german alexa and colors

Started by justme1968

justme1968

i have just connected my aurora with alexa and can switch it on and off. but changing colors does not work. alexa just says it is not supported.

please implement color changing also for german as it is supported by amazon for quite a few weeks now.

gibsop1

@justme1968 - If you're up for writing your own Alexa Skill and a bit of code, I can share with you what I've got working for me in the UK, I assume if you set the skill language to German it'll work fine.

I have it so I can say "Alexa, make the lounge colour", eg "alexa make the lounge sea green" or "alexa make the lounge white"

Requires an alexa skill and a small bit of code on a webserver on your home network.

justme1968

@gibsop1: thanks.

i have alread done that :)

i have written a nanoleaf module for fhem (the home automation system i use) and an alexa skill to integrate fhem (with all other available modules) with alexa.

gibsop1

@justme1968 Good work. It's a shame Nanoleaf doesn't support setting the colour from Alexa when their product is a colour changing light. Somewhat of a major gap.

justme1968

@gibsop1: yes. also staying their staying with the old api version does not allow proper use of alexa groups and the new room based light commands. which is at least as important for me.

it is just great to say ‘alexa, switch on the lights’ without having to say the room you are in.

justme1968

@gibsop1: another yes. i think an open api is absolutely essential for such an product. when phillips came out with the hue system the api allowed me to integrate it with fhem and now there are more than 1000 users with nearly 10000 lights using it. even if this is a small number compared to all other sales: all user of all open implementations combined gave them a huge boost in the beginning. it really opens up so much possibilities.

in contrast logitech with the harmony remotes is an example of exactly the opposite. the fhem module i have done for this had to be reverse engendered as their is no open api. and despite it being the most powerful harmony integration into an home automation a system that i know of (it does things that not even logitech’s own apps allow, even workarounds for bugs in their software) it lacks many features that would be possible with a documented api. but logitech does not even respond to their official contact form if there is not a big company behind a request.

sorry for getting somewhat off topic but having an open api is really important.

thank you nanoleaf.!

gibsop1

I totally agree. It's one of the main reasons I've not got a Harmony here. For light switches etc I use SonOff gear which is so cheap it's practically free, but until recently they had no API and you either had to flash custom firmware or make do with their app. They've now at least got IFTTT which is a great step, but a local API would be nicer.

Nathan

Hey guys, color control should be working, so let me know if its not for you. As for v3, we are working on the migration. It should be ready soon.