Amazon Echo - Connected Home Feature!

[junkycosmos]

Hi Michel and Team UDI

 

I am so excited to see this progress here.   Clearly getting into new market territory here.  I do have a roadmap question, please.   Been using Mobilinc connect for a few of the ISY we have 'in the wild' yet would really like to enable ISY Portal.

 

Are there plans to let the ISY Portal and Mobilinc Connect service co-exist?  

 

 

Noted: IMHO the module fee here for your connected integration service is reasonable considering the possibilities.  The difficult issue is loosing Mobilinc connect portal for several of these units.

 

 

thanks much for the progress on the Echo

 

J

 

 

 

>>from module page for ISY Portal<<

Remotely connect through UDI portal. No port forwarding necessary. This is a subscription for 2 years. This will deactivate MobiLinc Connect Module 
Additional functionality, such as Amazon Echo and IFTTT integration, in the works.
Note: Please upgrade to 4.3.26 or above before installing this module.

[bmercier]

Overall this is working great - two observations so far:

 

I assume this is just cosmetic, but incase there's more to it: In the Alexa app on my iPhone if I look at the list of all my devices, most of them have the spoken name on top, and what I assume is meant to be a description underneath. Some devices have the device or scene name listed in the description field while most say "undefined".

 

The empty description is just cosmetic.

In the early implementation of the spoken table, when it was populated with the command "refresh devices", it did not carry the ISY name. The spoken table only carries the ISY name since spoken are managed on portal. So, I believe that those devices were created using "refresh devices".

 

 

 

From a functionality perspective - on devices I have exposed through the Hue Emulator I can say "Alexa set living room to fifty percent" and it does. For ISY devices I get a response of "That command doesn't work on device living room".

 

 

Could it be that living room is a scene?

 

Benoit

[Djlandon]

I have been using the skill and the emulator for a week or two now with no hiccups.

 

I turned off the emulator and removed all links from the echo.  After adding ISY to the connected home tab it would still not detect devices that were set up on the portal.  The fix that ended up working for me was to define "My preferred ISY:" in the portal.  I only have one ISY connect to the portal and had never defined that field before.

 

Well done guys!

[KMan]

Another possible issue:  I have a scene named "master bedroom lamp", but it is showing up in the portal as a device.  I don't know if this has any functional difference.

 

I *think* this is because I used to have a device named "master bedroom lamp", but have since renamed it.  I think the device and scene were both called "master bedroom lamp" at one time, which may have left some weird crumbs within the ISY.

 

ETA:  The portal does not list the device separately, so it is as if the scene and device were combined into 1 entry in the portal ... with the scene's name, and the device's info (it has the address of the device).

 

ETA:  Found another device that I've renamed that has the old name in the portal.  How do I update the list in the portal?

Edited January 13, 2016 by KMan

[stusviews]

Thank you, Benoit for all your effort to enable Echo control. And Michel, too!

[bmercier]

 

A couple questions

1.  Is there any limit to number of devices/scenes that can be defined in ISY portal?

2.  What is the expected / proper syntax for dimming?

 

 

1. Not really.

2. Try this:

Alexa, dim <device>

Alexa, brighten <device>

 

Or for an absolute value:

Alexa, turn on <device> to <number> percent

Alexa, set brightness of <device> to <number> percent

Alexa, dim <device> to <number> percent

 

Benoit

[bmercier]

Can this issue be looked into?  Will multiple spoken names for one device/program eventually be supported?

 

 

How many spoken would you see appropriate for a given device? Would 3 be enough?

 

Benoit

[bmercier]

Anyone have a fanlinc working?  I have one linked in the portal and discovered on the echo but I can't seem to get it to respond.  Alexa says ok when I saw "Living room fan on" or "living room fan high" but the fan doesn't come on.

 

Connected home does not allow to set a level like that. You can only turn on, turn off, dim/brighten and set an absolute brightness value.

 

I would suggest to have 3 program with a spoken like: "living room fan to high", "living room fan to medium", "living room fan to low". 

So you could say, "Alexa, turn on living room fan to medium"

You could turn it off by saying "Alexa, turn off living room fan"

 

Benoit.

[bmercier]

 

I seem to be overlooking something.

I've signed into the echo/alexa page

I've clicked the link to link alexa to isy, which shows as successful, and ISY shows up on the connected home page

I've authorized the portal in the ISY

When I try to select the echo "tool" from the isy portal page I get an error:

"Your portal user profile is not linked to an Amazon account. This will prevent you from using the Alexa Connected Home. To link your account, please go to My profile.

Furthermore, the ISY skill is not linked to your portal user profile. Please go to your echo app, enable the ISY skill, and link the skill with this user profile."

 

Is it possible this is coming up because there is a different name (my business name) showing up in the ISY admin portal authentication vs what is showing on the echo?

Everything including my amazon account are under the same email address and all are on the same LAN.

 

 

No. You can use different email addresses for your portal account vs your amazon account.

 

The message says 2 things:

- Your Connected Home is not linked -> You have to go to My Profile, and click "link this profile with an amazon account"

- Your ISY skill is not linked -> You have to go on the echo app, enable the skill and follow the link process there.

 

The connected home and the skill, although they share similarities in terms of functionality, are 2 totally different things. The portal makes it like it's a single thing (for example the spoken table is the same for both). But the way the linking works is different.

 

Benoit.

[bmercier]

Another possible issue:  I have a scene named "master bedroom lamp", but it is showing up in the portal as a device.  I don't know if this has any functional difference.

 

I *think* this is because I used to have a device named "master bedroom lamp", but have since renamed it.  I think the device and scene were both called "master bedroom lamp" at one time, which may have left some weird crumbs within the ISY.

 

ETA:  The portal does not list the device separately, so it is as if the scene and device were combined into 1 entry in the portal ... with the scene's name, and the device's info (it has the address of the device).

 

ETA:  Found another device that I've renamed that has the old name in the portal.  How do I update the list in the portal?

 

Whenever a device is rename in the admin console, it is not reflected in the spoken table. It is carried there only to facilitate the recognition of the device by the end user.

 

However, this description will be refreshed if you simply edit and save the entry.

 

Benoit.

[JCrank]

ok thanks, thats for the confirmation that the fanlinc will not work in that way.  I already have programs setup for my fan speeds so I will set them up in the portal.

 

 

Connected home does not allow to set a level like that. You can only turn on, turn off, dim/brighten and set an absolute brightness value.

 

I would suggest to have 3 program with a spoken like: "living room fan to high", "living room fan to medium", "living room fan to low". 

So you could say, "Alexa, turn on living room fan to medium"

You could turn it off by saying "Alexa, turn off living room fan"

 

Benoit.

[dywicked]

The empty description is just cosmetic.

In the early implementation of the spoken table, when it was populated with the command "refresh devices", it did not carry the ISY name. The spoken table only carries the ISY name since spoken are managed on portal. So, I believe that those devices were created using "refresh devices".

 

 

 

 

Could it be that living room is a scene?

 

Benoit

Hi Benoit,

 

Re: The undefined description - got it. I'm not sure that's how I populated those devices but as long as it doesn't represent a problems he cosmetics don't matter to me.

 

Re: Setting brightness - You are correct that it is a scene, and the same test on a device works as expected (although it occasionally is failing with the same syntax repeated).

 

The thing to note is, I use scenes in two ways:

 

One way is to simply group devices. For example, there are four recessed lights in my media room which each have a microdimmer these are all part of a scene called "Media Room". I also have a 6 button KPL which brightens and dims a scene including all four lights. This is a type of scene which I would like to control the brightness of (with the Hue emulator I do).

 

The second way I use scenes is to set predefined patterns and brightness levels. If you take the same room in this example I have a "Movie" scene. This scene sets the lights closest to my screen on at 10% brightness and turns the ones toward the rear of the room off to prevent glare. The button on my KPL for this scene is not a toggle - as the intent is always to bring the lights in the scene to this specific configuration.

 

I could see this having unintended consequences if these things are not explicitly defined, but it would be nice to be able to control a scene this way. Perhaps in the future scenes can have an option to be static or variable or something like that (in the echo context).

 

Anyway, I'll say it again - this is pretty great for a start!

 

-David

[cmccartney]

Benoit,

 

Congrats to you and the UDI team. This is a great step forward. I got an Echo for Christmas and was underwhelmed - until today. Now it is wonderful!!

 

Thank you.

[stusviews]

Connected home does not allow to set a level like that. You can only turn on, turn off, dim/brighten and set an absolute brightness value.

 

I would suggest to have 3 program with a spoken like: "living room fan to high", "living room fan to medium", "living room fan to low". 

So you could say, "Alexa, turn on living room fan to medium"

You could turn it off by saying "Alexa, turn off living room fan"

 

Benoit.

 

That doesn't work with the FanLinc. Asking Alexa to turn the <FanLinc name> off works, but <FanName> on does not, not does any program name that sets the FanLinc to a speed (except off) although the program works. Alexa thinks it does and always responds with "OK."

[dywicked]

How many spoken would you see appropriate for a given device? Would 3 be enough?

 

Benoit

If there are constraints that would make more problematic, 3 sounds like a reasonable number.

 

-David

[gduprey]

Is there a list of good and bad words to use with this?

 

For example, I tried to create a program entry "open garage door" and alexa keeps saying it can't find anything called "garage door" (stripping the open or close).  This happens with the short version or the explicit "run program open garage door".  I find that other words like having "lights' in a name really seems to make things ambiguous.

 

It cannot process the word "counter". It says it cannot find a device named "counter", so it understands/parses the word, but it cannot match things (for a test, I renamed a light to just "counter" -- nothing else -- and it still said it couldn't find counter.  Renamed it to "hallway" and it worked fine.  Is "counter" a special word?

 

I can get things to work, but it looks like there are pitfalls regarding what words you can and cannot use and finding a map/list would be a huge help.

In concept though -- it's brilliant!!  I can't wait to make more of it work.

 

Gerry

[jsmith6]

Anyone have a fanlinc working?  I have one linked in the portal and discovered on the echo but I can't seem to get it to respond.  Alexa says ok when I saw "Living room fan on" or "living room fan high" but the fan doesn't come on.

 

Yes, mine's working.

 

EDIT: I mean, I can activate a program to run the fan at a specified speed.

Edited January 13, 2016 by jsmith6

[bmercier]

If there are constraints that would make more problematic, 3 sounds like a reasonable number.

 

-David

 

Well it's mostly a matter of UI.

 

Alternatively, an easy change could be to stick to 1 field, and use a delimiter like a comma. This way, the number of aliases could be almost unlimited. But that would not be as intuitive a let's say 3 fields under the other.

 

Benoit.

[jsmith6]

Got it set up and working, and had a few bumps along the way ....

 

1)  UI issue in the portal

Using Chrome Version 47.0.2526.106 m, on Windows 10 ...

If I close and then re-open the "Amazon Echo" tool, the second time (and all subsequent times) the window is opened, it is positioned to start above my chrome window, so the top of the dialog box is cut off.  There are no scroll bars or any apparent way to move the window.  This is most apparent if I've changed the number of entries to 100 (41 are shown total), in which case several devices aren't visible due to being off the top of the window.

 

Yes, I have this problem as well using Safari. I changed the number of devices to 10, and reopened the browser, and it worked then.

[btreinders]

Yes, I have this problem as well using Safari. I changed the number of devices to 10, and reopened the browser, and it worked then.

 

 

Same issue for me with Chrome in Windows 10.  IE seems better. Edit: IE has the same issue.

[bmercier]

Is there a list of good and bad words to use with this?

 

For example, I tried to create a program entry "open garage door" and alexa keeps saying it can't find anything called "garage door" (stripping the open or close).  This happens with the short version or the explicit "run program open garage door".  I find that other words like having "lights' in a name really seems to make things ambiguous.

 

It cannot process the word "counter". It says it cannot find a device named "counter", so it understands/parses the word, but it cannot match things (for a test, I renamed a light to just "counter" -- nothing else -- and it still said it couldn't find counter.  Renamed it to "hallway" and it worked fine.  Is "counter" a special word?

 

I can get things to work, but it looks like there are pitfalls regarding what words you can and cannot use and finding a map/list would be a huge help.

 

In concept though -- it's brilliant!!  I can't wait to make more of it work.

 

Gerry

 

Are you using the skill? or connected home?

 

If you are saying, "Alexa, ask izzy to run program garage door", this is the skill.

 

With the skill, yes, some words will be much easier to be recognized than others. Words being skipped is a common symptom that we can observe with the skill. The skill will be enhanced soon, and a list of sample devices will be published on the wiki and forum.

 

Connected home has a much better facility at recognizing any device that you set, provided this is a common english word. This could be number as well, but I believe it has to be textual (2 -> two). I have not tested that though with connected home. The reason for the connected home working better than the skill is that the spoken that you define are known to Alexa. When you do your device discovery, this brings this list somewhere where Alexa can look it up and find the right one.

 

Benoit.

[dywicked]

Well it's mostly a matter of UI.

 

Alternatively, an easy change could be to stick to 1 field, and use a delimiter like a comma. This way, the number of aliases could be almost unlimited. But that would not be as intuitive a let's say 3 fields under the other.

 

Benoit.

Selfishly I would prefer a comma delimited list, but can see how this would get ugly and confusing, especially when just reviewing the list. What if instead of having multiple spoken fields, you could simply have multiple instances of the same device/scene/etc. but with different spoken definitions? That way if a user wants to see a list of devices it's still just one list rather than columns with variable widths that are difficult to format.

 

Best,

 

-David

[barrygordon]

Re Fan lincs.  In the emulator I would set up programs for all my fans with the following names (using my office fan as an example). All y fans are controlled by fanlincs

 

Friendly Name                  Say to Alexa

Office Fan Low                 Turn on office fan low

Office Fan Medium           Turn on office fan medium

Office Fan High                 Turn on office fan high 

Office Fan Faster              Turn on office fan faster

Office Fan Slower             Turn on office fan slower

Office Fan                         Turn off office fan

 

I will be trying these exact program names tomorrow when I completely set up the Eco with the new ISY connected home skill adapter. For now I am just playing with simple on/off switches

 

In general I assume I can cause the system to use only spoken names and not the names of devices? If so, could someone tell me how (I am lazy) as I don't want to have twice as many devices as I need to.

 

For what I have set up (basic lights e.g. "Kitchen lights") when I speak the command "Alexa Turn On The Kitchen Lights" ( or the similar off command) I see a significant delay with the top of the Echo spinning before the action actually occurs and then an additional significant delay before the Echo responds with "Okay". The emulator would perform the desired action almost immediately after I stated what I wanted (<1 or 2 seconds)  with a long delay until the top stopped spinning turned off and the Echo responded with "Okay".  I assume this will improve as things progressed in the ISY Skill adapter.

[stusviews]

Yes, mine's working.

 

EDIT: I mean, I can activate a program to run the fan at a specified speed.

 

Yes, programs work. The program has to set the device, not call a scene.

[philtor]

The ISY Device Link for the Echo is great! I really like how I can use the ISY portal to custom configure my spoken names for all my devices. The only thing I wish I could do is use low, medium, and high for devices such as the fanlinc.

 

Here's what I decided to use to control my fanlinc: When I say "Alexas, turn the bedroom fan on 50%" the fanlinc is set to low, 75% is medium, and 100% is high. To turn it off I say " Alexa, turn the bedroom fan off".

 

For now this works for me.