Amazon Echo - Connected Home Feature!

[JohnH]

My Amazon Alexa account and my ISY Portal Account are under two different names and email addresses. I've tried using the correct info in each page to sign up for the connected home feature but I get a blank page on http://alexa.amazon.com/partner-authorization/establishand when I go into my Alexa/Echo account - no new devices are found

 

I am having a similar problem. My email is on the ISY Portal.  My wife got the Echo and is set up with her email. When I do the discovery, they (2 devices & 2 scenes) show up on the page, but Alexa immediately says she didn't find anything. After the discovery, when I then try to turn anything on I hear "I couldn't find a device or group named..."

[GBC]

Should the Amazon Echo work when my computer is turned off?

[Xathros]

Should the Amazon Echo work when my computer is turned off?

Yes.  If you are using the UDI portal connected to your Amazon account, all it requires is that both the Echo and the ISY have internet access.  If instead, you are using the Hue emulator on a PC or RPi, then your emulator machine needs to be powered and online as well.

 

 

-Xathros

[KMan]

I am having a similar problem. My email is on the ISY Portal.  My wife got the Echo and is set up with her email. When I do the discovery, they (2 devices & 2 scenes) show up on the page, but Alexa immediately says she didn't find anything. After the discovery, when I then try to turn anything on I hear "I couldn't find a device or group named..."

 

Do you have multiple profiles set up on the echo (his and hers)?  This sounds like the behavior I experienced when I had the echo set to a different profile than the profile that the ISY portal is linked to.

[stusviews]

I am having a similar problem. My email is on the ISY Portal.  My wife got the Echo and is set up with her email. When I do the discovery, they (2 devices & 2 scenes) show up on the page, but Alexa immediately says she didn't find anything. After the discovery, when I then try to turn anything on I hear "I couldn't find a device or group named..."

 

Did you give the devices spoken names using the portal?

[snesgenesis]

Anyone had issues adding a Zwave Kwikset Door lock to the Echo? I added it to the portal and gave it a spoken name. When I try to discover devices it won't show. Everything else works perfectly.

[stusviews]

Anyone had issues adding a Zwave Kwikset Door lock to the Echo? I added it to the portal and gave it a spoken name. When I try to discover devices it won't show. Everything else works perfectly.

 

How did you give the lock a spoken name if it doesn't show in the portal. Using the admin console for a spoken name is no longer valid. Try adding the lock using the Add ability for the portal.

[MWareman]

I really would caution against assigning a spoken name to a lock. Someone outside the door could tell at Alexa and have the door opened for them. Same for a garage door opener.

[snesgenesis]

How did you give the lock a spoken name if it doesn't show in the portal. Using the admin console for a spoken name is no longer valid. Try adding the lock using the Add ability for the portal.

I said it did add to the portal. It won't show on the Alexa app when I discover devices. 

[Bruce L]

I think dim and all may be bad choices.  the Echo takes special pains for the word dim in the connected home as in" Alexa, dim the kitchen lights to 50 %".  I suspect special pains may also be taken with all as in "Alexa, Dim All The bedroom lights".  I never use those two words in a spoken phrase.  I use some thing like "Alexa, turn off the kitchen area",  where area is a scene having exactly what I want off.

 

Ah, magic keywords it was.  I renamed all of my scenes to not use "all" or "dim" and there is no more confusion---Alexa does what I ask the first time.

 

Is there a list of bad keywords somewhere?

 

Bruce

[snesgenesis]

I really would caution against assigning a spoken name to a lock. Someone outside the door could tell at Alexa and have the door opened for them. Same for a garage door opener.

I appreciate the concern but my echo is located in an area no where near the entrances to my house. I've tried to yell cmds from outside and had my wife next to the Echo and nothing happens.

Edited January 19, 2016 by snesgenesis

[stusviews]

I said it did add to the portal. It won't show on the Alexa app when I discover devices. 

 

None of my lock show in the Connected Home list, but I added them to the ISY portal, gave them a friendly name and they respond to the ISY skill only. However, they all respond concurrently. They do not respond individually.

[bmercier]

I said it did add to the portal. It won't show on the Alexa app when I discover devices. 

 

Locks are not supported on Connected Home.

 

There are no verbs available like lock or unlock that we could use. We perhaps we could have mapped it to the Turn on and Turn Off, but I would find it confusing.

 

Should "Turn on front door" Lock? or Unlock?

That would be error prone IMHO.

 

Benoit.

[evilpete]

Hello everyone,

First, I must sincerely thank Amazon for their dedication in being one of the most professional and success oriented companies with whom I have dealt with. It's been quite a refreshing experience.

Amazon has enabled the Connected Home feature for ISY on a Beta

I look forward to playing with this, the limitations of WeMo emulation was getting annoying..

[Shawn Aruch]

Anyone had issues adding a Zwave Kwikset Door lock to the Echo? I added it to the portal and gave it a spoken name. When I try to discover devices it won't show. Everything else works perfectly.

 

Create a (or a number of) programs. Lock (with if then's being lock/unlock) or Lock 1 Lock, Lock 1 Unlock (with the then action being lock and unlock respectively). You can then call it with Amazon turn on Lock (for lock) Turn off lock (for unlock) or Turn on Lock 1 lock (etc).

[barrygordon]

How about "Alexa, Turn on the Front Door Lock" and "Alexa Turn Off the front door lock"  where "front door lock" is a spoken name and have it the spoken name of a program.  That should work and is not too confusing, in fact if we are treating Alexa as a house servant, then it actually makes a little sense.

[stusviews]

"side door lock" works. None of "front door lock" nor "front door" nor "front lock' worked. Alexa could not find the device with any of the aforementioned names.

[madcodger]

Hi all. Echo on order, arriving in about a week or so. One question, please, that I have yet to understand completely. I control almost everything using scenes rather than controlling the devices directly, as I have several keypads and want the status to appear (light up) on those. Some scenes have the same name as a device (e.g., undercounter lights, or kitchen lights). Can I set up ONLY the scene names in the Echo? OR can I just give a spoken name to the scenes I want to control, and ignore all else?

[Bruce L]

Hi all. Echo on order, arriving in about a week or so. One question, please, that I have yet to understand completely. I control almost everything using scenes rather than controlling the devices directly, as I have several keypads and want the status to appear (light up) on those. Some scenes have the same name as a device (e.g., undercounter lights, or kitchen lights). Can I set up ONLY the scene names in the Echo? OR can I just give a spoken name to the scenes I want to control, and ignore all else?

 

You choose what scenes (or devices or programs) the echo knows about, and you give them spoken names (that don't have to be related to the scene or device name) in the control panel at http://my.isy.io.  So you won't have any problems. 

 

Bruce

[Jashanahan]

I have a scene that turns off all of the lights in the basement (when scene is turned on by mobilinc or keypad). "Basement Lights Off"-- unclear how that would be set up w Amazon. I would assume the word "on" would need to be used to activate the scene making the phrase "Alexa basement lights off on". Any ideas how better to configure?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bruce L]

I have a scene that turns off all of the lights in the basement (when scene is turned on by mobilinc or keypad). "Basement Lights Off"-- unclear how that would be set up w Amazon. I would assume the word "on" would need to be used to activate the scene making the phrase "Alexa basement lights off on". Any ideas how better to configure?

 

 

Create a program where the Else clause sets your "basement lights off" scene.  Link the program to the spoken "basement lights".  Then "turn off basement lights" will turn them off.  (presumably you might want to have some scene in the then clause so "turn on basement lights" does something as well)

 

Bruce

[bmercier]

I have a scene that turns off all of the lights in the basement (when scene is turned on by mobilinc or keypad). "Basement Lights Off"-- unclear how that would be set up w Amazon. I would assume the word "on" would need to be used to activate the scene making the phrase "Alexa basement lights off on". Any ideas how better to configure?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Create a program, and in the else clause, turn on your scene. When you turn off "basement lights", it will turn on your scene.

 

Benoit.

[JohnH]

Do you have multiple profiles set up on the echo (his and hers)?  This sounds like the behavior I experienced when I had the echo set to a different profile than the profile that the ISY portal is linked to.

 

 

Did you give the devices spoken names using the portal?

 

Stu & KMan,

 

 

After a number of guesses, followed by much help from Michel, we* have everything working. Here is what took place:  

 

 

I registered ISY Portal with my email address.  My wife got an early relese Echo, and she set it up right away using her email. Thinking  that I'd keep things simple, I used the same email address I used for ISY Portal, for Amazon, as it is connected to my wife's Amazon Prime account.

 

Everything seemed good at the start.  I did enter my spoken words on the ISY Portal and when I did the Discovery, they showed up in the list as expected. However immediately after the discovery completed, Alexa announced that she didn't find any devices.  A bit contradictory to what was on the screen. Long story short, you can't use the Amazon Prime account association, as it does not fully complete the discovery process.

 

After changing to connect to Amazon with my wife's email, everything worked perfectly. I've added about 15 devices & scenes so far, and it has been flawless The only downside of this, for me,  is that I will need my wife to log in on Amazon whenever I need to discover new devices. I'm fine with that as its not something I'll need to do often.

 

 (* we = pretty much 100% Michel)

Edited January 19, 2016 by Osric

[50-50]

Take advantage of Else statements. If the program is labeled "Christmas tree," then "turn Christmas tree on" and "turn Christmas tree off" would work because On runs Then and Off runs Else.

 

I found that its best to "disable" the Echo "Then (on)/Else (off)" program too - I've had instances where I've entered an off/on/off/on perpetual cycle...  likely has to do with the way I update my KPL buttons for status around the house... simply disabling the program in the Admin Console makes it work great.

[parkersmith]

Michael, great work! I spent the last 12 hours working though various issues with the Izzy Skill. Had all kinds of problems with it understanding spoken names. I had some that worked and others that would not. I just discovered the connected home feature and it works great! Took no time to make it work. Question, is there anyway to get a confirmation other than just "ok" when you tell it to turn on a device? I would like to hear a confirmation like Izzy gave such as "turning on flood lights". Is that possible or possible in the future?