Getting Smart Life to work on PC.

[ericmark]

Looks good, and for items where a click turns it on, it works, using the bluestacks emulator, however to turn on/off landing light I need to open the icon

and once done I have two switches, works fine with phone, and with Nest Mini, however if I have not taken phone to bed with me, I want to turn on light without making a noise, so Nest Mini no really an option, and light switch only turns on centre lights very pretty but to see with want the outer lights on, and they are wireless only, no switch, so would be nice to control lights from PC as well as phone, so want smart life to work with PC.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It's not clear from your post, quite what you want to do. I have Alexa via Bluestacks on my laptop, which then allows me to set up routines and control things from the laptop. I have a couple of Amazon devices, which I can speak to to directly control the devices. I have Alexa on my Iphone which also allows direct control. SmartLife gadgets work under Alexa.

 

[ericmark]

I have bluestacks and smart life on my laptop, it takes an age to start, some functions seem to work OK, can switch on/off smart bulbs, but when I try to open up a device, to change colour etc, or select which switch with relay, then it seems to just reboot itself and go around in circles never opening the part required.

Just wondered if the is a PC version of smart life which does not need bluestacks.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I have bluestacks and smart life on my laptop, it takes an age to start, some functions seem to work OK, can switch on/off smart bulbs, but when I try to open up a device, to change colour etc, or select which switch with relay, then it seems to just reboot itself and go around in circles never opening the part required.

Just wondered if the is a PC version of smart life which does not need bluestacks.

I only used SmartLife for the initial setup of my plugs, once setup, I registered them with the Alexa app on my Iphone. I then setup Bluestacks and Alexa on a PC, but only to make it easier to set up routines. What I found was the earlier versions of Bluestacks took an age to load, but the more recent version loads much faster.

The only issues I have had, has been with Alexa loosing contact very occasionally with the plugs. Once contact is lost, it stays lost and a plug needs to be power cycled to get it back - some of my systems are slightly critical that they operate correctly, so it would be good if Alexa could somehow advise you if contact was lost.

I can therefore control everything from my PC's, Iphone, or by speaking to Alexa via Fire devices.

 

[ericmark]

What I found was the earlier versions of Bluestacks took an age to load, but the more recent version loads much faster.

That is good news, maybe all I need to do it up-grade bluestacks.

Odd my zigbee devices only seem to loose connection if they are disconnected for a long time, my energenie hub seems to need a reboot around once a month, had the relay loose connection after being sat in box for 3 months waiting for my son to fit it, but even when light bulbs turned off at switch, they seem to work OK once power switched on again.

It seems you can set notification with zigbee, some devices do register on phone if they did not work on a schedule command if switched off. And the zigbee show on app if on or off, the energenie don't except for the energy monitor of course, which was a bit of a pain when turning on the AC before coming home as not sure if on or off, I did use the energy monitor switch for that so could see if running or not, and the monitor function showed if the compressor had kicked in, i.e if room hot enough to need AC on.

I don't have Iphone or Alexa I have Samsung phones and Nest Mini's but they do near enough the same thing. Only problem is due to Colvid shut down, I had teeth out, but never got false teeth to replace them, so Nest Mini some times does not understand what I am saying, or maybe Welsh accent?

So I can ask lights to turn on and fail, my wife says same thing and they work, maybe Nest Mini's are sexist?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Odd my zigbee devices only seem to loose connection if they are disconnected for a long time, my energenie hub seems to need a reboot around once a month, had the relay loose connection after being sat in box for 3 months waiting for my son to fit it, but even when light bulbs turned off at switch, they seem to work OK once power switched on again.

Alexa just shows them as 'not available', despite all of them still remaining powered all of the time. Often it is more than one.

It seems you can set notification with zigbee, some devices do register on phone if they did not work on a schedule command if switched off. And the zigbee show on app if on or off, the energenie don't except for the energy monitor of course, which was a bit of a pain when turning on the AC before coming home as not sure if on or off, I did use the energy monitor switch for that so could see if running or not, and the monitor function showed if the compressor had kicked in, i.e if room hot enough to need AC on.

Alexa will pick up zigbee units, among the many it lists. As said above - Alexa is aware it has lost contact, but you need to load the app to become aware of that. Better would be some sort of notification or an email to advise you, rather than having to check.

 

[ericmark]

It I had BlueStacks version 4, now got version 5, however same thing,

this works fine, but this

needs opening first to select which button. shown here open on phone, and I get the start but then returns to first page, with the other one which needs opening it works but the relay just returns to start page.