Local notification methods?
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I use my Sonos to speak "Internet access has been lost" in Jarvis' voice when Internet access fails. It tells everyone it's restored when it comes back. I also use a Z-Wave socket to power cycle the interface equipment at the 15 minutes down mark.
The only trick to that is that I've pre-TTS'd the speech to audio files, which I serve from Reactor in the
config/usermedia
directory, and the Sonos just plays the audio file from there so there's no Internet/cloud dependency to get the speech at the time it's needed. I use this mechanism for a number of other notifications as well.I also have a Zooz siren that can play a dozen or two different sounds, so, for example, I make it chirp like a car alarm whenever a garage door is open. It has a built-in phrase for water leak detection, so I use that as well.
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Kids feel a little extreme!
Hmm, that's an idea that might have legs. Would you be prepared to share the script at all?
C
@CatmanV2 My script requires Powershell, Pushover, static WAN IP or dynDNS on your router, remote access to router and preferably a static IP on the remote host running the script (to restrict router remote access to that IP). If that fits you I sure can share it.
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I use my Sonos to speak "Internet access has been lost" in Jarvis' voice when Internet access fails. It tells everyone it's restored when it comes back. I also use a Z-Wave socket to power cycle the interface equipment at the 15 minutes down mark.
The only trick to that is that I've pre-TTS'd the speech to audio files, which I serve from Reactor in the
config/usermedia
directory, and the Sonos just plays the audio file from there so there's no Internet/cloud dependency to get the speech at the time it's needed. I use this mechanism for a number of other notifications as well.I also have a Zooz siren that can play a dozen or two different sounds, so, for example, I make it chirp like a car alarm whenever a garage door is open. It has a built-in phrase for water leak detection, so I use that as well.
@toggledbits Very neat. I'm not sure if similar is possible with Alexa using HA but it gives me something to look at. Might have a look at the Zooz as well
Cheers
C
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Well the Sonos thing got me thinking. There's no apparent equivalent of local playing in Alexa, but what I do have is several Volumio devices dotted around. These have a nice little Rest API that I usually use to wake us up in the morning. Quick bit of AI Text to speech and now one of my Volumios will alert if the internet fails.
Which is nice!C
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I use my Sonos to speak "Internet access has been lost" in Jarvis' voice when Internet access fails. It tells everyone it's restored when it comes back. I also use a Z-Wave socket to power cycle the interface equipment at the 15 minutes down mark.
The only trick to that is that I've pre-TTS'd the speech to audio files, which I serve from Reactor in the
config/usermedia
directory, and the Sonos just plays the audio file from there so there's no Internet/cloud dependency to get the speech at the time it's needed. I use this mechanism for a number of other notifications as well.I also have a Zooz siren that can play a dozen or two different sounds, so, for example, I make it chirp like a car alarm whenever a garage door is open. It has a built-in phrase for water leak detection, so I use that as well.
@toggledbits using a very similar setup and works nicely!
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Sonos is an expensive way to make announcements. For those of you (us) using Raspberry Pi's, they can play audio from the 3.5mm audio jack, so I've whipped up a python-scripted MQTT client that plays a media file on request either from local storage or a URL (e.g. your LAN NAS or Reactor's user media endpoint, or anywhere your Internet access will allow). I'll publish that to Github later today for anyone interested.
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Perhaps https://a.co/d/ixBUa2M ? Can be powered from the 5V and GND pins on the Pi.
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Or this? https://www.adafruit.com/product/987
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Had a poke around. There is a service in HA that allows (it claims) Local Push Notifications to devices running the HA Helper App.
This exposes a notify method to MSR and you can hand it JSON. Lo, a notification from the HA app pops up on the phone.
So another option
Thanks for all thoughts
C
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That sounds very neat.
The biggest 'challenge' I have is that my Volumio Pis are not all connected to an amp or speakers. Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on how I might get around that?
C
@CatmanV2 back in the old days of no reliable internet at our new house, I had a raspberry connected via Bluetooth to the Alexa in the main room. I just played pre-recorded audio files and it worked very good.
Low tech solutions are the bestAlso, some echo devices have the line in. If you have something plugged in, they will play what's sent.
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Interesting. I did try that, but Volumio doesn't support it. I guess a Rasbian type would be worth looking at.
I assume the Pi connected, played then disconnected as opposed to 'hogging' the BT?
Cheers
C
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piannunciator lives!
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piannunciator lives!
@toggledbits time for a custom mqtt template
all that said, many echo devices have line in and it’s always sending out the sound. This could certainly be another low-fi option.
I have a portable ikea outdoor speaker for the pool, paired via bt with an echo and sending out line in coming from the tv. I’ll probably do something similar in the new beach house.