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Thread: What are you using the Alexa integration for?

  1. #1
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    What are you using the Alexa integration for?

    I’ve gone all in with the Amazon Echo ecosystem at my house and I was quite happy to when Apex integrated with the Echo. I’ve enabled it and I’ve been slowly enabling a few functions. Here are a few of my favorites...

    I can ask alexa what the tank temperature, salinity or pH is. Setting up an alias for each input allows you to ask about it individually without having to go through the whole status report.

    I love being able to log test results with Alexa. It’s much easier to just speak the result than trying to log into fusion on my phone and manually input the result. Especially when my hands are wet.

    I’ve also got a few outputs enabled. I can ask alexa to “turn on photo mode” which switches the spectrum of the tank lights for better pictures. I can also have her turn the skimmer off for maintenance. The only drawback here is that I need remember to say “Set the Skimmer to Auto” instead of “Turn the skimmer On” when I’m ready to turn the skimmer back on. I’m a bit afraid that I might forget to say auto and that could cause the skimmer to keep running when it should have been automatically turned off.

    And finally I have my Apex configured to automatically refill my NSW reservoir for my auto water change when it runs low. It also disables the auto water change at this time so it won’t be adding fresh water to the tank. When the reservoir is full the Apex sends me an alert telling me to add salt to the water. Once I add the salt I can now tell Alexa to “start the auto water change” and the apex will turn it back on. I needed to use a feed timer for this so that nothing gets stuck “ON” and the apex will be able to turn it off again the next time the reservoir runs low.

    What are you using the Alexa integration for? Any other cool ideas out there?

  2. #2
    Alexa Guru Joe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BrettS View Post
    The only drawback here is that I need remember to say “Set the Skimmer to Auto” instead of “Turn the skimmer On” when I’m ready to turn the skimmer back on. I’m a bit afraid that I might forget to say auto and that could cause the skimmer to keep running when it should have been automatically turned off.
    We've created the "restart" command for this purpose exactly. If your skimmer is set to Manual-OFF, you can issue the command "Alexa, ask Apex Fusion to restart the skimmer" and the outlet will first toggle to ON, and then to AUTO. This will bypass any DEFER statements in your outlet and start the skimmer right up as if it had been on AUTO the entire time.

    It's awesome to hear that you're finding the Alexa skill useful!

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Joe View Post
    We've created the "restart" command for this purpose exactly. If your skimmer is set to Manual-OFF, you can issue the command "Alexa, ask Apex Fusion to restart the skimmer" and the outlet will first toggle to ON, and then to AUTO. This will bypass any DEFER statements in your outlet and start the skimmer right up as if it had been on AUTO the entire time.

    It's awesome to hear that you're finding the Alexa skill useful!
    That’s a great idea and exactly what I needed

    On a side note, it might be nice to be able to lock out the ability to turn an outlet to “ON” by voice just to avoid accidentally turning something on instead auto mode. I use Alexa for a lot of home automation and I’m still a little afraid that I might ask Alexa to turn the skimmer on out of force of habit when I’m not paying attention.

    Certainly there are some cases where setting an outlet to on can be helpful (like my photo mode outlet), but there are also some where setting it on could cause a flood (like my skimmer). I’m just imagining a checkbox in the voice control alias setup screen for each outlet that would allow or disallow the ability to turn it on via voice control.

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