Overview
You may have noticed that when pairing your fan/light switch to Alexa or Google Home that the child devices (ie: Fan and Light Switches) do not import over. In other words, in your SmartThings app, there are three devices (Fan & Light Switch, Fan Switch, Light Switch) -- however, only the, "Fan & Light Switch" imports over. This is due to the way SmartThings interacts with Google Home and Alexa as noted in their community:
https://community.smartthings.com/t/updates-to-google-integration/192849
This tutorial will show you a work-around using virtual switches and the Smart Lighting SmartApp.
Step 1 - Creating Virtual Switches
What we're going to do here is create two virtual switches. What they virtual switches are is exactly what they sound like -- switches that aren't real, but are virtual. These switches will be the entities that get imported into Google Home and/or Alexa and will mirror your child devices and vice versa. In other words, if you turn on/off the child device from within the app (or locally), the virtual switch will also turn on/off, and if you turn on/off the virtual switch from Alexa or Google Home, it will turn on/off your child device in ST (and locally).
Fan Virtual Switch
- Login to the IDE @ https://graph.api.smartthings.com/
- Click “My Devices”
- Click the “New Device” Button
- Name: Enter a “Name” for the device, this can be whatever you want.
- Label: Enter a “Label” for the device, this is optional and can be whatever you want.
- Zigbee ID: Leave blank
- Device Network ID: Enter a “Device Network Id” This can be anything you want. I recommend short and sweet but it cannot duplicate other device ID’s. Lets say it was a virtual switch for your living room fan lights, maybe call it LRVFL01
- Type: Select a “Type” from the dropdown, this should be, "Simulated Dimmer Switch"
- Version: Set to Published
- Location: Should be your hub location, probably “Home”
- Hub: should be your hub name.
- Group: Leave blank
- Click Create
Light Virtual Switch
Repeat the steps above for the light virtual switch. Be sure to name the Device Network ID something different.
Step 2 - Setting up the Automation
In this step, we're going to setup the automation to where if your virtual switch is on, so is your child device and vice versa. Please complete all four automations.
Smart Lighting for Fan Virtual Switch
This will allow your virtual switch to mimic what the actual fan switch does. So, if you turn on/off the virtual switch with Alexa or GH, it will turn on/off your actual switch.
- Click on the menu in your SmartThings app and click on, "SmartApps"
- Then find, "Smart Lighting" and select it
- Click on, "New Lighting Automation"
- Which devices do you want to control: Select your virtual/simulated fan switch you created above
- What do you want to do: Mirror Behavior
- Mirror which switch: Select your fan switch (the child device -- not the virtual/simulated one)
- Click Next and if you want to edit the name so you remember, feel free -- if not, no problem -- click, "Done"
Smart Lighting for Fan Child Switch
This will allow your actual child switch to mimic what the virtual/simulated fan switch does. So, if you turn on/off the normal child switch manually or with SmartThings, the correct state should show in Alexa or GH.
- Click on the menu in your SmartThings app and click on, "SmartApps"
- Then find, "Smart Lighting" and select it
- Click on, "New Lighting Automation"
- Which devices do you want to control: Select your fan switch (the child device -- not the virtual/simulated one)
- What do you want to do: Mirror Behavior
- Mirror which switch: Select your virtual/simulated fan switch
- Click Next and if you want to edit the name so you remember, feel free -- if not, no problem -- click, "Done"
Smart Lighting for Light Virtual Switch
This will allow your virtual switch to mimic what the actual light switch does. So, if you turn on/off the virtual switch with Alexa or GH, it will turn on/off your actual switch.
- Click on the menu in your SmartThings app and click on, "SmartApps"
- Then find, "Smart Lighting" and select it
- Click on, "New Lighting Automation"
- Which devices do you want to control: Select your virtual/simulated light switch you created above
- What do you want to do: Mirror Behavior
- Mirror which switch: Select your light switch (the child device -- not the virtual/simulated one)
- Click Next and if you want to edit the name so you remember, feel free -- if not, no problem -- click, "Done"
Smart Lighting for Fan Child Switch
This will allow your actual child switch to mimic what the virtual/simulated light switch does. So, if you turn on/off the normal child switch manually or with SmartThings, the correct state should show in Alexa or GH.
- Click on the menu in your SmartThings app and click on, "SmartApps"
- Then find, "Smart Lighting" and select it
- Click on, "New Lighting Automation"
- Which devices do you want to control: Select your light switch (the child device -- not the virtual/simulated one)
- What do you want to do: Mirror Behavior
- Mirror which switch: Select your virtual/simulated light switch
- Click Next and if you want to edit the name so you remember, feel free -- if not, no problem -- click, "Done"
Step 3 - Importing into Alexa or Google Home
Here we'll make sure the virtual switches show up in your Alexa or Google Home app.
Importing to Amazon Alexa
Assuming you have the SmartThings Skill enabled in your Alexa App, simply say, "Alexa, Discover my Devices" and it should show up.
Importing to Google Home
The devices should automatically sync to Google Home.