Fireplace controls through the Bond app work great. I get all the individual controls for flame height, fan speed, etc. However, when I integrate with SmartThings, Alexa or Google, all I get is a simple “switch”. Is there any way to at least expose the various components (flame, fan, light, etc.) as individual devices like you do for regular fans?
I hope this isn’t the case but I only see a switch for the fireplace light and fireplace (on/off) with Echo/Alexa and the fan on my fireplace hasn’t been detected.
Personally, I despise workarounds because if find them difficult to keep track of and would prefer a “proper” solution from these developers instead. However, I think if you have a separate hub such as Hubitat Elevation (HE) someone wrote separate drivers and apps which detect your Bond Bridge and can import all of your devices. Then you can likely use the built-in Hubitat/HE Amazon Echo Integration to choose and “send” the missing Bond devices (such as my ‘fireplace fan”) back to Alexa. It will then show up under Alexa Devices and now you should be able to use their voice controls for those missing items.
This whole thing is a bit of a hack, but for now that’s all I got.
I know that for some of the assistants, Alexa and Google included, the developers are limited by what home control devices they can expose or have official hooks for by Amazon and Google respectively.
I do not have an actual fireplace to test this, but then again I run my own Google Assistant integrations through my ISY controller where I can mix and match different device names and types.
Google Assistant doesn’t appear to have fireplace and fan and light and heat controls all in one device from what I can see; however, exposing any and all of those as separate on/off switch, dimmer switch, light, and/or fan in my particular setup would be possible.
The other bad thing about voice assistant integrations is that the companies change the trigger + parameter wording requirements, and/or device categories and abilities with seemingly little to no input from users or first party system integrators.
Echos have been relatively stable when it comes to commands and there are some workarounds within the Alexa app to create customized commands that in theory shouldn’t change. I’ve been using Echos for 6 years now and it’s been pretty much the same, although admittedly I find Amazon a bit intrusive.
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