Controlling my lights with G-Home

[maskedcarrot]

So I want to start off by controlling my Bedroom lights.

I don't want the connected light bulbs. I'm content with my old fashion old school light bulbs. What I want is the unit you plug into your wall power outlet, and then plug my lights into that. That way when I tell Google Home to turn on/off my lights, the box plugged into the wall just either turns on the power or turns it off.

I saw the Samsung Smartthings, but not sure which one to get. Does anyone have advice on which unit I can use to accomplish what I want?

Thanks.

 

[djlee0314]

I recently did just what you're talking about for my living room. Picked up a WEMO switch for $25. Doesn't integrate directly with Home but you just setup a simple IFTTT recipe. Works perfectly.

 

[maskedcarrot]

What about the Samsung Smart Things? They are directly supported. I saw a few things which look like something you plug into your wall outlet to control power on things. I am just curious to which one would work best.

 

[Maknora]

i have philips hue but it seems when I say 'OK Google turn my dining room lights on' it doesn't understand. but when I say 'OK Google turn on my dining room' it does. isn't Google supposed to be smart enough to understand both requests? anyone else have this issue?

 

[Jaycemiskel]

i have philips hue but it seems when I say 'OK Google turn my dining room lights on' it doesn't understand. but when I say 'OK Google turn on my dining room' it does. isn't Google supposed to be smart enough to understand both requests? anyone else have this issue?

I have a similar issue with my Nest. If you don't say it the right way, it doesn't understand. Maybe they're still working on it being able to just understand.

As for the OP, if that's all you want to do, I'd probably go for the WEMO switches. If you want to automate more stuff, then yeah, go through smartthings.

 

[djlee0314]

i have philips hue but it seems when I say 'OK Google turn my dining room lights on' it doesn't understand. but when I say 'OK Google turn on my dining room' it does. isn't Google supposed to be smart enough to understand both requests? anyone else have this issue?

What do you have those Hue lights named as? "Dining Room" or "dining room lights"? I've heard that you want to name your lights/groups/etc. very specific so if you have them named just "dining room" that could be the issue.

 

[shadoweave]

i have philips hue but it seems when I say 'OK Google turn my dining room lights on' it doesn't understand. but when I say 'OK Google turn on my dining room' it does. isn't Google supposed to be smart enough to understand both requests? anyone else have this issue?

My whole how to set up with the Phillips hue lights. I'm able to say it both ways. Are you speaking at a normal pace, or like a robot? The reason I ask is what my mother tries to do it she over articulate in posit between each word and Google home doesn't really like it that much. If you speak in a normal speaking pace and articulate well but not over articulate everything seems to work perfectly.

"hey Google turn off <room name here> lights"
Or
"hey Google turn my <room name here> lights on"

All of this works fine without issue.

With IFTTT integration I can say;

"hey Google turn <room name here> lights <color>"

 

[Maknora]

My whole how to set up with the Phillips hue lights. I'm able to say it both ways. Are you speaking at a normal pace, or like a robot? The reason I ask is what my mother tries to do it she over articulate in posit between each word and Google home doesn't really like it that much. If you speak in a normal speaking pace and articulate well but not over articulate everything seems to work perfectly.

"hey Google turn off lights"
Or
"hey Google turn my lights on"

All of this works fine without issue.

With IFTTT integration I can say;

"hey Google turn lights "

I say it a hundred ways yet if I include the words 'light' it doesn't work. I checked my group name in the Home app and it just says Dining room (I didn't give the actual light bulbs names, I only added them to the existing 'dining room' group). maybe that's why Im not allowed to say the word 'light' and can only say 'OK Google turn on dining room' which sounds kind of awkward.

 

[shadoweave]

I say it a hundred ways yet if I include the words 'light' it doesn't work. I checked my group name in the Home app and it just says Dining room (I didn't give the actual light bulbs names, I only added them to the existing 'dining room' group). maybe that's why Im not allowed to say the word 'light' and can only say 'OK Google turn on dining room' which sounds kind of awkward.

That is weird. See if there's an applet in IFTTT. IFTTT is one of the few services that is registered to work with Google home so far

 

[ColombianPolo]

just throwing it out there on the topic of home automation...i happen to own an Almond Plus router, which comes with home automation built-in. it came with a Peanut Plug (zigbee-based plug). the Almond plus also links up with IFTTT. i created 2 "scenes", Plug On and Plug Off. using IFTTT i was able to create the phrase "turn on my christmas tree" and pointed to my almond (via IFTTT) and active the "on" scene. created another phrase for turning it off.

 

[Matt Behnken]

I use smart things with g home and it's flawless. I purchased zwave dimmers and outlets and switches to control my lights and lamps.