Teken

30 minutes isn't long enough if you have more than 25 items. ========================= In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

What a great weekend eh? [emoji5] Having done this same process so many times is never fun. [emoji37] The only thing more depressing is reading about how some people with 2413S PLM's with 2.1 / 2.2 hardware have also failed within six months! [emoji35] ========================= In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

I gather this is a good compromise until dimming scenes natively is supported. I honestly thought I was stupid in asking her to dim the lights and nothing was being done. What are the different variations (spoken phrases) to initiate the dimming / brighten process?

This is true, but I reserve the right to bitch about it when its mostly cloudy! Ha . . . Back On Topic: When you say 95% for you and 90% for your wife can you offer some insight as to what words, phrases, are not being activated correctly? Perhaps this will offer some us an idea of words to avoid . . . Right now I can ask Alexa to turn on the *Ceiling Light / Ceiling Lights* and see the request do match the request via the log. Yet she will either say OK and nothing happens. Or tell me this device can't be found then turn the blasted thing on WTF? As suggested by Barry Gordon I have actively started using the word *Shut Off* instead of Turn Off* because for what ever reason Alexa will obey this command even though both are captured in the history logs? Also, while viewing the history logs its quite apparent some of the problems seen is due to the cloud. Meaning I can sit there asking her dozens of things and see the requests streaming into the history. Later the same requests are not seen at all in the history and the updating is no longer live. So there is a delay, bottleneck happening from the various multi hops Barry Gordon took the time to detail for all of us.

If that can't be done perhaps allowing a longer session could be done. Instead of the 1 minute extension let it reset the 14 minute login time. Being prompted to extend the session by one minute isn't very useful for most people. In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Just completed the voice training module lets see if my success rate is better moving forward. For those who haven't completed this task it requires the user to speak 25 sentences. If you make a mistake speaking the sentence the system will let you try again. The whole voice training process took about two minutes to complete.

I think many would argue it was the other way around. But I digress as its been a age old question that many find interested in debating. For me with respect to Energy Monitoring / Energy Management if companies like UDI don't develop it for consumer to use how will they ever know there is a need or see it grow? It has to start from the vendor not the consumer because the consumer has already purchased the hardware whether it be the Echo, 994, Insteon, Green Eye Monitor, etc. The next step is to use these existing hardware platforms and make proper use of the data into a meaningful way. One can not simply have the ability to turn something on / off with out the for knowledge or history about how it will impact the user later on.

Hello Rahnee, If you have ever taken the time to read my rants, raves, and praises. You will quickly realize I have a very dim view of the so called *Cloud Power*. Not because its not powerful, flexible, or extensible . . . It has to do with the whole cloud first mentality that has perverted the whole idea and concept of the cloud. Having said this I won't spend too much time regurgitating all the hate I have for such services. My goal for the Amazon Echo is probably a lot different than most here. My primary goal is to use Alexa as a tool which I believe most don't consider as the primary factor. Its more of a convenience for many to allow hands free control of lights, fans, media, shades, etc. My ultimate goal is to see the Amazon Echo be able to assist me in a proactive way to manage the homes energy consumption, targets, and metrics via programs. At some point my hopes are to see Alexa have the ability to actively announce things to me. Then, I will be able to decide what sort of program or measures to take to help manage my homes over all comfort, energy, and force protection elements. Things of interest to me is knowing of impending hazard alerts like freezing rain, road conditions, extreme wind chill / low temps, with other related weather related warnings like tornado, hurricane, earth quake, etc I already receive 24.7.365 weather hazard alerts through my EMS system which is local and has no method to broadcast the same to the end users. To compensate for this I have enrolled in many of the smartphone applications which does the very same and its great because it allows push notifications and e-mail alert of the same. More than likely the Echo system will truly never replace the dedicated systems I already have in place. But, hey asking is free and you never know what technology will bring in the future. The reality is the above ideas are less than sexy and to be honest doesn't sell as well as others like being able to turn on a light bulb, know the stats for a NFL team. This product is more geared toward the convenience and fad driven types. There are some real useful things like being able to create a *To Do* but the short comings of this feature is its not currently possible to have Alexa actually schedule the to do list. Meaning if I say go shovel the snow there isn't a method to set a date and time and then have her initiate that task. This is the same with her ability to add items to your Google calendar from meetings to appointments. Yes, she can add them but there is no way for her to invoke that remainder in the future. My idea is that at some point this will be very much a two way conversation with Alexa where she will be able to do from the most basic to advanced voice driven tasks. I've often thought if someone took the time to package a few of her basic features into a group which I could customize to my liking. Categories like Weather, Finances, Health, Shopping, Media, Security, Energy, Home, etc In the case of weather it would be as simple as me being able to say to her Alexa are there any weather alerts I need to know about. If so add them to my alerts and inform me every min, hour, day, week, day of, etc. I should be able to set thresholds of low, high, time frame, etc. With respect to the energy portion which interests me the most is the ability for her to tell me first what my current energy consumption is that moment. She would indicate where I am in the defined budget for that month and be able to compare from previous months targets. Once I knew where I was in terms of energy consumption she would follow up by asking me to initiate one of dozens of energy modes I have already defined in my 994 Series Controller. I've posed this same very question in this forum but sadly it was not well received in terms of being a priority for development and seems to be geared to large POCO's. I honestly can't understand how it is some of these features are being developed for the utilities and not have the very same for the end consumer?? Ultimately who is the utilities serving themselves?!? No, they are serving the consumer and obviously its the same consumer that is buying the 994 series controller! This is why I am hard pressed to understand how on one had this kind of feature is being developed and supported for the utility but not for the user. As I stated above Energy Awareness & Energy Management is not sexy and sadly don't see it ever being sexy for the average consumer. The only light in the tunnel I've seen is the slow push from the Z-Wave / ZigBee camp where they are offering more devices that can monitor and track energy consumption at the device level. This is great to see even if they are not very accurate but at least they are being supported in the 994. Perhaps one day Energy Management will become sexy and people will see value in supporting it. As it is this is very much the chicken and the egg situation . . .

So the voice training can be used for all the different people who use the device? Its not a one time affair to get the hardware to understand just the basics? Also, can you offer a little more insight about the Echo? Is this one of the first beta units that were sold for the $99.XX sale price or a more recent version since production has ramped up?

Has anyone completed the voice training portion in the Alexa App? I ask because perhaps this is one of the reasons she is not completing the task I ask of her. Its late here so will try this voice training in the morning. If others have already tried it I would love to read about the outcome and whether it increased the accuracy of her voice control. I figure if it can hear and obey some of you across the 49th parallel with a southern drawl. It should be able to understand a Canadian back bacon eating swaggart like me! Ha . . .

I really walked into that didn't, Eh? I've been checking the App and it does in fact confirm what my spoken phrase is but does not activate the scene. I will review the other logs in case there was something I over looked. I freely admit sometimes I speak very quickly but should that really matter when a back bacon swaggart like me is saying it? Ha . . .

After reading several threads here and else where is there a definitive answer / solution to Alexa indicating a device is not found? Yet she will actually operate the device, scene, program? Sometimes Alexa will absolutely not turn on a device no matter how many times I ask her. An hour later I will ask her to turn on the exact same device, scene, program, and it will work?!?! Insight

As indicated above I too filled in all related fields and waited about 30 minutes in case there was some kind of replication process needed. Sadly, nothing happen. [emoji37] The blank screen isn't a huge issue I simply wanted to call out this problem in hopes of avoiding support calls. [emoji4] In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Hello Benoit, Understood and appreciate the insight perhaps this needs to be called out some where for users. As most people who see the pop up message would assume the message indicates stay logged in until such time as the users wishes to leave. Just trying to avoid misunderstanding and support calls . . .

Hello Benoit, Hard reloaded and cleared the web browser cache on Chrome and its fine now. Should there be a *Stay Login* message option available somewhere now? I am not prompted at all and see no method to enable this feature which is most welcome!

Hello Benoit, So very close but no cigar still happening . . .

Hello, I saw the IFTT announcement and tried moments ago to login to the portal. Upon doing so noticed a new pop up message that indicated do you want to stay logged in. I never got the chance to say yes and the portal continues to log you out over and over again.

Sadly, this device seems to be a perpetual investment in time, resources, and money . . . Perhaps one day the Insteon Gods will let UDI finally make and sell their own . . .

Figures, missed it by this >< much . . .

Hello Michel, Understood about unknown pending approvals on the system but hope to find out why the *More Info* is blank when pressed.

There are two different approaches this is the first one which as I understand works but is no longer being developed so there are some things that need invested time: http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/14525-amazon-echo-and-isy/ This is another one: http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/16337-echo-mapperconfigurator/ This is the one most of the folks are using which Barry Gordon along with others have really helped push the development prior to the UDI Portal: http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/17082-interface-with-amazon-echo/?hl=echo Have a big cup of coffee . . .

Hello Scott, I believe given the above you will find the roll your own solution most excellent and will offer the best long term value. Before the portal existed which is literally only a few weeks now. Many used this excellent method and works extremely well based on feed back in the massive thread. Here is the link just for your own personal edification for the HUB II & ISY Integration: http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/17271-hub-ii-isy-echo-integration/ I will reference the software option as soon as I find it . . .

Hello Scott, The reference to the HUB II is made by Smartlabs who is the maker of Insteon: http://www.smarthome.com/insteon-2245-222-hub.html Let me qualify a few things before we move forward OK. My initial reply to you was to simply offer you a few solutions from free to the most expansive. You can always roll your own with the software package and the use of the middle ware (RPI). Next on the list is using a Insteon HUB II (2245-222) to integrate the Amazon Echo into your Insteon network. Keep in mind the HUB II is supposed to be a stand alone starter controller for those with modest needs. Some enterprising members have come up with a method to integrate the ISY & HUB II where both will operate relatively well together if you're willing to take some risks and sweat equity to make it operate well. For those who have no time, patience, skill, to make the the two solutions work. The UDI Portal will offer the best of in terms of customer experience and integration with other future devices / services. It should be noted that the HUB II does not support X-10. This isn't an issue since the ISY does but I am unsure if the connection of the Echo to the HUB II would see or allow the X-10 device to be controlled and managed. We have a great member named Stu who has tried this integration so wait for him to chime in as to if the combination will allow X-10 support. Only trial and error will offer that insight though . . . I will try to find all the relevant links for you so you can decide on a path before you waste any finances and resources.

Hello Scott, Answers In Line . . .

I hope others will be able to contribute in this endeavor because honestly I won't lie to you this in my mind is the holy grail! I kid you not I have seen lots of make shift things and given what you stated in terms of over all cost. Its in the same ball part as a KPL which has limited capabilities . . . Your working prototype if fully developed could sell quite well if the entire thing was plug & play.