Using Amazon Alexa and ClareHome

A black Amazon Echo smart speaker and a white Amazon Echo Dot are shown next to a smartphone displaying the ClareHome app interface. The app lists various smart home devices like "Front Door", "Carriage Lights", and "Living Room Outlet".

Experience True Voice-Activation of Your Smart Home

Integrate your Amazon Echo devices with your ClareHome system to enjoy seamless voice control over your smart home devices. This integration allows you to control lights, locks, thermostats, and custom scenes simply by speaking commands to Alexa.

A family (mother, father, daughter) is gathered around a kitchen counter. The daughter is using a tablet, while the parents look on. An Amazon Echo speaker is visible on the counter, illustrating a typical home use scenario.

With Amazon Echo and the voice dictation from Alexa, you can easily manage your Clare smart home without needing to open your phone or physically interact with devices.

Alexa can also activate your favorite ClareHome Scenes, such as "Good Morning" or "Movie Time," with a simple voice command. Furthermore, Alexa + ClareHome can extend control to security systems, audio, and entertainment devices when they are included in a ClareHome scene.

You can download the ClareHome and Amazon Alexa apps for iOS and Android devices.

Downloading and Enabling the ClareHome Skill

Getting started with Alexa and ClareHome is straightforward.

Download the Amazon Alexa App.
Tap on 'Skills' within the app.
Search for 'ClareHome'.
Download and enable the skill.

A series of smartphone screenshots illustrates this process, showing navigation to 'Skills', searching for 'ClareHome', and tapping 'Enable Skill' to activate it.

Note: You will need to create an Amazon account if you do not already have one. Downloading and installing the ClareHome skill is essential for using Amazon Alexa with your Clare smart home. Both Amazon Echo and Echo Dot support full voice control of your smart home devices.

Authorizing ClareHome and Discovering Smart Home Devices

After installing the skill, you must authenticate your Clare smart home by signing in with your ClareHome account information. If you manage multiple systems, select the location you wish to enable Alexa voice control for.

The process involves:

Signing into your ClareHome account (using Email, Google, or Facebook).
If signing in with Google, selecting the appropriate account.
Selecting your desired ClareHome location and tapping 'Allow' to grant permissions.
Initiating device discovery.

A sequence of smartphone screenshots guides you through these steps, including linking accounts, granting permissions, and starting the device discovery process.

Follow the on-screen instructions to discover all supported smart home devices. Once this process is finished, a Device list will appear showing all supported and installed devices. Device discovery generally takes less than 20 seconds.

Using Alexa to Control ClareHome

Alexa and ClareHome currently support control of lights, locks, thermostats, and Scenes. Below is a list of supported devices and example phrases for controlling them.

Supported Devices and Alexa Phrases

Device Type	Supported Alexa Phrases
Thermostats (Brands: Clare Controls, Nest, Honeywell, ecobee, Aprilaire, Carrier)	"Alexa, set my [thermostat name] to 72 degrees." "Alexa, increase the temperature by 5 degrees." "Alexa, decrease the temperature by 3 degrees." "Alexa, turn down my [thermostat name]." (Automatically adjusts temperature by 2 degrees) "Alexa, cool down/heat up the [thermostat name]." "Alexa, what is the [thermostat name] temperature?"
Lighting (Brands: Clare Controls, LUTRON, PULSE WORX)	"Alexa, turn on my [light name]." "Alexa, turn off my [light name]." "Alexa, set my [light name] dimmer to 50 percent." "Alexa, turn on my [light name] dimmer to 10 percent." "Alexa, is my kitchen light on?"
Door Locks (Brands: Yale, SCHLAGE, Kwikset)	"Alexa, lock my [door lock name]." "Alexa, is my [door lock name] locked?" "Alexa, is my [door lock name] unlocked?"
Scenes	"Alexa, turn on [scene name]." Examples: "Alexa, turn on Good Morning.", "Alexa, turn on Good Night.", "Alexa, turn on Movie Time.", "Alexa, turn on Vacation."

Note: Alexa + ClareHome supports control over security systems, audio, entertainment, and more, ONLY if these devices are included in a ClareHome scene. Scenes can be created from the ClareHome App. Advanced Scenes must be created by an authorized Clare dealer.

Renaming Smart Home Devices to Work with Alexa

Alexa may not be able to control devices if they are labeled with letters or initials, if two devices share the same name, or if a device is labeled as one word instead of two. Refer to the chart below for examples of unsupported device names.

To change the name of a device:

Open the ClareHome App.
Tap and hold on any device until the edit button appears.
Tap on the edit button to rename the device.

After renaming, you must rediscover devices in the Amazon Alexa App for the new device name to be recognized.

Device Name Examples

Examples of Unsupported Device Names	Examples of Suggested Device Names
Goodnight	Good Night
Light L1BR	Bedroom
2 Devices named Front Door	Front Door Lock, Front Door Light
MBR Light	Master Bedroom Light
F.D. Dimmer	Front Door Dimmer
Welcomehome	Welcome Home

	Clare Controls Fusion Library Product Bulletin A comprehensive guide detailing devices compatible with the Clare Controls Fusion library, covering access control, CCTV, climate, entertainment, lighting, security, and more. Lists manufacturers, models, and communication types for seamless smart home integration.
	ClareOne Panel Supported Devices: Product Bulletin and Compatibility List This document lists devices compatible with the ClareOne Panel, detailing supported products across categories such as control systems, access, audio, climate, lighting, power, shades, shutters, surveillance, voice, water, and Z-Wave sensors. It includes manufacturer, model, and communication type.