amazon alexa without myhs

[EmilySmith1]

Hi guys
Is there any way to connect amazon Alexa without MYHS account.

Thanks
Emily

[integlikewhoa]

I know the HA-Bridge works and has worked since before HS had alexa integration, but that doesn't use the built in homeseer alexa profile. Not sure what your looking for. Here is some info.

https://github.com/bwssytems/ha-bridge

https://forums.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=185750

[Kerat]

amazon alexa without myhs

I have been thinking of doing something like this.

I believe that the flow of information would look like:
Echo > AWS > skill > your IOT system

Instead of:
Echo > AWS > skill > myhs > your IOT system

Remember that there is a discover devices process which is likely a query against your HS3 environment for all devices that have the voice command setting enabled (home - select device - configuration). This indicates that the path of travel for information is Bi-directional.

To the best of my understanding, We would each have to build our own skill and publish it. AWS would need to reach our skill host server, that supports the skill, from the public Internet. AWS requires that communication to be encrypted and established on port 443.

To host the skill service at home I suspect it would require:
1. A custom domain name.
2. a public DNS record that resolves to your public IP.
3. Tcp port 443 open on the firewall/router that NATs to the internal skill host server.
4. Some type of host applet like node on the skill host server.
4. an ssl certificate.
5. A service that supports HTTPS inbound connections and can use the SSL certificate.

Then we have to figure out how to have the skill pass information to the instance of HS3. I don't know if it requires that info to be passed securely or if we could programmatically pass JSON scripts like using homebridge.

I suspect that HST opted to use myhs because AWS forces the connection to the skill to be an encrypted connection on port 443 (which I agree with). Additionally, there are some problems with making the HS3 management interface publicly accessible on the Internet for the skill to connect directly to each of our HS3 server instances. Examples of this are:
1. End user ability to open a port and NAT it to their HS3 server
2. No native HTTPS Support in HS3. Connections to the management interface are unencrypted. Authentication credentials could be compromised if the management interface was made publicly accessible and a user connected to the interface through the public Internet because the username and password would be passed as clear text.
A. You would then need a proxy to support HTTPS connections to the HS3 management interface from the public Internet. Again the ability level of the average user may not be high enough to be able to do this on their own.
3. End users would need to understand how to procure domains and ssl certificates, as well as how to setup public DNS DDNS/A+ and CNAME records to point to their public IP address.


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[integlikewhoa]

The Ha-Bridge is all local besides amazon.

Echo > AWS > Bridge > Http local IP to HS3

So besides the Alexa/AWS nothing is in the cloud.

The Bridge is a HUE Hub Emulator. Its a java program and needs to ran on some hardware. It can be Linux or windows and can be the same as your running HS3 on or separate.

After running the java setup came be done with a web UI of the bridge and you can set custom names for your devices or events.

I also use this for my harmony remotes to control devices in HS3 from the remote.

[waynehead99]

The Ha-Bridge is all local besides amazon.

Echo > AWS > Bridge > Http local IP to HS3

So besides the Alexa/AWS nothing is in the cloud.

The Bridge is a HUE Hub Emulator. Its a java program and needs to ran on some hardware. It can be Linux or windows and can be the same as your running HS3 on or separate.

After running the java setup came be done with a web UI of the bridge and you can set custom names for your devices or events.

I also use this for my harmony remotes to control devices in HS3 from the remote.

Jim, can this run on a Pi?

[Kerat]

The Ha-Bridge is all local besides amazon.



Echo > AWS > Bridge > Http local IP to HS3



So besides the Alexa/AWS nothing is in the cloud.



The Bridge is a HUE Hub Emulator. Its a java program and needs to ran on some hardware. It can be Linux or windows and can be the same as your running HS3 on or separate.



After running the java setup came be done with a web UI of the bridge and you can set custom names for your devices or events.



I also use this for my harmony remotes to control devices in HS3 from the remote.

This looks interesting, is there already a skill to connect this directly to our local instance of ha-bridge?


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[integlikewhoa]

Jim, can this run on a Pi?

Of course. I used to run mine on a PI when I had VERA. Now I run it on the same windows Box that runs HS3. Both work fine.

[waynehead99]

Thanks. I think this will take up my weekend

Vera.... that 4 letter word

[integlikewhoa]

This looks interesting, is there already a skill to connect this directly to our local instance of ha-bridge?

I could be wrong on your term skill but I would say YES.

Alexa plays well with HUE. This is a virtual HUE hub. So you tell alexa to "discover" she finds the "home control" devices on your network as she see's all the devices you created in the web UI of this Fake/virtual HUE HUB. She sees and responds to them as if they were a HUE device. But instead of them being an actual HUE device you have assigned a http on/dim/off command. So when you say turn on a light it runs the on http you have chosen. With JSON control of HS3 you can run an event or turn on a light with that command. When you tell is to dim to 25% it runs the http JSON for dim adding in the variable for the percent number you have spoke.

This also works well for Harmony remotes that also play nice with HUE but not with HS3. So I take my harmony remote and tell it I want to add a hue device and it discovers all my virtual devices and then I can assign a remote button to turn on and off the light I choose.

So anything that plays well with HUE should see this.

There is alot more into this then I'm explaining. Please read the github, the threads already on this forum, and the VERA forum (where this started years ago) has a 160+ page thread on this. But this has evolved and the bridge version is constantly updated with new features and fixes. The GitHub is the main place to stay updated on that and download the lastest version.

[Kerat]

That sounds sweet. Also this solution could cut out a lot of the leg work of having to build a skill.


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[EmilySmith1]

Thanks Kerat & integlikewhoa
I will try bridge and let you know if it works

[integlikewhoa]

I will try bridge and let you know if it works

Alright, but I know it works I been using it years and still using it as we speak. Let me know if you need any help with it.

I have ran it on linux but I'm not so great with linux and it was hard for me to setup auto run on boot and such.

Windows I run it on now is super easy to run a .jar file.

[DevinH]

To host the skill service at home I suspect it would require:
1. A custom domain name.
2. a public DNS record that resolves to your public IP.
3. Tcp port 443 open on the firewall/router that NATs to the internal skill host server.
4. Some type of host applet like node on the skill host server.
4. an ssl certificate.
5. A service that supports HTTPS inbound connections and can use the SSL certificate.

You don't really need any of that, you just host the skill as an AWS Lamba function and utilize LWA (Login with Amazon) to connect the skill to your account.

Now, if you wanted to make use of the new security camera feature of the Echo Show, then you do need a domain (or dns management service) along with SSL. But for all other devices, you don't need anything as long as you're hosting it all on AWS services (which is free, up to something like 1 million calls per month).

I'll be playing around with adding the security camera features to my custom skill soon.

[Kerat]

You don't really need any of that, you just host the skill as an AWS Lamba function and utilize LWA (Login with Amazon) to connect the skill to your account.



Now, if you wanted to make use of the new security camera feature of the Echo Show, then you do need a domain (or dns management service) along with SSL. But for all other devices, you don't need anything as long as you're hosting it all on AWS services (which is free, up to something like 1 million calls per month).



I'll be playing around with adding the security camera features to my custom skill soon.

Ok, cool. how do you get the skill hosted on lamba to communicate with the local instance of HS3?


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[DevinH]

Ok, cool. how do you get the skill hosted on lamba to communicate with the local instance of HS3?


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HS3 JSON API.

https://connected.homeseer.com/JSON/?user=[user]&pass=[pass]&request=controldevicebyvalue&ref=4&value=255

Which turns on a non-dimmable switch. The user/pass is what links to your instance of HS3. The ref is the same value as the device's ref in the HS3 page.

Basically, you have a function that returns all the devices you want discoverable, making sure you pass in the correct ref for each device, so you can use that when piecing together the JSON URL to be called.