I recently had to research about how to get Alexa to run routines based on temperature and the results were not so great.

There are many reasons one might want to have routines based on temperature. These could be to counter heat waves / summer heat or to get some heat during cold nights of winter. In Mauritius, it is becoming quite the standard to have air conditioner(s) in every house for those who can afford it.

I recently had to replace an AC in the kids room and wanted to buy something smart but not too expensive and found the Gree Pular series with WiFi and Alexa capabilities. No more needs to be said.

It is quite good actually, being able to ask Alexa to turn on/off the AC, set the desired temperature or turn on heat or cold. Then came winter and I needed a way to automate the heating so the kids could stay warm at night. It gets pretty cold!

How to get the AC to turn on the heat automatically when the temperature drops?

I tested this with an Alexa 4th generation Echo and a Philips Hue Motion Sensor. (Yes, the Hue motion sensor has inbuilt temperature.) There are some catches though. You can’t query Alexa about the temperature on it – I haven’t been able to do so until now. The only way to see the temperature is through Apple Homekit or Home App.

To setup the routine, go to your Alexa app

• Select routines from the menu
• Enter a name for the routine.
• Under When this happens, select Smart Home
• Find your Echo device that has an inbuilt temperature sensor. Mine is the Echo 4th Gen
• Then you will get the option of selecting what type of routine you want, either above or below certain temperature, adjust with the slider and click on save
• Then under action, set the smart device you want it to control and what actions you want done.
• Don’t forget to set a time for it as well.

A few things you should know.

I have had a tough time getting the routine to kick in. It seems that it always needs some kind of motion to trigger it. Once triggered it works fine.

I had to find another solution as this method is unreliable.

The real deal!

I went on to research more and didn’t getting much results as there are limitations with what can be done with temperature routines. Then I found Sonoff Temperature Sensor. The SNZB-02 is a ZigBee device that works with Sonoff Bridge (I don’t have a Sonoff Bridge). My Echo 4th generation has an inbuilt ZigBee hub and I wanted to use it.

I thought I would give it a try and I am glad I did. This thing works great. It is a very small device that you just stick and forget.

How to setup the Sonoff SNZB-02

Follow instructions on how to setup and power on from the package, but do not link it to you ewelink account. This is important.

• Put the device in pairing mode and ask Alexa to find new devices. Note that you need an Alexa device that has built-in hub compatible with ZigBee.
• Once device is found, rename it.
• Go to all devices and find the sensor and click on it, you should now see the temperature and an option to create a routine.

• The steps are the same as the Hue sensor but this time no motion will be required to trigger it.

Limitation!

While this works great, there is one thing that I believe Alexa is not able to handle. Let’s say you have the routine set to turn on heat when the temperature is below 24 degrees during specific hours. If that hour comes and the temperature is already below 24 degrees, the routine will not trigger as the conditions have not been met.

I believe Alexa expects the temperature to decrease from 24+ to 23.9 or something else. I do hope that they get this fixed or if a workaround is available do let me know.

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For me smart homes means automating small things that we normally do, like switching on/off the lights, checking the time, have some electrical plug on a timers or lights on a timer. Anything you can automate can be called smart. My idea of a smart home is definitely without any remote controls – Smart Home means voice control or programmable devices for me. This might seem expensive if you think of all those ads you’ve seen for Legrand or Siemens automation, well here I am talking about simpler stuff, non-expensive ideas that greatly help. By the way I am a huge fan of Alexa.

Let’s start small – Automating light switches

The basic idea here is that you want to automate your lights. But again not with remotes, a phone or an app maybe or voice control through Amazon Alexa Echo Dot. Let’s be clear here it works in Mauritius – I am using it.

How can this be done?

What you need is a small gadget manufactured by Sonoff, the Basic R3. This is available in Mauritius or you can order from Amazon/Alibaba/AliExpress or itead.cc (Manufacturer). I have been using this for the past 3 years. The only thing that has stopped working is a light on the device. As you can see, I have numerous times painted or tried to paint over it. This is the V2 version.

Connecting this is very simple, a little bit of electrical knowledge is required. However, be sure to disconnect the mains before working on anything electrical as a general rule. I like to generally have all my gadgets installed after the existing switch. You can absolutely replace your existing switch but I like the idea of having safeguards.

To connect this you would need to find the live and neutral wires of your electrical light and connect it to the input and output of the Sonoff Basic.

The live and neutral wires exiting your existing switch will connect to the input and other end will go to the output. After connection, restore your mains and you will find a black button on the Sonoff Basic, push that to make sure that your lights turn on and off and to ensure that it works

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Next, you need to download and install the eWelink app and follow pairing instructions to get it working. Note that it only supports 2.4GHz WiFi and will not connect to 5GHz WiFi. Although it will connect to routers or access points with both channels available, I have noted that you cannot update the Firmware on those.

The Cool Stuff

Now that you are all setup, you can use the app to turn on or off your electrical lights. I may have not mentioned, this will work with almost anything for on/off function, be sure not to exceed the rated amps.

This is how it looks on the app.

What can you do with the app:

You can set timers, schedules for it to go on/off automatically or set a loop. It’s a quite a good app. Another feature which is great is that you can share the device with another person and they will see it in their app.

Taking it to another level

You surely have noticed that I mentioned that I do not like the idea of remotes or apps. Enter Alexa!

Once your eWelink account is added to the Alexa Skill, new awesome doors open. You can now voice control it. From any of the Alexa devices I have – I just need to say Alexa turn on the Garage or Alexa turn off the kitchen and Voila. Laziness Assured!!

One feature that I love is Geofencing – Geo what now! Geofencing is the ability of Alexa to detect when you are near your house and switch on the lights between a certain time period. Isn’t that cool. This allows me to come home at night and always have a lit garage and pathway. This is configured through Alexa Routines. Example below.

Unfortunately, we need to stop here for now but wait for next article on how my lights are automated – PS, it’s not with Sonoff.

Do reach out if you need any clarifications on this.

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