johnjces Posted September 29, 2017 Posted September 29, 2017 (edited) In finally moving over my Insteon Hub and Alexa (Echo) integration over to just my ISY, I have run into one "weirdness" which has to do with the spokens that you enter in the ISY Portal. First, ALL of my devices are working great with my ISY and all are working through Alexa with the spokens I gave them and entered into the ISY Portal except for one word... BETTYS. I have an Insteon plug in module to which I have a desk lamp plugged into. I named this Bettys Desk. After finding devices, I see in my Alexa App that Bettys Desk has been added into the discovered devices list. When I say, "Alexa, Bettys Desk On", Alexa states she cannot find "Bettys Desk". I renamed it to just "Desk" and Alexa turns it on and off. I renamed it "Betty Desk" (non possessive) and it works just fine. I tried this on another module and another lamp for giggles and the same result. Alexa cannot find a possessive or plural Betty. Alexa repeats 'Bettys' just fine when she can't find it. I have tried: "Betties" "Bettees" and of course "Bettys". I also know that the ISY Portal does not allow apostrophes so you cannot enter Betty's. So Betty Bed or Betty Desk sounds weird but works fine. Any thoughts on this would be great... fixes even better. John Edited September 29, 2017 by johnjces
stusviews Posted September 29, 2017 Posted September 29, 2017 Each persons enunciation is unique. Sometimes, my wife's commands work whereas mine do not. We both agree that there's no difference, but that's the way Amazon's AI for voice works--or doesn't! What may work for me may not work for you. I can only suggest different phonetic spellings. That's worked in a few cases. Also, no mixing of case, for example, bet tees (note the space) or bet ees. 1
johnjces Posted September 30, 2017 Author Posted September 30, 2017 @stusviews Thanks! I tried every conceivable phonetic spelling of bettys that I could think of starting with your suggestions. If I used Bet Tees and really enunciated it, and others, with a pause between bet and tees, it would work. Johns works great, Bettys doesn't so just have to use the singular! LOL. The Insteon hub and Alexa liked "Bettys" prior to my change over. All of that is gone; existing controllers and responders reset old hub removed so I don't think I have any ghosts left... and I am using the same spoken words (Alexa device names) as before. Just an interesting thing! John
stusviews Posted September 30, 2017 Posted September 30, 2017 I'm using both the Hub and ISY. It can be done as long as you're aware that any changes to one can sometimes be recognized by the other, sometimes not. I don't believe that there's anything specific that's a determination. If you still have the Hub, start by deleting Betty's device(s) from the portal, forgetting them from Alexa (that matters) then adding just Betty's device(s) to the Hub only. Any success? BTW, I use the Hub, among other things, to set parameters for the new motion sensor, then use the ISY to create a scene. The ISY seems to recognize the parameters set by the Hub. Sometimes it takes a hammer to get rid of that pesky fly.
johnjces Posted October 1, 2017 Author Posted October 1, 2017 (edited) I too was using both the Hub and ISY, but the hub seemed to cause me issues from time to time with red "blinkies" and REAL slow performance. The ISY is so much faster now that the HUB is removed with Alexa! Or at least it surely seems that way! And only one place to add, remove, change link and etc. I did remove Betty and all references to Betty used devices first from the hub when I started all this. I have also, several times, removed from the portal all Betty references and changed scenes and devices that had betty or bettys in the name, I changed a lot of stuff to try and simplify things Man... Again, I tried every Bedies, Beddys, etc. I could think of! I actually got it to work one time with 'bettys bed'!!!!! I thought I had it made... my heart jumped, I grinned and whooped and then I asked Alexa to turn Bettys bed off. "I cannot find bettys bed" ARGH!!! Asked a million times and nada! I have finally given up! "Desk" works great and "betty bed" works well too. Just sounds funny! John Edited October 1, 2017 by johnjces
johnjces Posted October 1, 2017 Author Posted October 1, 2017 LOL! That is a good one! I will try it later today and let you know!
johnjces Posted October 3, 2017 Author Posted October 3, 2017 One would think that "betty sped" would work. It doesn;t... Anything with betty and an 'S' just fails... Interesting.
johnjces Posted October 3, 2017 Author Posted October 3, 2017 Not yet anyway! But I think some day. Wonder when that will happen; when AI becomes self aware...
stusviews Posted October 3, 2017 Posted October 3, 2017 At that point, we wouldn't need ourselves. We'd have nothing to do and plenty of time to do it. And, no. I won't define it. 1
johnjces Posted February 12, 2018 Author Posted February 12, 2018 Just a followup for whatever it might be worth, but In updating to V3 of the Smart Home Skill for Alexa, all plurals and/or possessives work just fine. Bettys Bed works great!
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