We’re super excited to announce that Sense now integrates with Amazon’s Alexa! Integrations, especially with Alexa, have been a highly requested feature, and we’re thrilled to begin connecting with other smart home devices.
With the Sense skill for Alexa, you can begin to connect the traditional devices in your home with your smart home. Ask Alexa about current power usage, if a device that Sense recognizes is on or off, or ask when a device was last on or off.
For example, you can say:
“Alexa, ask Sense how much power am I using”
“Alexa, ask Sense for my current power use”
“Alexa, ask Sense what my solar is producing” (if you have solar)
“Alexa, ask Sense if my dryer is done”
“Alexa, ask Sense did I leave the oven on?”
“Alexa, ask Sense if my sump pump is on”
“Alexa, ask Sense when did my garage door close”
“Alexa, ask Sense when the tv turned off”
You can add the Sense skill to your Alexa the way you would any other skill. In your Sense app’s Settings page, you’ll find a shortcut to the skill under the new ‘Connected Devices’ section. For more details on how to set up the skill, take a look at our knowledge base article on the subject.
This is great but seems like it could be easily improved. When I ask Alexa for information about Sense, I first have to say “Open Sense” and wait while I listen to an unnecessary explanation – every time. If I have a followup question or fail to properly formulate my initial question, I must go through this again. I’d like to ask Alexa what my current energy use is or whether the garage door closed as easily as I ask her what the weather forecast is.
I’m really looking forward to support for Google Home as well. I’ve owned one now for 3 months and love how intelligent the device is. It answers almost all of my long winded questions. I’ll try to be patient!
