Hack echo dot.

[Scanlighy]

Somebody managed to hack into the echo dot gen 2?

I was wondering if it would be possible to pick up a signal from the pcb when alexa is actually listening. Maybe tap the color ring. Or a signal going to the  R3019 3236 chip on the i2c pin.

My purpose is to build an arduino interface to mute my TV when alexa is listening.

TV and alexa don't mix.
Because my whole house is smart controlled (original and custom made systems)
I NEED to get a solution for this.
At the moment alexa is a pain in the ass.

[jwlv]

You can probably just tap into the LED ring on the Echo Dot. To light up the LED ring, there has to be a positive voltage. Probably 3.3V or 5.0V. You can find out by measuring with a multi-meter. Your Arduino can just look for the high signal and execute whatever you need to mute the TV.

[Scanlighy]

Yes thats true.
The leds are all fed with a supply voltage and the chip pulls the leds cathode to low to light up the led.

This should definitely work, but I wonder how the other light patterns effect this. Like if i turn the volume up and down. The color ring turns white. So also uses the blue led.

That's why I was wondering if I can tap into the system a step earlier.

I noticed a lot of people are having issues with TV sound interfering with alexa.
So if I manage to create a workaround I can share this with other members on this page.

[jwlv]

I have not taken apart an Echo so I'm just guessing here. I assume that the light ring is an array of several LEDs arranged in a circle pattern. Since the ring can light up in different colors, the LEDs must be tri-color RGB each with 4 leads. So to get the color you need, you just gotta figure out which lead(s) and brightness.

[Scanlighy]

Yes thats true. 12 rgb leds (Common anode) the negatives are connected to the chip. So I can tap on the LEDs or chip pins.

Gonna test this upcoming week.

https://goo.gl/images/Anwyxq
The yellow squares are the rgb LEDs.
The blue square is the rgb/color ring controller chip.

Keep you guys updated on this project. Other ideas are always welcome.