Thank you for complimenting all of us here as âsuper users.â With the case of Iro2 and Alexa, for me youâre being too kind. I have two âAlexasâ in my smart home - one in the kitchen and one in the master bath. None âtalkâ to my Iro2 yet.
My family uses the Alexa units a lot. So far the most used uses are:
âAlexa, put on shopping list âŚâ and then itâs all consolidated and ready for display on a smart phone at the grocery store.
âAlexa, set timer for ⌠minutesâ while cooking in the kitchen.
âAlexa, play ⌠musicâ (we have our Alexa units connected to Bluetooth speakers - sounds nice)
âAlexa, whatâs the temperature outsideâ
If I look at my routerâs list of IP addresses, my smart home has networked lighting, HVAC (including thermostats & fault detection), sprinkler control (obviously), gas hot waters, fire/CO/NG sensor monitoring, security monitoring, temperature monitoring, and various data logging. (Separate, not integrated systems include the solar panels and the swimming pool equipment control system.)
One of the things Iâve learned is that I donât need repetition built into an Alexa. I donât need it to duplicate thermostat functions, sprinkler control functions, etc. There are lots of safety safeguards and complexities built in to things like tstats and sprinkler controllers such that it doesnât make sense to duplicate them in something like Alexa.
You might say it would be nice to use Alexa for things like lighting control, setting thermostats, etc., and I agree, but, often the technology at the moment is such that another âblack boxâ must be purchased/installed/programmed/maintained - adding another level of complexity that I have learned over time causes tediousness.
An example is my homeâs real time monitoring & automation system (HAI/Leviton OmniPro2 processor), that does the lights/fire/security/temps/audio-announcing/fault-detecting/etc. Itâs network connected. So is Alexa. But the two canât âtalkâ to each other without purchase and programming of a network-connected black box (Homeseer) or a small PC running 7x24.
My hope is for an integration of the Iro2 (network connected) to Alexa (network connected) such that your âserver in the cloudâ does all of the integration work. Itâs doubtful Iâll ever purchase a 3rd device to integrate the two.
If I could âtalkâ to my Iro2 via Alexa:
âAlexa, pause Rachio for ⌠minutesâ
âAlexa, turn on Rachio zone 10 (swimming pool for me) for 20 minutesâ
âAlexa, turn off Rachio for ⌠daysâ
âAlexa, disable Rachio zone âŚâ
âAlexa, enable Rachio zone âŚâ
âAlexa, cycle through every zone ⌠minutes eachâ
âAlexa, set freeze protection to ⌠degreesâ
etc.
IMO, I would leave all of the complicated Flex Daily parameters, schedule details, configuration settings, etc. alone, in the computer/smart-pad/smart-phone interfaces.
It would be nice to do the kinds of things above while remote from the residence.
Hope this helps. Pretty much just thoughts that came to my mind for a few moments while typing.
Best regards,
Bill