If you're using Gmail make sure you've set up and using an app specific password if you're using two-factor authentication. 

Also, check that your from actually includes an email. It might fail some server relay functions.   First-Name Last-Name:Email-address (don't forget the colon between last-name and email!!!) I actually added " - ISY" following my last name so I can create filters on the send and receive side.

I've always used Gmail with my ISY to send my notifications and get every single one I test within seconds of the trigger. I send from Gmail and receive at Outlook. 

Of course sending from free email services can always change, but I've found it to be reliable and easy once setup. I used to try to send notifications from another system from a hosted personal domain I managed. However, the host (i.e. godaddy or bluehost) was always changing something in the server filters to block automated and timed messages. It never failed if they found a pattern they would seem to block them from going out. That was a lot more frustrating then the ease of using Google's SMTP setup.

 

On 5/3/2019 at 5:18 PM, TomL said:

In case anyone is interested.  Changing the program to 

New Program - [ID 0031][Parent 0001]

If
        'MASTER BEDROOM / bedroom - Main' Heat/Cool State is Cooling
 
<snip>

instead of the original

MBR Cool On - [ID 0075][Parent 006F]

If
        'MASTER BEDROOM / bedroom - Cool Ctl' is switched On

 <snip>

Solved the problem.  Thanks all for your help.

 

 

Great! Looks like you went with the status route rather than "switched" route. I had that problem with lights that I wanted to get notifications from even if they were turned on/off by program/echo command/mobile app rather than only when physically switched on at the source. Perhaps thermostats work the same way, and the switched was looking for a power or cycle change.

 

You might be able to have it email you based on variables in the email too so you could have this email when turned on and off. One of my notifications is formatted this way:

 

At ${sys.time12} ${sys.node.#.name} turned ${alert.control}

Edit: Variables found in WIKI:   https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=ISY-994i_Series:EMail_and_Networking_Substitution_Variables

 

I have a program that calls for when items turn on/off an email gets sent. 

--------(program edited for brief posting)--------

Email-On or Off - 

If
        Status 'Play Room' is On
     Or Status 'Play Room' is Off
 
Then
        Send Notification to 'Email' content 'Light On-Off'
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

-----------------------

 

So, perhaps if your program was On -or- Off you could have it email you depending on the status of the on/off mode. 

I have a folder in the programs tab just for email notifications to keep then separate from operational programs. 

Glad you got it to work as you wanted!

 

Also want to make sure you've set up an email correctly. Even though you said you tested it and got the test email you've got to actually setup the email that you're calling for in the program.

Configurations -> Emails/Notifications -> Customizations

 

My email when an outside light comes on:

 

Email-Front-ON - [ID 0005][Parent 0010]

If
        Status  'Front Door' is On
 
Then
        Send Notification to 'Email' content 'Light On'
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

 

Then the custom notification is:

 

 

 

 

Be careful if you turn on two factor authentication (for Gmail)! You'll need to create an app specific password.

@larryllix, would repeat really go first, or does it matter? 

@jmpnjimbob I might also suggest to add (check) "random" option for the wait line (if you're leaving it on longer than 1 minute). Depending on what you're trying to accomplish. The random will make it look as though the lights aren't on a fixed schedule (more lived in look). Again, depending on what you're trying to accomplish it might look more random to have lights on and off at different times during the day. 

But for the "simple and easy" way the above works fine. 

Welcome to ISY programming! 

 

10 hours ago, paulbates said:

Are you sure there is solid communications from the switch to the isy? can you open the admin console near the switch, turn the switch on / off 10 times while watching the  admin console response? it should 10 ons an 10 offs

 

Paul - I'll test it, but it hasn't been a problem in the past to think it wouldn't be solid communication with the ISY. 

 

 

2 hours ago, oberkc said:

If this fails to work, I would be looking at issues other than programmatic.  And, as I said, it depends on your goals.  If you want only to trigger when the switch is manually activated, use control conditions.  If you want to trigger when the switch is turned on in any way (manually, program, scene) then use the scene condition as suggested by paulbates.

oberkc - seemed to work fine. I tested a couple of times yesterday, and it seems to work better than the way I had it. I knew the light was turned off and I didn't get any notifications about it having to be turned off by the timer. 

 

The goal is to turn off the light after 20-30 minutes (typically this is in a room that we don't spend a lot of time in so we come/go to the room, and sometimes either we'll forget to turn the light off or just not turn it off there's no reason to leave it on all day. So I want a timer to turn it off. The thing I like to know is that it turned off because of the timer rather than if it turned off manually or through app/echo interaction. So, the status seemed to make the best sense. I think the biggest thing was that I was getting notifications even though the light was turned off manually. The timer was still running and just sent a reminder even though the light was off. I think with the status it's working the way I wanted it to.

 

 

 

10 hours ago, paulbates said:

Think your best bet would be to not use Control, but rather Status for the If clause. The change in status will cause the program to stop on its own and you won't need the Else clause

Paul

Paul - Thanks, I'll try it out. I think I had this at one point, but was still getting notifications.

 

 

9 hours ago, oberkc said:

Using status may be the easiest approach, but would depend on your goals.  If you desire only to track and react to the switch being manually turned on (as opposed to being turned on as a scene responder, for example), another approach could be:

if

control 'bonus' is switched on

and 

control 'bonus" is not switched off

then

….unchanged....

 

oberkc, I'm 100% sure I had this first and something didn't work right, but if status doesn't change getting the notification then I'll try this method.

 

 

The main desire is to get confirmation (through the email notification) that the light had been turned off. I just hate leaving this light on randomly. I don't want/need notification every time it is turned off, but only if the timer triggered it to turn off. 

 

Thanks for the quick replies. If there are other methods I'm willing to try those as well.

 

I've tried a few searches, but cannot find the method of doing what I am attempting so wanted to ask for the best/proper way to handle this...

 

I have a light in the a room that will get left on that I would like to turn off after 20 or 30 minutes and get a notification email that the light went off. I've had it working decently, but found that even if the light is turned off the program runs and send me an email at 20 minutes saying it turned the light off...even though it was manually turned off within 3-5 minutes of it going on.

 

The program is currently setup like this:

------------------------------------------

Bonus Light - Off - [ID 0040][Parent 0001][Run At Startup]

If
        Control 'Bonus' is switched On
 
Then
        Wait  30 minutes 
        Set 'Bonus' Off
        Send Notification to 'Primary Email' content 'Bonus Timed Off'
 
Else
        Stop program 'Bonus Light - Off'
------------------------------------------

 

What I'm trying to accomplish is to set it to turn the light off, but only notify me if it had to be turned off by timer. If the light is manually turned off then it shouldn't be turned off by timer, and shouldn't email me.

 

I'm guessing the "best/proper" way would be to somehow break this up into 3 programs, but I was hoping that there was a simple 1 program way to do this.

 

Looking forward to the process.

 

ISY firmware version 4.6.2

 

 

We haven't noticed any down time, and use Echo in 3 rooms. Other than it not hearing clear commands (thanks to a loud child or other background noise) it's worked just fine the numerous times we've used it (and trust me, during summer break it's getting a workout by wife and kid). Other than a few ISP dropped connections (due to storms) we haven't had any issues.

 

Thanks for the help! Also got some help from nathagt. Ended up having to go through the process again. Since iOS doesn't have "forget all devices" in the app I had to go through that process on the web access to Alexa/Echo. 

 

For my fix:

Go to: https://alexa.amazon.com/spa/index.html#appliances

"Forget all"

turn off V3

allow things to update (I gave it about 10 minutes)

re-enable V3 & link account

discover items

 

Bingo! Things were back with light bulbs, switches, and scenes like they should be. 

 

I recreated a routine in the iPhone Alexa App to test turning off a few lights with the routine option (rather than programs or scenes from ISY), and it worked as it had in V2.

 

All seems to be working right now. It's a pain that the step of forgetting all devices when going from V2 to V3 is only available through the web access with Alexa and not on the smartphone app (at least for iOS). 

 

Thanks all for the help!

-Scott

In the past every so often, after playing with the setup, you would have to go to the bottom of the device list (In alexa app) and "delete all", then rediscover or you got duplicate names and trouble. The trend today is to grab onto everything you can in a database. As a piece of software, they think it makes it  look smarter.

 

When you say "in alexa app" do you mean the smartphone app or on the computer? I found that the "delete all" or "forget all" was only available on the web connection (https://alexa.amazon.com/spa/index.html) with Echo. The latest version of the iPhone app doesn't have a "delete all" function.  

 

So, the steps of updating from V2 to V3 said to forget all devices, but didn't specifically say to use the computer side. There was mention of it later in the discussion somewhere, but never put in the wiki that was linked in a recent email about updating to V3.

What specifically does not work?

 

I can't explain it much better. It's just there is a "routine" option in the Echo app. When they introduced it last year it seemed to be an "easier" way to setup a process to turn off a bunch of lights without having to make a scene or program in the ISY. It saved me tons of "programming" time and made it easy for my family to turn off most nonessential lights. Now, with the V3 update I can't get the "routine" option to trigger any lights turning off. I can add lights, but they show up as houses with what I call "wifi" icons inside them. They don't look the same as they did before. I've gone back into the ISY portal to make sure everything is shown as a switch or light. Nothing changes on the Echo/Alexa app side.

 

 

 

I would try to remove the kitchen from the routine and re-add it. I'm guessing that the routine may be referencing the older kitchen device from V2 that no longer exists.

 

Benoit

 

I have removed the entire routine, and recreated it. I went through the steps of forgetting all devices and turning off V2 then enabling V3 and then rediscovering the devices. Everything seemed to populate back into the Alexa app on the phone (iPhone X iOS 11.2.5).  I can control some lights as usual, but some that I just installed (Fanlinc and switches) aren't showing in the new V3 even though they are in my portal. The stuff that does show up in the Alexa App shows up as I mentioned above and shown in the original post.

 

It's interesting that each device shows up and each spoken option shows up as different devices. I have multiple spoken phrases for most lights for when family comes over they can control the lights with the Alexa with common phrases for rooms/lights in case they don't know what we specifically call it maybe they can get close enough...if we're not there.

 

 

Thanks for the help. Hopefully it's a simple re-set process. I'll try forgetting the devices and re-enable V3 again tonight when I'm home.

Similar to this post (https://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/23234-problem-with-routine) I'm having an issue with the V3 update and how routines work (or rather don't work).

 

Background:

 

Under V2 we had a "routine" in Alexa/Echo that we could simply say, "Alexa, time for bed". The result would be that it would turn off about 15 lights no matter their status. This was setup within the Alexa smartphone app (iOS). 

 

 

Current issue: I went through the steps to remove/deactivate V2 and "forget devices" on the computer side of Echo/Alexa. I then added V3 and found devices. Everything seems to work when I say, "Alexa, turn kitchen on" - the kitchen will turn on. (The kitchen is a Device/Light on the portal page connection).

 

When I created the routine as we had before nothing happens. You can only create the routine on the smartphone app (I don't see routines available on the web version for Echo). 

 

Here are some screen shots showing what I see and what we're trying. 

 

Alexa/Echo made it so easy with the routines to not have to say "alexa turn "something" on" to do what we wanted. It made it easier to remember and simple for us to just say, "Alexa, time for bed" and it worked. 

 

Pictures:

Menu you get on the smarphone app when opened from top left of phone

 

Creating a new routine shows this screen

 

Called the routine "bedtime" (for this test only). I added the kitchen light to the routine for testing.  We should be able to say, "Alexa, bedtime" and it will turn the kitchen light off.

 

This shows the kitchen and kitchen light as options. They are different because we have 2 spoken names for the kitchen ("kitchen" and "kitchen light" control the same device/switches)

 

This shows that we want it to turn off the "kitchen"

 

This shows how the kitchen setup in the ISY portal with the Echo connectivity. 

 

 

I'd like to get this working again, since it was so easy in the past. In the post linked above it got hijacked and the issue seemed not to be understood exactly what was going on. There was a suggestion made by nathagt (https://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/23234-problem-with-routines/page-2?do=findComment&comment=230389) that might work...I'm going to head off to try that soon, but wanted to ask if the easy way of having a routine was broken somehow with V3 and point out the steps we went through to create this previously. It shouldn't break something in an update, but if Echo and UD aren't working together then I'm sure they could have broken the functionality of this.

 

It was a welcomed process with Echo added "Routines". Hopefully it will be usable in the near future without having to reset a lot of different things.

 

I look forward to suggestions!

 

-Scott