Google Assistant in NodeRED - NORA

[@alcidesmarcano]

Thank you Mat for another great video about Node Red!!! I appreciate that...

[@notenoughtech]

Pleasure is mine

[@jarchdm]

Excellent it was just as easy as you said. Hope NORA keeps going. Guess we should contribute something to help out.

[@notenoughtech]

I would like to see this turning into a more mature service as well

[@bogorad]

I also use NORA and find it very useful and easy to use. I just use it to trigger actions in my flows. One thing to note, though. If you want to get state changes from NORA as well as keep NORA updated with the changes made locally (motion/switches), you have to uncheck 'pass through to output'. I'd actually prefer if they'd made a config node and in+out nodes, much easier to understand the resulting flow.

[@notenoughtech]

The pass through checkbox will update the Google Home service. The difference is only in the payload going out. If you have the checkbox ticked: message originates in NodeRED will update the status in Google Home then moves to the device linked to that node when checkbox isn't ticked message originated in NodeRED will terminate at the Nora node after updating Google Home status.

[@bogorad]

@@notenoughtech let me explain. suppose you have a simple flow: [ui-switch] -> [nora] -> [trigger 5 min] -> device, with feed-back loop from trigger output to nora (to tell google that timeout has occurred, device is turning off). the only way to make it work is to un-check the flag inside NORA.

[@bogorad]

here imgur.com/a/jBQwrPf

[@bogorad]

@@notenoughtech And you are wrong, the message originating from google will go out. But the messages fed to NORA will not pass through.

[@notenoughtech]

In your scenario, you are sending an update to GH about the action that already has an outcome. Pass through does 2 things: *acts upon the payload received *sends that unmodified payload to the next node NORA or Google Home doesn't send the command on an update (when the info is sent from the input side) imgur.com/a/L3iTGFp Here is the illustration of how pass-through acts in NodeRED. The reason why you have issues in your example is most likely associated with retrigger. In your flow, when timeout occurs a message is sent back to the switch which takes the message to Nora again. Nora then updates the server and sends another message to the trigger node instantly, which creates an endless loop. I know this very well as I wrote about inching notenoughtech.com/home-automation/nodered-home-automation/inching/ You will see how to implement this behaviour without getting in trouble :) One of the NORA limitations is that you cannot have duplicate nodes. This means you have to be very clever with how you design your flow. You can't have one node with passthrough and another without - which is a shame (probably should be added as an option). I hope this explains the pass-through issues

[@thomasashbee4848]

Looks like Nora has moved to Smart Nora and am trying to get it to work - an update to this video would be great to cover the changes.

[@notenoughtech]

Interesting, thanks for the tip

[@SoundsLikeOdie]

I can't get it to connect to the new "Smart Nora" I guess I'm not "Smart"

[@notenoughtech]

@@SoundsLikeOdie did you get an invite?

[@SoundsLikeOdie]

​@@notenoughtech I am not sure. I believe I am registered. There appears I have a connection between Smart Nora node and Node-red but I cant discover the devices on the Google Home app. I did the following. On the new Nora website. I registered my email (my hotmail account, not gmail) and created a password. I chose a password and got a confirmation email that I clicked on. I then used those credentials on the Node-red Smart-Nora Node. Under the node I have a green status message. On my phone running the Google Home App I did the following: 1> "+" top right corner. 2> Setup Device. 3> Works with google. 4> Select Nora from the list of vendors. then one of a few things happen 4a I get a popup saying "Linking to Nora" it disappears and nothing happens. 4b I am redirected to a website telling me the current situation regarding the old Nora version. 4c same as 4b but I at the bottom I also get options to sign in with my Google or Github account. I tried the Google sign in but it made no difference. 4d same as 4b but I get a page that says "application error" for "Heroku logs --tail" I can't seem to discover my Nora Devices. but can discover my home mini and chromcast. Google play does not display a update for my version on Google Home app. I'm running Android version 7.0 on a Samsung S6. After that I think I'm out of options. Have you got a suggestion?

[@notenoughtech]

@@SoundsLikeOdie I've not used the new nora yet so best ask on that slack group linked. I'll be looking into this soon

[@ptaudio]

Great video. Can you also do a video on an example flow to control a tasmota dimmer with Nora ?

[@notenoughtech]

what format do you need that value in?

[@ptaudio]

@@notenoughtech what do you mean with "that value" ? Maybe i need to explain what i'm trying to do . I have a tuya based dimmer which i flashed with tasmota. I want to control this type of dimmer with domoticz (which is working fine) as well with google home through nora. The switching part is working,but i don't have a clue how to get the dimming part working. This is the flow as it is now : [{"id":"d673cb1f.8b4878","type":"nora-light","z":"2e139c54.7f2ef4","devicename":"Tasmota_test","lightcolor":false,"brightnesscontrol":false,"turnonwhenbrightnesschanges":false,"passthru":false,"statepayload":true,"brightnessoverride":"","roomhint":"Keuken","name":"Tasmota_test","nora":"c63b3d8e.19bfd","topic":"3168","onvalue":"true","onvalueType":"bool","offvalue":"false","offvalueType":"bool","x":670,"y":2100,"wires":[["c5f66a8c.51aed8"]]},{"id":"c5f66a8c.51aed8","type":"Sonoff device","z":"2e139c54.7f2ef4","mode":"0","broker":"c716fec6.3d2e","device":"tasmota","name":"Tasmota_test","onValue":"ON","offValue":"OFF","cmdPrefix":"cmnd","statPrefix":"stat","telePrefix":"tele","x":890,"y":2100,"wires":[["d673cb1f.8b4878"]]},{"id":"c63b3d8e.19bfd","type":"nora-config","z":"","name":"Home zweet home","group":"","notify":false},{"id":"c716fec6.3d2e","type":"mqtt-broker","z":"","name":"","broker":"127.0.0.1","port":"1883","clientid":"","usetls":false,"compatmode":true,"keepalive":"60","cleansession":true,"birthTopic":"","birthQos":"0","birthPayload":"","closeTopic":"","closeQos":"0","closePayload":"","willTopic":"","willQos":"0","willPayload":""}]

[@notenoughtech]

this will help: notenoughtech.com/home-automation/nodered-home-automation/nodered-for-beginners-4/

[@nandarora95]

Thanks Mat for sharing this!

[@notenoughtech]

My pleasure!

[@noderedd8522]

Great Video! Thanks Can you integrate Philips hue ind node red and control it with the google assistant?

[@notenoughtech]

If you can control the Hue from NodeRED (and I think you can) then yes

[@madmaiike]

Interesting video as usual, great content there. I've tried signing in to the website, but I keep looping on the sign in screen. Any idea ? Thanks

[@notenoughtech]

Not sure what could be the issue if I'm honest. Problems with traffic?

[@madmaiike]

I'll try later. Thanks

[@jarchdm]

I could not sign in with google had to sign in with github account. that worked fine

[@orlin369]

Great video I would like to reproduce the path that you walk trough, but how do I add devices in google home? Thanks in advance.

[@notenoughtech]

Just name the device in smart Nora and they will appear. Make sure your Nora node is registered with the same email

[@orlin369]

@@notenoughtech thanks it apear.

[@orlin369]

OK I did succeed with actuators. But how do I add a thermometer for example or counter or anything?

[@notenoughtech]

@@orlin369 last time I played with it there was no thermometer in the Google home but you can use nodered logic to drive your device

[@orlin369]

@@notenoughtech is there any option to receive any push notification from device

[@suite302hotelyork7]

Whenever I try to link nora appears linked but does not link and I do not see linked devices, I do not understand why, if I put the perfect token

[@notenoughtech]

Very strange indeed. Service has sometimes downtimes unfortunately. Give it a go on again soon hopefully you'll get authenticated

[@meierthomas]

Love NORA so thanks for this video. So far so good :) I'm controlling some lights via the NORA light scheduler node. The light scheduler node takes control inputs: on/off/auto (and some others). Auto controls the output based on the schedule set, On/off overrides the schedule and either sends the 'on' payload or 'off' payload respectively. What I would like to do is to issue a voice command such as "override light A" which sends an 'on' payload to the light scheduler to override the schedule. Could this be setup? Anyone tried something along these lines?

[@notenoughtech]

IFTTT from Google assistant -> webhook Then resolve the REST in nodered

[@meierthomas]

@@notenoughtech So you create a POST message via a URL in IFTTT to Node-RED? What type of node would you use to pick this up in Node-RED and what URL would you create in the IFTTT recipe?

[@notenoughtech]

Http response node - just make sure to open up a port

[@meierthomas]

@@notenoughtech Love it. Thanks! However I took a slightly different approach given my Node-RED instance runs in the cloud. I found webhookrelay.com (excerpt from their site "Webhook Relay allows anyone to receive, transform webhooks and expose web services to the internet without having public IP or configuring NAT/firewall in a secure way"). This creates 1 node in Node-RED called webhookrelay. You configure it with your own credentials and once this is done you can deal with the payload in Node-RED. This almost feels like the holy grail of adding a voice interface to any custom commands needed. For my first use case I implemented I have lights controlled via the scheduler node and unless I interact via a dashboard to override the schedule I'm stuck. While I have a dashboard this voice interface just gives me another channel. While you won't (and can't) implement everything through voice you probably get away with 80%. What kind of commands do you have on the voice interface?

[@notenoughtech]

The Google Voice commands are a bit static. I tend to use very little in terms of voice control. Usually I try to make stuff happen based on rules than command.

hi, when i try to linked my google account with Nora in the home app it says linking account but never show up under linked accounts - and no new devices shows up in the Home app either

[@notenoughtech]

sometimes this is the case from what I seen online, were you able to get everything sorted?

[@mcub3d]

awesome as always!

[@notenoughtech]

Thanks again!

[@hungphamquoc993]

I just wondering how I can have a number in the output of Nora node. Because It always combines a string like "brightness 60"

[@notenoughtech]

check the function node and parseInt()

[@hungphamquoc993]

@@notenoughtech I am a newbie at java script , var x = msg.payload ; var msg_o = { payload : parseInt(x,10) }; return msg_o; here is my function but It is not working :((

[@notenoughtech]

var data= parsInt(x, 10); msg.payload = data; return msg; I recommend you read the whole tutorial plus section on how to format JSON. You will benefit from it if you want to play more with node red

[@hungphamquoc993]

@@notenoughtech Thank you very much . It help me alot

[@hungphamquoc993]

It return NaN . I just see again about json and It work by this function var p = msg.payload ; node.log(typeof p) msg.payload=p.openPercent; return msg;

[@odddavelars1003]

Followed your excellent instructions, but. Google says "sorry I couldn't reach the node red smart home control". When I toggle the Google Home icon, it says "something went wrong". Any tips?

[@notenoughtech]

Has this occurred later on? Check the key again to make sure it is a correct one. A couple of readers did get back to me that service has interruptions from time to time which is probably due to low quote api being used

[@matthewcolbear8196]

I'm looking for some support on adding a light via NORA. I've added the light but can't control via NodeRED, only Google Home. Where should I go to get some help? Thanks

[@notenoughtech]

What are you trying to do exactly in nodered?

[@matthewcolbear8196]

​@@notenoughtech At the moment, turn the light on/off. I see the NORA node change state but it's not changing the state of the light. I've got the light added in Google Home using 'Works with Google > TCP Smart' The light is fully functional within Google Home app. Adding to Node-RED via NORA adds a secondary device within the Google Home App which can toggle but it's not the light, it's a secondary non-existing device.

[@meierthomas]

Thanks for this overview. Is there a way to fix the live preview? For a Tasmota device test I'm using an mqtt in node to feed stat/tasmota_xxxxx/POWER into the NORA outlet node and connect an mqtt out node sending cmnd/tasmota_xxxxx/POWER (On or Off) and I spent a looong time trying to figure out why the UI in Google Home doesn't change state. In your excellent video you mentioned this is not available... which is really annoying...

[@notenoughtech]

I'm taking a guess here. I'd say it's how Google laid out the API? I hope that introduction of Google Local will change this but I don't think we have much choice. Until then... You will have to exit the widget and enter it again to pull the state of it. Not much can be done

[@BigDiesel330]

Howdy. I created a bunch of test devices with Nora, and now I have no idea how to get rid of them. They still live in my google home even though I deleted the nodes. I can't seem to find a solution anywhere which leads me to believe fixing the problem is deceptively easy and someone is rolling their eyes as they read this. A lil help?

[@notenoughtech]

You should be able to remove the device from Google Home app.

[@BigDiesel330]

@@notenoughtech I've tried. It is only giving me the option to completely unlink NORA.

[@BigDiesel330]

@@notenoughtech Update: The deleted nodes fell off after 24 hours. Thanks for being so awesome.

[@notenoughtech]

@@BigDiesel330 Oh I'm glad is is sorted. All devices are created on Google side in nora... I guess they are slow :D

[@briandurward]

Can I ask how you are getting on with Nora? I have problems on occasions.

[@notenoughtech]

Hi, I use Alexa mostly so I don't use it often enough to notice if I'm honest

[@briandurward]

@@notenoughtech thanks for the reply.

[@patriciowallace446]

Mat, I want to know if you can help me. I have several google homes mini distributed around the house and also several temperature and humidity sensors with a nodemcu flashed with tasmota. I did it something with NORA, when I ask the temperature of a certain google home (example in the living room) I need to response only the google home mini from the answer is comming. It's possible ? so far I can only make it answer only the ones I defined in the node (explicit ones), but I can't identify which google home mini was asked. Sorry for my english. Patricio from Argentina, best regards and thank you

[@notenoughtech]

I'm not sure if the info about which device the question came from is possible with Google home. I know this works with Alexa. Sending it to the right place can be done with cast node

[@patriciowallace446]

@@notenoughtech can you find out if it's possible ?, i will do the job too

[@notenoughtech]

From quick look on the internet - I have not come across anything that could send this info - im sorry

[@aryeguetta8592]

Thank you! I have followed your instructions and I have added a simple NORA Switch to Node RED to control my Humidifier, I am not sure why BUT I am Only able to control it using Voice and I can't find the Widget in Google Home at all. I am able to see the Device in My GH App and also placed exactly where it should be using the room hint - BUT When I click on it - I am redirected to my main view of GH App and not the Widget itself. As far as I understand - the NORA switch has a widget, Correct? And I should be able to see it in my GH App, I wonder what is the issue. Any ideas? Thanks

[@notenoughtech]

Yes it should show you the switch menu. Try socket option see if that's giving you issues

[@vijaynaru]

NORA seems to be not working...pls update

[@notenoughtech]

There are information about the transition to smart nora.

[@emicobler]

Great job and very well explained, thank you very much for sharing it

[@notenoughtech]

Glad it was helpful!

[@AbbasAbbas-yn3gd]

How do I connect a new node/device in Node-Red (NORA) to an existing Google Home device( tuya smart sokcet)? When I add a new device (for example a socket in the living room) to my flow in node-red, even if I name it exactly the same as in the Google Home App, it appears as a new device in the App.

[@notenoughtech]

This is not how the NORA works - you will build a virtual devices in NodeRED. You cannot map the existing devices with it.

[@SteveJohnSteele]

Things I'm gonna try ... Outside temperature > Thermostat > Fan (on/off) Use a switch to control Auto mode (motion sensor/s, connected to lights, active or not) Use a switch to control Home/Away mode (on=home/off=away) (combine several for an Everyone away mode) As I understand it ... NORA is creating fake devices inside Google which a person can interact with. Control from Google to NORA/NodeRed could control real devices (which cannot be integrated with Google), or used in other ways (like a virtual switch to control Auto mode) Information from NodeRed/NORA to Google lets Google know the state of devices.

[@notenoughtech]

Yup pretty much on point with nora

[@joaoolx]

Hi, Excellent explanation. You have convinced me to add NORA, but... Is NORA still up and running? Today I tried to add it to my google home but always got the error message "This browser is not supported or 3rd party cookies and data may be disabled." when allowing nora google sign-in. Tried from 3 different devices (all android) and always got the same error. Tried the sign-in to both google and github with the same result. So I'm wondering if I did something wrong or if it's this service dying. Greetings from Portugal

[@notenoughtech]

I assume you have Google home available in Portugal? Just checked my end and I can set devices via Google home

[@joaoolx]

@@notenoughtech Yes, I have google home setup already with other suppliers like eWeLink, EwPe, ihc and LIDL. This seems the NORA sign-in API with google may be failing somehow. Thanks for replying.

[@notenoughtech]

@@joaoolx give it a go a bit later hopefully it's just a communication issue

[@MrElciupacabra]

how can I send a text to my Google Assistant and assistant can speak it?

[@notenoughtech]

Look up cast node

[@MrElciupacabra]

@@notenoughtech I don't want to buy aditional equipment...my phone is ok...why do I have to buy cast devices.

[@notenoughtech]

Cast node. It's for sending voice to Google home

[@MrElciupacabra]

@@notenoughtech I have installed google home on my phone...nothing happens. can't send messages. I've placed my phone wifi IP in the configuration and nothing happened

[@notenoughtech]

I'm sorry I thought you meant the GA on a smart speaker. So you need to make the GA talk specifically or just the phone? If you are using android then you can look up tasker.

[@MrDenisJoshua]

Why you don't simply install Hassio that support ghome perfectly please ?

[@notenoughtech]

I never used it. I was aware that the smart speaker is built into it, but the flexibility you get with NodeRED is something I really like. It seemed like an effort to have it just to cover couple GA devices :) So I kind of stuck with NodeRED. One of these days I will give it a go...

[@MrDenisJoshua]

@@notenoughtech i also use NodeRed basically cause I like a lot... fo this reason I so this video. But I use the NodeRed allready build in Hassio just for play :-) Nora can be ok and easy... but I don't like de idea that my house is depended of external source :-(

[@FedericoGranata]

@@notenoughtech I was wondering the same. I recently started using HA and I loved how simple it was to create an entity for a thermostat, how easy was to integrate with a node-red flow (running inside HA as an add-on), how easy was to manually integrate with google assistant (well that last part is a bit tricky but the official doc is really good in that or you can pay for the cloud integration). The biggest pro is that your google assistant integration is hosted on your HA so you don't risk a third-party shutdown, the biggest con is that the personal integration will always be a private test so it should need a periodically resync (well documented procedure and I haven't needed it once in the last few months).

[@notenoughtech]

I can deploy the same integration in nodered via Dev account - I believe this is how Hass is using it without the public skill. But it's another thing to look after. I hope one of the services like Nora will make it. I wouldn't mind small monthly fee just to have Alexa and Google home covered but it takes time to make it right and get enough paying members

[@FedericoGranata]

@@notenoughtech if you are willing to pay a monthly fee you can pay the cloud integration of HA so you can get the Google Assistant integration without having to use a private dev integration.

[@ronm6585]

Thanks.

[@notenoughtech]

You're welcome

[@realjax]

Nora is nice but unfortunately the source code is too closed up to be extended. Therefor the very restricted number of devices it supports are not going to grow. The project is on a dead end track.

[@notenoughtech]

It comes with limitations, but who knows what will happen. if there is a decent userbase - perhaps someone will take it a step further.

[@bjornforssberg5555]

Hi NotEnough, THANKS for superinteresting videos for a real newbee only 72 years old :-) One comment My Google updates immediately 3 nodes Mqtt in -> Light -> Mqtt out.

[@notenoughtech]

72 years young! You can also use passthrough to send the message across to next node and update it accordingly! I'm very happy when I see other generations interested in automation!

[@bjornforssberg5555]

@@notenoughtech Thanks for your nice reply . Well, I've been in Automation since 71 and soft/embedded PLC since 96 .... selling.. not do, now it's my turn to DO :-)

[@notenoughtech]

I only started about 4 years ago without any previous experience :) its very fascinating :)