How to Turn an Echo Dot into a Night Light

How to Turn an Echo Dot into a Night LightAll these electronic gadgets often mean you have more things to plug in that you have power receptacles.  Sure, you could have a power strip in every room, but here’s a way to reduce the number of required receptacles.  At least a reduction of one.  We’re going to show you how to turn your Echo Dot into a night light.

First, you need a mount to attach it to the wall receptacle.  Same way you would a night light.

The photo that accompanies this article deploys the Matone Outlet Wall Mount Hanger Stand for Dot 2nd Generation & Other Round Voice Assistants. A fairly clever mount.  This mounting kit includes a bracket with two openings.  The A/C adapter that came with your Echo Dot 2nd generation fits into the rectangular opening.  It fits tightly within the opening which is surrounded by rubber for a tighter fit.  The other round opening is where the Echo Dot belongs.  It snaps within the opening.  A very short micro USB cable is included to connect the Echo Dot to the A/C adapter.

This mount accomplishes two things.  It places the device right where a traditional night light would go.  It also removes yet another big long cable from what’s potentially an already crowded power outlet.  This type of mount is ideal for a bathroom or bedroom.

A similar mount is The Spot by Dot Genie.  The Spot includes a plastic holder and short, custom length micro USB cable.  Add the A/C adapter that came with your Echo Dot.   Installation is very easy and you get to eliminate the extra long cable that comes with the Echo Dot.  We have used a similar concept from a different company to hold a Nest Cam and we liked it a lot.  In addition to the virtual elimination of the cable, the device is kept somewhat out of the way without reducing functionality.

Now how do you turn your Echo Dot into a night light?  That is going to require activation of a skill.  Get into the Alexa App and search for “night light”.  Several will come up.  They all do different things.

The one that seemed to emulate a traditional night light the best is the one called Night Light written by a company called labworks.io ltd.  Once the skill is activated, simply say “Alexa, open Night Light”.  When you want it off, just say “Alexa close Night Light”.  You can also simply say “Alexa, stop”.

This app will light up the blue ring around the upper edge of the device.  It’s not overly bright, but provides the room with some light just like a night light.

You can use this app to turn other devices besides an Echo Dot into a night light.  It should work well on the larger Amazon Echo (although you can’t use the recommended mount on that one).  Since there isn’t a light ring on the Echo Tap or any of the video devices, it won’t work there.  But if you have any of the devices with the top light ring, this is a nice way to consolidate a night light into your Echo devices.

We also wrote a recent article on how to mount an Echo Dot around the home or office if you would like to get some more ideas on this topic.