Bullfrog Spas and Alexa

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phonedave

Well-known member
May 30, 2012
2,228
Montville NJ
Pool Size
17000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
I had started talking about adding an Echo dot to my Bullfrog spa in an other thread. I figured I would start a new one, because this is becoming a bit of a project.

I bought a Echo Dot to see if I could hook it up to my Bullfrog A6. I also bought a can of conformal coating. My plan was to keep the Dot on a table I have about 6' from the spa (that has a plug near it), I would pair it with the hot tub Bluetooth, and then be able to sit in the tub and yell at the Echo so I could change music, etc. I already use Amazon Music for the rest of my streaming around the house. I was going to disassemble the Dot, conformal coat it, and then let it live outside.

First issue: The Dot had a heck of a time finding the hot tub Bluetooth

Second issue : It found it, and now it fails pairing

Doing some research, the Dot will only pair with speakers requiring a PIN code if the PIN code is 0000 - Bullfrog uses 5555. More Google, more reddit, no way to change the PIN on the bullfrog or to change the acceptable PIN on the Dot.

While messing around with the menus on the Bullfrog, I find there IS a Aux input you can select, but Darn if I can find an Aux input on the exterior of the tub, or in the device cubby where the USB port is.

More Googling, find a person who hooked their Sonos system up to their Bullfrog. They use the Aux input setting, and plugged directly into the 3.5 mm aux jack that is located on the Gecko in.stream pack. They specifically mention that you need a right angle plug to get the cable to fit into the in.stream

Out to the garage, pull down the massive tote of all things audio cable - no joy (plenty of 3.5 mm, no right angle)

Hit up Amazon, and have a 10 foot cable on order to arrive tomorrow.

More to come.
 
I thought about doing something similar for controlling things outside, then I thought better about someone outside being able to control my house.

I use the alexa app on my phone. I have an Echo Flex above my kitchen cabinets, that uses the 3.5 jack to port the audio to some amps that run my outdoor speakers. I named the Flex "Pool Stereo" so I just use my Alexa app on my phone to play music on the Pool Stereo.

More than one way to skin a cat. You could do something like I do, or take the dot inside when not in use. There may be a way to limit the capabilities of a unit kept outside. I haven't found a way to do that yet.

Just a thought.
 
Tcadwall0 said:
I thought about doing something similar for controlling things outside, then I thought better about someone outside being able to control my house.

I use the alexa app on my phone. I have an Echo Flex above my kitchen cabinets, that uses the 3.5 jack to port the audio to some amps that run my outdoor speakers. I named the Flex "Pool Stereo" so I just use my Alexa app on my phone to play music on the Pool Stereo.

More than one way to skin a cat. You could do something like I do, or take the dot inside when not in use. There may be a way to limit the capabilities of a unit kept outside. I haven't found a way to do that yet.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...

I do have a similar set up with my yard speakers, they are driven off of an Echo and amp in the garage and is named Garage Echo, there is a also a smart power plug for the amp, so I can tell any Echo in the house or use my phone to "Turn on Stereo Power" and then "Play XXX on Garage Echo".

I want to use the hot tub speakers separately. I could put the Alex for them in the house, but I also want to be able to speak to it (as opposed to using my phone while in the hot tub).

I did think about the issues of leaving it outside, but then somebody would have to know it's there, get into my backyard, contend with my 100 lb dog, and since I work from home, hope its when I am not there - and then what really are they going to do? I do not have voice purchases enabled. I guess I could change the wake word on that one too. I was thinking of putting it in a waterproof box when I am not using it. I guess I could lock that (and turn off the microphone)
 
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It works.

I finally had some time to mess around it with it.

If you remove the cover of the Gecko audio system, there is an unused aux port. You pretty much need to use a right angle plug to get the cover back on. Selecting aux on the top side control selects the aux port.

It is expecting a pretty high signal, so you will have to turn the Echo (or whatever you are using) up pretty high.

I abandoned the idea of placing an Echo permanently outside. I would have to route the aux cable from my hot tub under the patio to where the Echo would live. I really did not want to pull up and replace all those pavers, and I have doubts about how long the cable would last in that situation. Instead I have the cable coiled up next to the hot tub, and I bought a clip in rechargeable battery base for the Echo. It lives on a table next to the sliders leading to the hot tub. I just grab it on the way out and plug it in.

As an aside, it looks like the entire tub audio system is wired with what looks like old school single twisted pair wire. Like the old alarm installation wire they used to use. Not cross connect wire, or jacketed wire. I don't know why I thought it would be something different, but that is what it is.
 
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