Alexa not working, again...

Discussions about Z-Way software and Z-Wave technology in general
micky1500
Posts: 298
Joined: 07 Feb 2016 16:29
Location: England

Re: Alexa not working, again...

Post by micky1500 »

Still 100% for me, another day has passed.
While I was waiting for the servers to come back online I upgraded to a beta.
v3.1.2-31-gb9d32ee
If that is needed to take advantage of the suspected upgrade, who knows.
Shame none of the support people can give any update !
Raspi 4 - (Buster - 32 Bit) Zwave Version 4.1.1, Raz 7 Pro, Serial API Version: 07.38
kWave
Posts: 34
Joined: 11 Dec 2016 00:02

Re: Alexa not working, again...

Post by kWave »

Good news: I found a way to control my Z-Way devices with Alexa completely locally!
No external Z-Way Server or Alexa Skill required!

node-red (a graphical programming tool for IoT devices) has an Amazon Echo module that is able to emulate a Phillips Hue bridge, which allows to connect to Alexa per UPNP via the local network.
There is also a Z-Way module for node-red which we can use to control Z-Way devices per Alexa!

In a nutshell (maybe I write a complete guide if there is interest in it, with pictures and all):

1.) Install node-red on your Raspberry Pi

2.) Install the node-red modules "node-red-contrib-amazon-echo" and "node-red-contrib-zway"

3.) Create an "Amazon Echo Hub" device with Port 8888 (or any other port above 1024).
We only need to create one hub for multiple devices.
There is a slight caveat in this step, as Alexa will only connect to the emulated Hue Bridge on Port 80, which however can only be listened on by elevated linux processes.
To come around this, we will need to use apache2 (should be pre-installed on Raspbian?) and forward Port 80 to Port 8888.
Here is a pastebin for that. (replace with your IP/Port, save as /etc/apache2/sites-available/port80.conf, then execute "sudo a2ensite port80 && sudo systemctl restart apache2")

4.) Now you can build workflows for every Z-Way device like this:
Amazon Echo Hub (only one instance needed!) -> Amazon Echo Device (with the name as how you want to call it) -> Function -> Z-Way Out
4a.) In Z-Way out, choose "Create a new z-way server" and put your servers IP in there. You might need to restart node-red if your device list does not show any devices.
Then select the device type (typically switch or brightness) accordingly.
4b) In the function module, use this for switches, and this for dimmers. These scripts convert the Hue Bridge output to something that Z-Way understands.

5.) Thats basically it! Click on Deploy, ask Alexa to search for new smart home devices, and you are all set!

As said before, if enough people are interested in this, I may create a full guide for this in the next days.
RolfKunkel
Posts: 58
Joined: 03 Jan 2017 18:35

Re: Alexa not working, again...

Post by RolfKunkel »

Am I the only one having Alexa service not working?
micky1500
Posts: 298
Joined: 07 Feb 2016 16:29
Location: England

Re: Alexa not working, again...

Post by micky1500 »

It was good for 2 weeks.
Intermittent now 5% - 50% working
I consider it as not working now too.
Raspi 4 - (Buster - 32 Bit) Zwave Version 4.1.1, Raz 7 Pro, Serial API Version: 07.38
RolfKunkel
Posts: 58
Joined: 03 Jan 2017 18:35

Re: Alexa not working, again...

Post by RolfKunkel »

For me Alexa service is still not working. More than 10 days now that 50% of the server capacity is down and no announcement what the problem is or by when this issue will be fixed. This service is not reliable since day one. This is really a mess.
kumar0raja
Posts: 1
Joined: 19 Mar 2021 13:01

Re: Alexa not working, again...

Post by kumar0raja »

I'm with you Rolf, Z-Wave.me should definitively give out a statement and tell us if they are working on the problem.
We paid license fees for Z-Way, we should be entitled to be informed about outages. sbi hrms
teatv app
Last edited by kumar0raja on 03 May 2021 18:45, edited 2 times in total.
arora2deepak
Posts: 1
Joined: 20 Apr 2021 12:08

Re: Alexa not working, again...

Post by arora2deepak »

Good to know that I'm not the only one to experience this outage.
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