Rob

I know this thread is almost a year old but can anyone elaborate on "TV" being context aware? I have a few tv's in the home and obviously they can't all be called TV. They're all classified as AV devices in myisy and all are named like "Living Room TV" where "Living Room" is also the name of the Room it's assigned to in Alexa. I can say "Alexa, turn on lights" without having to specify the room name. I would like to say "Alexa, turn on the tv" but she responds with the standard warning about multiple devices sharing that name. Am I missing something or is this not possible? thanks rob

That seems to be an issue for several of us. Opening a ticket with the Roomie dev proved futile. I found if I only have a single Roomie instance open it works fine. Now I only keep my wall-mounted ipad on Roomie and use Alexa most of the time.

I also just experienced this problem. Thanks to Condor for the fix. I've pm'd Benoit my uuid. Some key times in case it helps: ~7:30am EST last successful command ~5:00pm EST first unsuccessful command ~5:30pm EST disable/enable skill ~5:30pm EST most recent successful command I also noticed in Alexa devices/scenes were showing as offline (this was after I disabled the skill, didn't check prior). After discovering my devices all show as online and everything works as intended. Thanks rob

EDIT: I see the behavior stusviews describes on the alexa web portal but not the ios app. I've pretty much stopped using the web portal as it has yet to be updated for routines and smart groups, unless I'm missing something. Did you disable the V2 skill? I'm not seeing that behavior. On a side note, it appears as though the smart groups feature works as intended, although only with devices and not scenes. I can now say "turn off the lights" in the office and the lights turn off.

Thanks for the suggestion stusviews, but I don’t think that achieves the results I am looking for. I want to be able to say “Alexa turn off the lights” and the lights in the room I am currently in turn off. I want to avoid having to specify the room. One command that works everywhere in the house is much easier for visitors, kids, or those with speech impediments. Please correct me if I’m wrong about my understanding of the new groups feature.

Getting back on topic, unless I'm missing something I'm a bit disappointed in the new groups. While I can create a group and assign an Alexa device as well as other smarthome devices to it, I'm still unable to obtain my ultimate goal of "Alexa Turn Off the Lights" without using multiple accounts. I created 3 groups (Office, Living Room, Master Bedroom), assigned an Alexa device to each as well as an ISY scene. In each group I renamed the scene from "Living Room Lights" (or "Office Lights" or "Master Bedroom Lights") to simply "Lights". So far so good. Where it falls apart is when I'm in the appropriate room and say "Alexa Turn Off the Lights", she will respond "OK" but may turn on any 1 of the 3 "Lights" scenes, regardless of the room I'm in. Basically she cycles through each instance of "Lights" so if I repeat myself 3x from the Living Room, I'll end up with lights on in all 3 rooms. Anyone else having this issue? I do like the new Routines feature however. Much nicer to say "Alexa, goodbye" instead of "Alexa, turn on Away Mode"

I have a Play:5 on order and am looking forward to trying out Alexa with it. Too bad the "rich" integration doesn't work with local libraries, though transport, volume, and power controls will.

Here's an article on the Alexa announcements from a couple of weeks ago: https://www.cepro.com/article/new_amazon_echo_plus_zigbee_home_automation_alexa/news "The ability to issue non-specific commands is supported through the smart home Groups feature (not ESP). With Groups, customers can place an Echo and smart devices into smart home groups, which enables Alexa to act intelligently on your request. For example, if you create a “kitchen” group that includes an Echo and counter lights, you can just say “Alexa, turn on the lights” rather than “Alexa, turn on the kitchen overhead lighting.” ​It's being rolled out this month and judging from the description it likely doesn't need anything special from UDI's end. The new Routines feature sounds pretty good too (also mentioned in the above link).

Presumably it'll support the Alexa entertainment skill which will allow for things like "pause the tv" or "change input to the media player". I'm also hoping for support of the new groupings in Alexa. Assign an Alexa device to a room and you can say "turn on the lights" instead of "living room lights" or "kitchen lights". Assuming you are closer to one or the other Alexa device, the appropriate lights will turn on. At least that's my understanding after reading the announcement a few weeks ago.

The v3 skill is coming soon from what I understand. The button appeared after an update to the portal last month in preparation for the new skill.

Amazon introduced several new devices today. I've already pre-ordered the Echo Spot to replace a Dot in the bedroom. It'll make a perfect alarm clock.

Hi Stusviews, Thanks for the reply. I'm aware that's a program. What I unsuccessfully tried to describe is that I'm using that program in lieu of a scene in order to be able to set light levels using a state variable (Alexa, set the master suite lights to 50%). If I turn that program On via Alexa, I am able to turn it Off via Alexa. If I turn the lights On via some other method (local control via the switch, part of some other scene, or from another program), I am unable to turn them Off via Alexa without first turning that program On or adjusting the light level via Alexa. That being said, I've narrowed the issue to my state variable. When I turn the program On or adjust the level, the state variable is >0 (makes sense). When I turn the same lights On via anything other than Alexa, the state variable is 0 (also makes sense, as that variable is only set from Alexa). If I then manually adjust the state variable to >0 via the admin console, I'm able to turn the lights Off by Alexa. Otherwise, no go. I also tried your suggestion of turning the devices Off via the Else statement to no avail. I'll continue to pursue this as I'm sure it'll end up being something simple.

Hi, I'm running into a strange problem controlling lights programmatically as mentioned above. I can turn lights on and off, as well as set the desired level, all via Alexa. Pretty cool. However, if a scene/light is turned on, either via local control or via ISY, I am unable to turn off that scene/light via Alexa without first turning it on again via Alexa. It's not a comm issue as I can turn off the scene via Alexa if it was originally turned on by her. Below is a sample scene. Any insight is welcome as I'm about ready to go back to using scenes even though I'll miss being able to set the brightness level. All of this is on 5.0.10. I should also mention I've tried "If $sMasterSuiteLights is $sMasterSuiteLights" with the same results. Thanks! If $sMasterSuiteLights is not 100000000 Then Set '2nd Floor / Master Suite / Devices / Master Suite Lights' On '$sMasterSuiteLights %' Set '2nd Floor / Master Suite / Devices / Master Suite Lamps' On '$sMasterSuiteLights %' Set '2nd Floor / Master Suite / Devices / Master Suite KP Lights' On '$sMasterSuiteLights %' Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

Yes, I would love to see this implemented as well.

This exactly. I have a cleaning service every couple of months and my Neato handles the vacuuming between visits. I'll occasionally bust out a mop if the dog has muddy paws that I missed when letting him in, but my regular vacuum doesn't get much use anymore.

My first floor is ~1200 s/f. It'll run for 50-60 minutes getting 90% of the floor, return to its base to recharge, and pick up where it left off. It's really quite impressive. Recharge takes a couple of hours. I paid $250 for it a couple of years ago on clearance. The new models are around $400+. I've probably gone through 3 sets of NiMH batteries at $40 a pop. When they start to go, you'll see drastically less runtime and much longer recharges. Newer models use LiON and have longer runtimes, as well as a little brush on the side to get closer to the wall. I'm confident the newer model could get my entire floor in one pass. When prices drop, I'll pick up another one and move my old one upstairs.

The Roomba you can confine to a certain area using their "virtual wall" devices. The Neato uses magnetic tape placed on the floor to limit its path. Neither, AFAIK, can be told to clean a specific room without having to physically pick it up and place it in the area to be cleaned. That would be a nice feature, though. My Neato can do 90% of my first floor, finds its way back to recharge, and complete the rest of the level. I still get a kick out of how well it navigates the house and can find its way back to the docking station.

I have the Neato XV-11 for a few years now and love it. It'll map out the room and vacuum it rather methodically, compared to the seemingly random fashion of the Roomba. I have it scheduled to clean 2x weekly all I have to do is to empty the dust bin after every cleaning. It does a great job but I have mostly hardwood floors with a single room of berber. I can't really see how adding Alexa to it would make it any more useful.

The Venstar (at least some models) support remote wired and wireless temp sensors. You could add one in the basement and configure the Venstar to average the 2 temps. I was going to do this but ended up replacing my HVAC system. Check the Venstar site for more details on the remote sensors.

Disabling the LED is mentioned on page 10 of the full manual (not the Quickstart). - Press and Hold the All On and Dim buttons for 3 seconds until it beeps. LED should be blinking at this point - Tap the All Off button LED should turn off Rob

I did a bit more troubleshooting by adding the 2 problem devices into a my "dining room" scene as controllers. If I trigger the scene from the dining room, all devices operate as expected and the ISY status is correct. If I trigger the scene from either of the 2 problem devices, all devices operate as expected but the ISY status is incorrect for the 2 bad devices. Querying them fixes the incorrect status. thanks rob

Hi Michel, I've upgraded to 2.7.12 and re-added the unsupported device, which now shows up properly as a SLR Remote Control On/Off Siwtch v.3a. The other problem device always was auto-detected as a SLD w/ Sense v.38 which is actually incorrect. It's a SLD but has no sense. Both are installed in a 2-gang box in a bathroom. Since it was easier to move the ISY and PLM I plugged it in to the outlet next to the problem switches (and on the same circuit). I am still getting about a 5-10% success rate with status when controlled locally. There is no activity in the event viewer. Repeatedly pressing On or Off will eventually make the status update but sometimes throw an "ISY is unable to communicate w/ Guest Bath Fan" or "w/ Guest Bath Lights" depending on the button I mashing. With the ISY still in the guest bathroom, it was still picking up other device updates through the house and had 100% success in the scene test for the problem lights. Just local status. I think I'm about ready to RMA them but I find it strange that both a new relay and new dimmer in the same location have the same problem. I don't think it's a loose neutral otherwise I would think the scene test and querying would be failing. Any suggestions? many thanks, rob

OK, seems like adding the new SL Dimmer and SL Relay to scenes didn't fix the problem with local status. I'd say approx 10% of the time the ISY has the status correct. The new dimmer controls 2 60 watt incadescent lights and the relay controls a bathroom vent fan. I have a passive Signalinc at the panel and the ISY and PLM is near the panel. Testing the scenes I added the devices to proved 100% success rate of 15 attempts. Querying the devices directly takes only a single hop. All of this indicates to me that the linequality is fine. I even added a spare AP on outlets either side of the problem switches to no avail. The dimmer shows up as a v38 dimmer with sense, which it does not have. I forced the relay as a Relay (no sense) and it shows up as v00 as I understand it will be recognized in the next release. thanks rob

When you say you're not able to get status updates, do you mean it doesn't seem to detect local control (from the switch)? If so, I seem to be having the same problem. Even a new SL Dimmer v38 I just added seemed to have issues as well. I "fixed" both of them by creating scenes that were empty except for the problem device as a controller. By doing so the ISY now picks up local status change just fine. These are my first devices I've added in quite a while so I'm not sure if the problem is with the ISY or the new devices.... thanks rob

Upgraded from 2.7.9 no problem and everything looks good. I had made only minimal changes in 2.7.9 (swapped 2 thermostats and modified a few programs so it appears everything carried over properly. rob