for now.
The main problem I have now is the Autelis Pool Control for Jandy is Out of Stock! UGH! I was ready to take the next step with this.

Post in their forum or send them / call them about it being OOS. They may be able to flash one of the ones that they have with the the Jandy F/W.

[eyoung71]

I have finally installed the Autelis portion of this project.
I have to say I have no idea what I'm doing. I have it hooked up according to the instructions. I am getting an IP address and can access the Autelis Control via my browser.
But all I get is 'State : No Connection' when accessing via browser.
On the Vera side its the same of course. Adding to that sometimes for the battery image I get 100% and sometimes I get 0%. It's all over the place.

Vera lists
Plugin   1.0 release
Autelis  1.6.9 (standard)
Status   Not Connected
Mode    Auto

It looks like Sammy2 had the exact same problem. I have checked and rechecked the damn wires. Nothing.

[rstrouse]

@eyoung,

Did you say that you can connect via Autelis?  Please open a browser window and type http://<ip address of your autelis unit>/status.xml.   Then post those results back here.  Also, did you set the IP address and username/password for Autelis in the plugin?  This is under the configuration tab.

[eyoung71]

I have it working now!
I started from the beginning and rewired everything and tested along the way. It's at least connected and it pulled the autelis IP address automatically.
Hopefully I can test the Alexa integration later today.