The Genius Hub Smart Home skill allows you to interact with your Genius Hub system through Amazon Alexa.
The skill is currently in beta test - you must be a beta tester in order to access it. For information about being a beta tester, see here.
As a beta tester, you will have received instructions on how to access the skill for your Amazon Alexa account. Once you have access, please do the following to enable the skill.
Enable the skill
- Log in to the Alexa app on your phone / tablet, or https://alexa.amazon.co.uk/spa/index.html#smart-home in a web browser (Note: you may have to click on the link twice, once to prompt you to log into your Alexa account and second to enable the beta evaluation)
- Go to ‘Skills’ (web) or ‘Skills & Games’ (app)
- Go to ‘Your Skills’
- Go to ‘Dev Skills’ (web) or change the Enabled dropdown to ‘Dev’ (app)
- Choose ‘Genius Hub Smart Home’
- Enable the skill - this will take you to a page to enter your Hub credentials
- You should then be prompted to ‘Discover Devices’, do this to see each of your zones as a controllable device.
How Alexa represents your Genius Hub
Alexa supports 'devices' like 'Thermostats' and 'Lights' / 'Switches'. Your Hub consists of zones. Different zones will be represented differently in the Alexa app, depending on their type:
- Radiator / Underfloor zones from the Hub → Thermostats in Alexa app
- On Off zones in the hub → Switches in Alexa app (but note that you can edit the device and change it's type to 'Light' if you wish)
"Utterances" Supported
The Genius Hub Smart Home skill allows you to say things like:
- turn on/off the Electric Blanket
- set the Living Room to 21 degrees
- set the Living Room to 21 degrees for 2 hours and 30 minutes
- what temperature is the Living Room
- what is the Living Room set to?
- what temperature is it in here? (if a group is set up that contains the Alexa device and the Thermostat)
- set the temperature to 21 degrees (if a group is set up that contains the Alexa device and the Thermostat)
- set the temperature to 21 degrees for Y [hours / minutes] (if a group is set up that contains the Alexa device and the Thermostat)
- make it warmer in Living Room
- make it cooler in Living Room
- make it warmer in here
- make it cooler in here
- set Living Room thermostat to off (sets the zone to Off mode)
- set Living Room thermostat to heat (sets the zone to override mode - duration and temperature are set on the Settings page for the zone in the Genius Hub app)
- set Living Room thermostat to automatic (sets the zone to Timer mode)
- resume Living Room schedule (cancels override)
Please note: it is quite unlikely that changes to the way the above utterances work (or the types of utterances allowed) will be possible to implement. Please do give us your feedback, but bear in mind that there are certain constraints in how Genius Hub and Alexa talk to each other.