ITEAD Studio Sonoff wireless switches can be controlled by voice commands using Amazon Alexa or Google Home, but so far, the latter was only possible by emulating Belkin Wemo switch in alternative open source firmwares such as ESPurna or Sonoff-Tasmota. For people who don’t want to update the firmware themselves, and instead prefer to use the stock firmware with eWelink mobile app, the manufacturer has now announced support for Google Home, on top of the already supported Amazon Alexa service.
The instructions are explained in details in ITEAD’s blog post, but basically, you need to start Google Home app in your mobile, select your Google Home device, go to Home Control to add Devices, select Smart We Link, login to eWelink with your username/phone number and password, name the devices you want to control and you’re done.
You should now be able to control devices or rooms with voice commands such. For single port devices it’s easy:
OK Google, turn on the bedroom light.
Hey Google, turn off the bedroom light.
For switches with multiple sockets or switches you also need to add the name of the “gang”:
Hey Google, turn on dual switch light one.
You can set the color and dim your lights too:
Hey Google, turn on {light name}
Hey Google, turn {light name} green
Hey Google, set {light name} to 50%
OK Google, dim {light name}
Hey Google, brighten {light name}
If you have assigned devices to rooms, you can control a complete room, or all devices with one voice commands, for example:
OK Google, turn off all of the lights
Hey Google, turn on lights in living room
Some features are not supported, and it’s unclear whether they’ll ever be, such as setting timers, or adjusting the temperature threshold for SonoffTH10/TH16. Since I recently configured an Orange Pi Zero board with Google Assistant, I wanted to try, but Google Home app cannot detect my device. That’s normal as Google Assistant SDK release notes list this as an issue:
Account linking for third party services requires owning a Google Home and installing the Google Home application. This affects using services like Uber, or connecting to home automation devices like Hue.
That means you need an actual Google Home, and solutions like AIY Projects Voice Kit with Raspberry Pi 3 board won’t work, at least for now.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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