Now that Amazon is no longer going to support IFFT with Alexa, is there some alternative method to turn cameras on and off with Alexa that someone has come up with?
I just posted about this myself. I have always used third party smart plugs to do that. Unfortunate that I have to do this but it works great.
How does that work? I have third party smart plugs, but if you powered one on that a Wyze cam was plugged into, how does that turn the camera on?
Never mind, saw your post 
But I don’t think that would work for me, I turn cameras on and off with Alexa while I’m home, I don’t think the smart plug would work for that.
Why wouldn’t that work? I just leave the cameras on and let the smart plugs manage the power to them. They’re very resilient to having the power cut to them. You could probably use the Wyze plugs too. Anything that you can use Alexa to turn on/off. I bought mine before they had Wyze plugs I think, which is why I have third party.
The third party app I use has scenes so I set up two: turn cameras off (all camera plugs off), turn cameras on (all camera plugs on). This gets picked up by Alexa so you can use those in routines. For example, when I say “Alexa, I’m leaving” it’ll do a bunch of stuff including running the “turn cameras on” scene. The cameras only take a minute or two to boot up. This has been 100% reliable for me for years.
I actually do use Smart Plugs for this exact purpose. BUT… I don’t have my cams plugged into the Wyze Smart Plugs I use for this.
I have about a dozen Wyze Smart Plugs that aren’t powering anything. They are just plugged into the wall. I have one plug designated for each set of cams I need to control.
For example, I have a Wyze Plug designated “Garage Cams Plug”. I tell Alexa, “Turn Off the Garage Cams Plug”. Then, I have a Wyze Trigger Rule: When Garage Cams Plug Turns Off, Power off Cam A, Cam B, and Cam C. Another Wyze Rule does the opposite when the “Garage Cams Plug” is turned back on.
Using the plugs this way, I can use Alexa to execute any Action available within the Wyze Rules Engine for any device.
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Whoa! I didn’t know you could do that. That’s awesome.
Yeah. When I first started to try and integrate my Wyze devices in Alexa Routines to control my Wyze HMS Security System and Thermostat by Alexa Voice Command, I found that there were so many Triggers and Actions missing in Alexa for all my Wyze devices that it was next to impossible to get fully integrated Home Automation. Then I realized that one of the simplest devices that has both On\Off Triggers and Actions in both is the plug. So, thru use of the plugs, I have Alexa Routines triggering Wyze Rules and Wyze Rules triggering Alexa Routines. It is a great Relay Bridge Device. I have even complicated it more by having those Wyze Rules trigger an upload on one of my 27 cams, the Push Notification I get triggers a Macro script on my phone (Android MacroDroid App) and sends a Virtual Smart Button Webhook Push to Alexa that triggers a positive or negative feedback confirmation thru another Alexa Routine.
I was pondering doing the same thing last night but with bulbs. But I wouldn’t have to buy a bunch of lamps if I used the plugs Thanks!
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Yes. Bulbs would work too since they also have the universal on\off in both. I thought of that too but didn’t want a whole bunch of lights going on and off all the time.