This is my first post since I only just got into the Insteon world.
I just bought the international version of the Insteon hub (240V) as I live outside the US and didn't realise that the version I bought, while the only version available outside the US, does not have Alexa support.
I was initially disappointed and then discovered a third party provide (automategreen.com) who provided a gateway using the IFTTT Maker Channel to operate the Insteon devices. It did work but it seemed quite flaky.
I then discovered that the internal URL for activating Insteon devices could be accessed externally just by creating a port forward on my router (I have static IP) so I can make a URL like this
http://name:password@xxx.xx.xxx.xx:2...34b20F11FF=I=3 (where the x's are of course my external IP address) and it turns a specific device.
I then figured out using the IFTTT Maker Channel I can have Alexa call a Maker recipe that has that URL. This works and I can say Alexa trigger turn on bedroom and the bedroom lamp goes on
That provides Alexa support to my older hub. I guess my concern is, I have to put my Insteon hub logon and password in an unecrypted URL. That URL of course would come from the ifttt.com servers and so I presume not easily intercepted. I thought what I might do is try to find the IP address(es) of the service in ifttt.com that sends the URL to my hub and put rules in my router to only allow those IP's but I think they use AWS so the IP ranges are variable.
I would much prefer to be able to say Alexa turn on bedroom but that requires the 2245 hub which is not certified for use outside the US (mainly the RF frequencies)
Thoughts?
Thanks
I just bought the international version of the Insteon hub (240V) as I live outside the US and didn't realise that the version I bought, while the only version available outside the US, does not have Alexa support.
I was initially disappointed and then discovered a third party provide (automategreen.com) who provided a gateway using the IFTTT Maker Channel to operate the Insteon devices. It did work but it seemed quite flaky.
I then discovered that the internal URL for activating Insteon devices could be accessed externally just by creating a port forward on my router (I have static IP) so I can make a URL like this
http://name:password@xxx.xx.xxx.xx:2...34b20F11FF=I=3 (where the x's are of course my external IP address) and it turns a specific device.
I then figured out using the IFTTT Maker Channel I can have Alexa call a Maker recipe that has that URL. This works and I can say Alexa trigger turn on bedroom and the bedroom lamp goes on
That provides Alexa support to my older hub. I guess my concern is, I have to put my Insteon hub logon and password in an unecrypted URL. That URL of course would come from the ifttt.com servers and so I presume not easily intercepted. I thought what I might do is try to find the IP address(es) of the service in ifttt.com that sends the URL to my hub and put rules in my router to only allow those IP's but I think they use AWS so the IP ranges are variable.
I would much prefer to be able to say Alexa turn on bedroom but that requires the 2245 hub which is not certified for use outside the US (mainly the RF frequencies)
Thoughts?
Thanks
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