Delays in Alexa Routines

[Marronnier]

I want to use Alexa to operate my curtains. To do this I need to turn on a wifi socket wait 20 seconds while the curtains open or close and then switch off the wifi socket.

There's no problem turning the wifi socket on and off but I can't find a way of waiting 20 seconds between the two commands. Does anyone know if this is possible?

Thanks

[tuicemen]

Routines are very new and simple macros thought new things get added as users make suggestions in the feed back of the Alexa app.
It is possible we'll see this in the future.

[Drwoodr]

I want to use Alexa to operate my curtains. To do this I need to turn on a wifi socket wait 20 seconds while the curtains open or close and then switch off the wifi socket.

There's no problem turning the wifi socket on and off but I can't find a way of waiting 20 seconds between the two commands. Does anyone know if this is possible?

Thanks

Does it have to be powered for exactly 20 seconds or are you just turning off the switch because you don’t want to leave it on? If the latter, you don’t say what brand socket You have, but my Wemo switches can be set to turn off automatically X minutes after Being turned on. See if your switch has a similar setting.

[Automated aidy]

At the moment you can't set delays between commands with alexa I'm using an rm pro and the rm pluggin app to do this but it works a treat

[tvdwouw]

There is a simple workaround which I tested.
For a short delay insert a command to make Alexa simple say "OK". For longer times make her say a longer sentence!
It may be annoying to hear the voice, so you may precede this line with Set volume to 0, but then don't forget to reset the volume as last command!

[Marronnier]

There is a simple workaround which I tested.
For a short delay insert a command to make Alexa simple say "OK". For longer times make her say a longer sentence!
It may be annoying to hear the voice, so you may precede this line with Set volume to 0, but then don't forget to reset the volume as last command!

Hi tvdwouw

Thanks for your reply - I've only just seen it. This sounds very promising. When I tried it, however, the operations that control the socket all get grouped together and the speach output is played after. This happens no matter what order I enter the commands.

I've entered a routine something like :-

Turn On: Socket1
Sing a song
Turn Off: Socket1

but it gets reorder to be :-

Turn On: Socket1
Turn Off: Socket1
Sing a song

.. so no delay, any thoughts? Thanks againfor your reply

[asianrocker]

Maybe it didn't work coz you didn't use the say command like he suggested. I would just let Alexa say a countdown like 54321. Ya know.

[renegade600]

Maybe it didn't work coz you didn't use the say command like he suggested. I would just let Alexa say a countdown like 54321. Ya know.

I have been playing around with delays in routines too.  I don't need it, just killing time.  I found the order does get change at times though not every time.  I think it has something to do with the timing of the signal sent.    Just something to think about

[Jerome]

I think you can introduce delays (timers) with Stringify :
https://www.reddit.com/r/Stringify/comments/97oxe5/using_a_stringify_flow_from_an_alexa_routine/

Create a dummy 20-seond timer in a basic Stringify flow then call that flow in your Alexa routine.
Worth a shot.