Virtual Triggers
Multi-functional Virtual Components

In this tutorial you will see how you can use the ChipChop Virtual Triggers to achieve some cool automation hacks. Throw in Alexa in the mix and you can even control devices that you didn't build yourself !!!

To follow this tutorial you may want to have at hand the simple Smart Button from a previous tutorial and maybe some Alexa enabled power plug, light or similar.

Things that you will need:
  • Smart Button built in a previous tutorial or anything that can send Trigger Events to ChipChop
  • A smart device that you didn't build that is Alexa enabled like a smart plug, smart light or similar
  • Free ChipChop Developer Account


There is no coding involved in this tutorial so no need to download anything, you will accomplish everything using the Dev Console or the Web App.









Questions & Answers

Q: The examples are all for ESP8266/ESP32. I only have and Arduino board, what can I do?
A: ESP chips have a built-in WiFi stack, they are cheap, well supported through Arduino framework and used in millions of household devices so they are a good choice for exploring IoT and that's why they are used in the code examples. If your Arduino boards doesn't support WiFi you may need an expansion board or a Wifi Shield and some of them are actually based on the ESP chipset so again the examples are well suited.
The ChipChop library should in theory work with anything that can be programmed with Arduino and can use the Arduino Websocket2 library. If your board is supported through Websockets2 than you shouldn't have to modify almost anything in the examples but of course if you get stuck just ask for help in the forum.

Q: I've built something cool, can I have it published on ChipChop?
A: Yes, you can. Anything that is cool, creative, clever, innovative, funny and that could inspire others is welcome.
The article/instructable has to be freshly written and not just a direct copy/paste of some old project published somewhere else.
You are allowed to have a few affiliate links and you can use a YouTube video from your own channel but no other form of advertising is allowed.
If your article is accepted and published you will get some free ChipChop perks ;-)
Contact Gizmo through the forum for detailed instructions.