The most useful Alexa commands for Loxone

The most useful commands switch lights, move blinds, set the room temperature and ask for energy values. You use the name the device has in MFM Voice. Below, the commands are sorted by everyday situation.

The MFM Voice skill currently only works with an amazon.de account and Alexa set to German, so voice commands are shown in German with an English gloss in brackets.

Replace the room and device names in the examples with your own.

In the morning

• “Alexa, fahre die Jalousie im Schlafzimmer hoch.” (Raise the blind in the bedroom.)
• “Alexa, schalte das Küchenlicht ein.” (Switch on the kitchen light.)
• “Alexa, stelle das Bad auf 22 Grad.” (Set the bathroom to 22 degrees.)
• “Alexa, mach es im Bad wärmer.” (Make it warmer in the bathroom.)
• “Alexa, wie ist die Temperatur im Kinderzimmer?” (What is the temperature in the children's room?)

For temperature, only target values between 10 and 30 degrees are accepted. Anything else is rejected and not applied. This guards against Alexa mishearing you. The value changed is the comfort temperature for heating in Loxone.

When leaving the house

• “Alexa, schalte die Steckdose Terrasse aus.” (Switch off the terrace socket.)
• “Alexa, fahre die Jalousie herunter.” (Lower the blind.)
• “Alexa, mach es im Wohnzimmer zwei Grad kälter.” (Make it two degrees colder in the living room.)

The central command of the Loxone lighting controller is not available by voice. For “Alle Lichter aus” (All lights off), use a group in the Alexa app.

It is better not to share gates and door openers. There is no PIN prompt, and a voice assistant does not check who is speaking.

In the evening

• “Alexa, aktiviere Abendessen.” (Activate dinner.)
• “Alexa, aktiviere Kino.” (Activate cinema.)
• “Alexa, dimme die Küche auf 30 Prozent.” (Dim the kitchen to 30 per cent.)
• “Alexa, stelle die Jalousie im Schlafzimmer auf 50 Prozent.” (Set the blind in the bedroom to 50 per cent.)
• “Alexa, Licht an.” (Light on.)

Light moods from Loxone appear automatically as scenes. “Abendessen” and “Kino” are examples. You say the name of your own mood.

The short command “Alexa, Licht an.” only works with a group. In the Alexa app, assign the devices and the Echo device to the same group, for example “Wohnzimmer” (living room).

Asking for energy values

Energy values appear as devices that you can only read. They are called “PV Anlage” (PV system), “Batteriespeicher” (battery storage), “Stromnetz” (power grid), “Wallbox” and “Haus” (house). Amazon sets the wording of the questions:

• “Alexa, wie ist der Ladestand vom Batteriespeicher?” (What is the charge level of the battery storage?)
• “Alexa, wie ist die Leistung der PV Anlage?” (What is the output of the PV system?)
• “Alexa, wie ist der Ertrag heute von der PV Anlage?” (What is today's yield from the PV system?)
• “Alexa, wie ist die Autarkie vom Haus?” (What is the self-sufficiency of the house?)

Freely worded questions such as “Alexa, wie voll ist die Batterie?” (How full is the battery?) only work once you have created a routine for them. You do this in the Alexa app under “Mehr” (More) and “Routinen” (Routines).

A routine can contain several actions. So when you ask something like “Alexa, wie steht die Anlage?” (How is the system doing?), Alexa announces the PV output, charge level and self-sufficiency one after another. Ideally, the installer or a relative sets up the routines. After that, nobody needs the app any more.

After changes

If you have renamed, added or removed a device, say: “Alexa, suche nach neuen Geräten.” (Search for new devices.) Only then does Alexa know about the change.

The voice commands page lists the commands by device type.