Echo Dot: buttons and light ring

The Echo Dot (2nd gen) has no screen. Its four buttons and its twelve-segment light ring are how it talks back, and everything about it is set in Home Assistant or on the EchoLocal card.

Buttons

Button	Tap	Hold
Action (the dot)	Stop whatever is going on: an alarm, a timer, the assistant, a sound, then music. With nothing to stop, talk to assistant 1	Snooze a ringing alarm (stop it if it can’t snooze). Otherwise talk to assistant 2
Microphone off	Mute or unmute the microphones	Plays the hold sound
Volume up, Volume down	One step louder or quieter; keep holding to keep going

While an intercom call is ringing, Action answers it and Volume down declines it.

The volume buttons change the volume of what you’re hearing: a ringing alarm or timer, then the assistant or a call, then music, and the main volume when nothing is playing. The ring shows the volume they change. Set Volume buttons (volume_buttons) to Main volume in Home Assistant to have them change the main volume only.

A tap on Action takes effect 300 ms after you let go, in case a second tap follows. Double and triple taps do nothing on their own; use them in automations.

Buttons in automations

Each button is an event entity, Action button, Mute button, Volume up button and Volume down button, that fires press or hold. Action button also fires double and triple (three or more taps). The button still does its usual job; the event comes as well. For example, holding Volume up to toggle a lamp, on a Dot named Kitchen:

triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: event.kitchen_volume_up_button
    attribute: event_type
    to: hold
actions:
  - action: light.toggle
    target:
      entity_id: light.kitchen_lamp

The light ring

The ring is a light in Home Assistant, LED ring (light.<device>_ring_led_ring). Turn it on with a color and brightness, or pick an effect. The twelve segments are also lights of their own, LED ring segment 1 to 12; they’re disabled until you enable them on the device page.

The ring also shows what the Dot is doing. Each of these is a select. The first seven offer the effects below plus None (Thinking and Replying also offer Default); Ring follows the room offers the room effects, and Mute LED brightness is Dim or Bright:

What	Name	Default	Entity
Assistant heard its wake word	Wake word effect	Pulse	select.<device>_assistant_N_wake_word_effect
Assistant is thinking	Thinking effect	Default	select.<device>_assistant_N_thinking_effect
Assistant is replying	Replying effect	Default	select.<device>_assistant_N_replying_effect
A request failed	Ring on failure	Alert	select.<device>_ring_ring_on_failure
Microphones are muted	Ring while muted	None	select.<device>_ring_ring_while_muted
An intercom call is ringing	Ring for an incoming call	Beacon	select.<device>_ring_ring_for_an_incoming_call
An intercom call is up	Ring during a call	Pulse	select.<device>_ring_ring_during_a_call
Always, following the room’s sound	Ring follows the room	None	select.<device>_ring_ring_follows_the_room
The red mute light	Mute LED brightness	Bright	select.<device>_microphone_mute_led_brightness

Tip

Effects use the ring’s color. Set the color on LED ring first, then pick the effect. Effects with their own palette, like Fireplace or Rainbow, ignore it.

Effects

Kind	Effects
Calm	Pulse, Heartbeat, Ripple, Standing Wave, Twinkle, Crimson Heartbeat, Aurora Pulse, Candle, Fireplace, Embers, Aurora, Sunset Drift, Ocean Ripple, Rainbow Twinkle, Forest Twinkle
Moving	Comet, Chase, Scanner, Pinwheel, Spiral, Wipe, Helix, Orbits, Bounce, Spring, Rainbow, Fire Comet, Ice Comet, Rainbow Chase, Ice Scanner, Rainbow Pinwheel, Sunset Spiral, Rainbow Orbits, DNA, Pac-Man
Attention	Alert, Beacon

Following the room

Ring follows the room keeps the ring moving with the sound in the room, whatever else it’s doing:

Effect	Does
Room Compass	Points at where the sound is coming from
Beam Compass	Points where the microphones are listening
Room Glow	Lights more of the ring as the room gets louder
Room Meter, Room Ocean, Room VU	A level meter around the ring, in the ring’s color, ocean blues or VU green to red
Room Fire	Flames that flare with the sound
Room Spin	Spins faster as it gets louder
Room Aurora, Room Twinkle, Room Embers	Their calm effects, livelier when it’s loud

Volume and sounds

The Dot’s volume, cue sounds and alert sounds are on Settings in Home Assistant. Sounds for alarms and timers are on Messages, timers and alarms, and your own sounds on Custom tones.