Can ELK integrate with SmartThings or Alexa?

[felixrosbergen]

Hi All,
 
I've been out of the HA for a while.  What HA I had was working and life/kids took over all my time.
 
Now with iOS 10 breaking Elve Mobile I am something forced to get back into this.
 
My current setup:
- ELK M1
- ALC and UPB Lighting
- Aprilaire T-Stats
- Nuvo Essentia Whole House Audio
 
Seem like I need a new GUI at least and likely a new 'heart' as well.
 
I started looking at Smart Things and Alexa and other options.
 
Most of the HA stuff I have now can be replaced except I would not want to get rid of the Nuvo Whole House Audio or the ELK M1 alarm system.
 
Is there any way to get ELK to talk to Smart Things, Harmony Hub, Echo or something similar?

 

[drvnbysound]

I may be wrong, but I thought I read that CQC had an Echo driver that could tie all of that together for you.

 

[giesen]

If you add an ISY 994i with the Elk module and a portal subscription, it will integrate with Echo and IFTTT. If you also run the (currently alpha) 5.0 you can add a Harmony Hub node server which will also give you basic Harmony Hub support to start activities. ISY994i is also available with an IR receiver so you can receive commands from your Harmony Hub.

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

 

[IVB]

I connect via both CQC and the ISY. Although to be honest I prefer CQC, as 
A) Alexa never recognizes the ISY trigger word for me (Alexa tell izzy). With CQC I can choose the word, I picked Jarvis as everyone would remember that and Alexa picks up every time
B) With the HueSimulator driver, I can also bypass the need for a trigger word if its just an on/off command. IE, and I don't do this but using the Elk as an example, I could say "Alexa turn off the master bedroom window" and it would tell the Elk to bypass that zone. Obviously silly example but you get the point.
C) I can say things like "Alexa, ask Jarvis which windows are open" and Alexa responds with "There are currently x doors or windows open. Here's a list of them. #1 is <aaa>, #2 is <bbb>, #3 is <ccc>"
 
In my house I actively use both "Alexa ask/tell jarvis to <xyz>" and "Alexa turn on/off <abc>" routed via CQC to the Elk.

 

[cheezit73]

I connect via both CQC and the ISY. Although to be honest I prefer CQC, as 
A) Alexa never recognizes the ISY trigger word for me (Alexa tell izzy). With CQC I can choose the word, I picked Jarvis as everyone would remember that and Alexa picks up every time
B) With the HueSimulator driver, I can also bypass the need for a trigger word if its just an on/off command. IE, and I don't do this but using the Elk as an example, I could say "Alexa turn off the master bedroom window" and it would tell the Elk to bypass that zone. Obviously silly example but you get the point.
C) I can say things like "Alexa, ask Jarvis which windows are open" and Alexa responds with "There are currently x doors or windows open. Here's a list of them. #1 is <aaa>, #2 is <bbb>, #3 is <ccc>"
 
In my house I actively use both "Alexa ask/tell jarvis to <xyz>" and "Alexa turn on/off <abc>" routed via CQC to the Elk.

 
I am just getting setup with this myself. So far I have Echo, ISY (with portal), and Elk all working together controlling Insteon lights, thermostats, ZWave locks, global cache devices, and ip control of A/V/HTPC equipment.  I am trying to have everything to be as automated as possible and if not using passive automation or Echo for voice control I have Ekeypad and iRule working for GUI's. So far it works great!
 
IVB: I know this is a broad question but what advantage would I have to bring CQC into this equation? (I like that you can call Jarvis.) Would I understand correctly that your purely using the ISY to manage lighting scenes and all your rules and programming are on CQC? Does that eliminate the need for the portal on ISY? Maybe if you could just give a quick list of advantages of adding CQC in that would be great thanks!

 

[IVB]

I am just getting setup with this myself. So far I have Echo, ISY (with portal), and Elk all working together controlling Insteon lights, thermostats, ZWave locks, global cache devices, and ip control of A/V/HTPC equipment.  I am trying to have everything to be as automated as possible and if not using passive automation or Echo for voice control I have Ekeypad and iRule working for GUI's. So far it works great!
 
IVB: I know this is a broad question but what advantage would I have to bring CQC into this equation? (I like that you can call Jarvis.) Would I understand correctly that your purely using the ISY to manage lighting scenes and all your rules and programming are on CQC? Does that eliminate the need for the portal on ISY? Maybe if you could just give a quick list of advantages of adding CQC in that would be great thanks!

 
I control FAR more than what the ISY can manage via CQC, so using that I can voice control anything. (see below for both the pretty picture of my pre-ISY architecture, and a link to a vlog where I walked through it)
 
The more interesting stuff is things like "Alexa, tell Jarvis to water the bamboo" or "Alexa, ask Jarvis how much gas is in my car". But if you don't have that, even things like "Alexa, ask Jarvis which windows are open" is huge, and I don't think thats doable via just ISY. I *think* they've just done the Hue Simulator approach, so its turn xyz on/off. CQC allows custom dialog.
 
I could go on but i'll stop here and see what interests you.
 
The links:
 
Architecture: http://i.imgur.com/2os5sQ3.png 
 
Video walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9tYT0EO-Nk 
 
HA things I can do with my Echo that most can't. (not exactly your question but CQC drives this) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umRYxHbcQrA
 
The overall channel, i'm overdue to finish editing my latest vlog: https://www.youtube.com/c/IVBsHomeAutomation 

 

[cheezit73]

Thanks IVB I enjoyed your vlog videos! 
 
So far the ISY Echo is doing what I need but I really like the custom dialog ability you have (also I like that you can call "Jarvis" as a custom name.)  I think right now the only frustrating thing for me is figuring out commands that flow naturally when it is required to end in "On" or "Off" to run a program on the ISY.  I am happy I bought the ISY because I decided to go with it for Insteon but now I am wondering if I should have invested in CQC instead of the ELK and Portal modules on the ISY!
 
Is the Echo a native integration with CQC or a plugin of some sort or does it require some custom work?
 
Thanks!

 

[IVB]

Both. There's a native driver but Amazon requires some setup on their end to connect the skill. Also if you want to add custom non on/off, you have to do stuff like this:
 

CQCRunWithIntent play {sixties classic hits|Action} on {living room sonos|Parameters}
...

CQCSetToIntent add {two word|Value} to the {remember|Target} list
CQCSetToIntent add {these three words|Value} to {remember|Target} list
CQCSetToIntent add {these three words|Value} to the {remember|Target} list
CQCSetToIntent add {or these Four words|Value} to {remember|Target} list
...

CQCQueryIntent how much gas is in {nissan|Query}
CQCQueryIntent how much gas is in {my car|Query}
CQCQueryIntent which {zones|Query} are open
CQCQueryIntent what {zones|Query} are open
...
I could go on, but the stuff in braces are basically variables that CQC can see. Whatever you say after "Alexa, ask/tell Jarvis" needs to be in that list. There's a long list of stuff that comes with the driver, but I wanted to add things like "how much gas is in my car". Thats pretty brain dead simple and would only need to be done if you have custom commands.
 
BTW I also bought the Elk & portal modules. You need the network module to connect the ISY to CQC, and the portal was basically the same price. I put rules into:
Elk: Those rules that only need the Elk to work. Low voltage lighting for the most part.
ISY: Those rules that only need the ISY and Elk to work and are simple. zWave lighting.
CQC: Compex lighting rules (turn off lights if Elk says no motion for <x> minutes in a room, where <x> is a user-defined setting), or rules involving more than just Elk & CQC.
 
AKA, no money wasted, you'll use it all.

 

[TurboSam]

I use both Wuench's CQC Hue Simulator driver and the native CQC Echo driver that Dean pulled together.  I don't have an ISY.  
 
The Hue Simulator driver is great for lighting and other on/off type functions, bu you can get pretty creative.  For example, I have a "dummy" light called Nite Mode that, when turned on, arms the Elk to our standard Night Instant setting.  
 
As IVB noted, you can get even more creative with the native CQC driver since once Alex hears the trigger words in your config file, you trigger a CQC global command that can be as extensive as desired with if/then statements and the like.

 

[felixrosbergen]

Sounds like it time for another look at CQC, might be going full circle here. 

 

[IVB]

Make sure you follow the Echo setup instructions to a tee. Its not terribly straight forward, but once you "get it" its pretty easy to add/extend. The Amazon skills setup is the tough part, the CQC side is easy.