Wyze Thermostat State Automation Using Alexa Voice Commands

Tips & Tricks
,
1

If you have a Wyze Thermostat, you probably already know that Alexa has yet to learn how to fully control the Wyze Thermostat. Tell her to change the thermostat state to Away, and she will tell you “I don’t know how to set Wyze Thermostat to that setting”. In fact, about the only thing she can do is to set the thermostat to a specific temp setpoint, especially when using routine actions. If you are in Auto mode when she does this, chances are the Heat To and the Cool To temps will both be changed to the exact same setpoint. But she does know how to change the Mode, which is what will happen if you tell her “Set cool to 74”… she switches it out of auto into cool and resets the temp.

EDIT: The voice commands are available but not the pre-set routine actions. @spamoni posted the Alexa Voice Command List for the Thermostat below. Check it out. :point_down:

I wanted a way to get away from rigid schedules in the thermostat because my Home and Away time vary drastically from day to day without notice. I didn’t want to be constantly thumbing the app, fighting with an automatic schedule and placing it in hold. I also didn’t want to use GPS Geofencing for a couple different reasons. I wanted to be able to use Alexa to do this when I left, when I cam home, or when I went to bed, and didn’t want to have to fuss with it otherwise.

I already have four routines with various lighting, security, music, etc., tasks built in for Alexa: “I’m Up”, “I’m Leaving”, “I’m Home”, and “Bedtime”. I wanted Alexa to be able to change the state of the Thermostat when executing those routines so that it used my preset temp preferences in the thermostat rather than the schedule. Unfortunately, Alexa doesn’t know how to do that.

I got around this by using 3 Wyze Plugs. I bought the 4 pack on Amazon Prime because I wanted it shipped and received before next year and I wanted the ease of immediate no hassle returns.

Those 3 plugs are now named Home, Away, and Sleep. The plugs can easily be turned on and off by Alexa in routines and in voice commands. I loaded each plug into my routines to turn on when I say the Alexa routine command phrase. I then created 3 rules in Wyze using each plug’s “On” state as a trigger to change the Thermostat state to Home, Away, or Sleep corresponding to each plug. I added a second rule for each plug to turn off the after 1 minute. I don’t plug anything into them, they are simply being used as “Relay Translators” between Alexa and the Thermostat since Alexa can control the the plugs and the plugs can control the thermostat state.

Now, I can control the state of my Thermostat using my programmed temp preferences just by talking to Alexa. When I am away from home longer than I expected, my HVAC doesn’t heat or cool unnecessarily unless a safety temp is breached.

As an added bonus, I can also change the state of the thermostat by turning on any one of the three plugs using my Google Home Control Buttons from my phone power button rather than opening the Wyze app. The rules will automatically shut them off after 1 minute.

The only thing left for me is to find a way to completely delete all schedules from the Wyze Thermostat. But, it seems that this is a critical life support system for the thermostat as it is not possible.

4 Likes
2

That is some sweet thinking @SlabSlayer

Thank you for sharing your ingenuity!

Swipe the schedule to the left, it will give you a delete option.

As you can see I have none

image
image1284×1039 74.4 KB

3 Likes
4

OK… deleted my last post.

I tried to do that 100 times when I deleted all the rest of my schedules. WHYYYYYYY wouldn’t it let me do that before? I feel like a doof!

Something must have changed since I posted about this before.

EDIT: Figured it out. Nothing changed, I was trying to delete schedule BLOCKS from within the schedule, not the schedule itself. Every schedule must have 1 block, that’s why it wouldn’'t let me.

THANKS @R.Good!

3 Likes
5

With Alexa, here are some commands. Curious if you tried these commands

image
image729×558 73.4 KB

2 Likes
6

No. Where did you come up with that list. I didn’t know it existed. I searched and couldn’t find one. Guess I didn’t search well enough. Please post a link.

But… One of the limitations to building Alexa Routines is that each routine only allows you to have one custom command line per routine.

The 5th on that list would certainly do the job, but it is not a pre-loaded action command to select for the Thermostat when building actions in the routine. The only pre-loaded action command for the thermostat is the 3rd one.

My routines already have a custom command line for other devices that don’t have pre-loaded commands. In order for me to use that for the thermostat, I would have to delete the custom commands for the other device.

That introduces another question though… if those are the commands Alexa understands, why are they not pre-loaded as action commands for routines using the Thermostat? Why is there only one?

7

I actually downloaded the PDF Document in the past. It is located here:

Go to the bottom of the page ad in small print you will see
image

This is the User Guide I downloaded. I think it should be made more prominent.

3 Likes
8

So true. Not sure why you cannot add more than one custom Call / Command.

Great Question. Unfortunately I don’t have an answer for this. I am hoping it will get better over time.

1 Like
9

I’m using the Wyze thermostat with my Alexa. If I want to raise or lower the temperature I need to first ask
What is the thermostat temperature?
Alexa will respond. (lets say 75 degrees)
Then I can say “Alexa set thermostat to 74 degrees”
All I want to do at any time is raise the thermostat temperature 1 or 2 degrees in either raise or lower.
The Wyze guide says it is a command. But when I say Alexa decrease the thermostat by 1 degree. Alexa only repeats The Thermostat is set for ex: 75. The current temperature. It does not reduce the temperature by 1 degree. How is this resolved?

image
image940×147 57.1 KB

10

Welcome to the User Community Forum @bman98.

I tested the commands you have listed on my thermostat. Here is what I found:

NOTE: the name of my Thermostat is “Wyze Thermostat”

While the thermostat is in Auto mode:

Alexa, What is the Wyze Thermostat Temperature?

Alexa will tell you the actual current temp reading in the room (or the average if you are using a Room Sensor)

Alexa, What is the Wyze Thermostat set to?

Alexa will tell you the set points for Heat and Cool (between).

Alexa, decrease the Wyze Thermostat by 3 degrees.

This does not work. Alexa just repeats the setpoints. No combination of wording will get her to increase or decrease the setpoints.

Alexa, set the Wyze Thermostat to 73 degrees.

Alexa will change the setpoint to the specified temp, however she changes both the heat and the cool with the heat getting the 73° and the cool getting 73° + the 6° DeadZone = 79°. This is also not an option. She responds with "The Wyze Thermostat is keeping the temperature between 73 and 73 degrees.

However, there is a solution if I instruct Alexa to:

Alexa, Switch the Wyze Thermostat to Cool.

Alexa will switch the thermostat out of Auto into Cool and reply “It’s set to cool”

Alexa, what is the temperature in the Wyze Thermostat?

“The Wyze Thermostat Temperature is 73.6°”

Alexa, set the Wyze Thermostat to 70°

Alexa will reply “The AC is set to 70” and she will change the set temp to 70°.

This will also work in Heat mode.

So, while the voice commands you posted do not work, there is a way to get the settings where you want so long as you have the Mode in Cool or Heat. Alexa is not too good at dealing with the Thermostat in Auto mode.

Hope this helps!

1 Like
11

So the Wyze documentation is wrong. it cannot simply raise or lower the temperature by 1 or 2 degrees without first asking what is the current thermostat temperature then giving alexa a specific temperature number to achieve?
These 2 documented commands should be remove from the list of commands. Very missleading to me. I just wanted simple " Alexa lower the thermostat 1 degree. which it says it can…

12

No, the Wyze document may indeed have been correct at the time it was published. And, it is a PDF document that is also printed and included when shipped.

Something has changed since then. With all the other automation integration problems Alexa has been exhibiting, I wouldn’t be surprised if the issue was on the Alexa side of the coding. It may again work in the future, it just isn’t working right now. You will find that is a common theme with Alexa.

You do not need to ask what the temp is first. You don’t need to ask what the thermostat is set to first either. I do that so I know what number to tell her. Right now, I haven’t found a way for her to add or subtract degrees, only set it to a specified temp.

Hopefully this functionality will return in the future.

1 Like