Using Alexa (Dot, Echo, etc) with an Omni Pro II Panel

[je1058]

I've had an Omni Pro II for 15+ years and recently got into Alexa, putting the Alexa-enabled switches all over the house.  I wanted to bridge these two systems together, since I've got very few X10/Omni-controlled stuff left in my house, other than a security system with tons of contacts. 
 
I Googled this a while back and found an relatively inexpensive solution (around $500 or less) using a Home Seer module and plug-in.
 
Can someone point me in the right direction, possibly instructions on this and/or the link to making this integration?  I can't seem to find it.
 
Also, any pointers will be well-received.  Thanks

 

[ano]

I've had an Omni Pro II for 15+ years and recently got into Alexa, putting the Alexa-enabled switches all over the house.  I wanted to bridge these two systems together, since I've got very few X10/Omni-controlled stuff left in my house, other than a security system with tons of contacts. 
 
I Googled this a while back and found an relatively inexpensive solution (around $500 or less) using a Home Seer module and plug-in.
 
Can someone point me in the right direction, possibly instructions on this and/or the link to making this integration?  I can't seem to find it.
 
Also, any pointers will be well-received.  Thanks

The easiest way, I believe, is get Home Assistant and run it on a Raspberry Pi.  Then there is other software that runs that reads the Omni and syncs it with Home Assistant.  The final link is connect Home Assistant to Amazon.  There are ways of doing this free, but the easiest way is pay Home Assistant $5/month for cloud access, which Amazon connects to.  Once this is all running, you don't need to touch it, just make sure the Raspberry Pi has power.  So HA is free, Raspberry Pi maybe $50, and $5/month for HA cloud.  
 
Home Seer can do it, but it's more expensive.  

 

[pete_c]

Welcome to the Cocoontech forum @JE1058.
 
You can integrate the OmniPro2 panel today with paid software like Omni plugin / Homeseer and free software like OmniLinkBridge / Home Assistant.
 
Homeseer started in Windows and today runs in Windows or Linux or iOS.  The interface hasn't changed much in the last 20 years and is Windows Centric.
 
Home Assistant runs in Linux, Windows or iOS.  It is mainly Python based.  You can installed HASSIO (an HA OS) on an RPi via a downloaded image and manage it all without any command line stuff.
 
The above two will let you integrate Amazon Alexa Devices, WiFi (cloud) and the OmniPro 2 panel. 
 
You can tell Alexa to turn on or turn off your OmniPro 2 panel light switches.
 
That said their is no integration with WiFi cloud connected switches (the ones you managed with Alexa today) and the OmniPro 2 panel.
 
Here my OmniPro 2 panel has UPB, X10, Zigbee and ZWave Pim's connected to the OmniPro 2 panel. 
 
My in wall light switches are all UPB which works fine.
 
You can utilize UPB, X10, Zigbee and or ZWave switches with your OmniPro 2 panel and control them from Alexa via the software mentioned above.

 

[ano]

I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer. So I use the OmniBridge, to Home Assistant to Amazon/Alexa
 
Works with one problem.  I have many Auxiliary zones on the Omni, which are just non-alarm zones. Used for things like my front gate.  When these get to Home Assistant these are seen as binary sensors, not alarm sensors.  Amazon also sees them the same way. So I can see these under Amazon devices, but I can't use them in routines. How do I make these Auxiliary zones usable in Amazon routines?  Thanks.

 

[heffneil]

I don't know the answer to this.  I just got home assistant working and I really like it.  I did buy Homeseer but I think the community is larger and options more prevalent with Home Assistant.  Runs really well - so far on the Raspi.
 
I want to get Amazon working because my crap HA-Bridge just doesn't work BUT I don't want to subscribe to the Home Assistants cloud option. There is a Dr Zzzz video about it and I am going to try today to see if I can make it work!
 
Neil

 

[pete_c]

I am running both HA and Homeseer on a micro Intel PC here.

The Homeseer Omni plugin runs fine and is easy to configure.
 
For the Amazon Alexa Media player you do not need to subscribe to the cloud.  
 
For Homeseer included Alexa to devices integration you can do that for free with a Homeseer License using the Homeseer cloud.

The micro Intel computer I purchased is a Beelink BT3 with a Gb, WiFi and Bluetooth built in, 4Gb of RAM and a 64Gb eMMC.

It came with Windows 10. I am using it to run 64 bit Ubuntu. I have had no issues installing HA (or now HASSIO) and the OmniLinkBridge on it.

 

[Allan]

Running on Rasberry Pi was giving errors...