Alexa, Lights On

[kgividen]

It's been a little bit since I searched for this but is there yet a way to have an echo programmed to just say "Lights On" and it will know to turn the lights on specifically assigned to that echo?  

 

I know in the past you could create multiple accounts and yada yada but I'm wondering if there's a normal way to do it with just one account.  I understood that Amazon at the time didn't expose a unique number/name to the echo so this couldn't be done.  But I just read this by Jez Walter on "zones" where it seems he's doing this and it should be feasible for the ISY Portal?

 

http://www.jezwalter.com/instructions.php

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ZONES: Only send content if the question was heard from a specific device:This is also very easy to set up. Go to your ‘Settings’ page in the Alexa app and make a note of the name of each of your devices,  drop these at the bottom of the connections.txt file with a prefix of

 

ZONE: e.g. ZONE:Echo-1

ZONE:Echo-2Phrase:Main StreetNEWURL-62:http://www.council.org/trafficcams/mainstreet

ZONE:Dot-1

ZONE:Dot-2

ZONE:Dot-3

 

Whatever phrases you add below each of these device names will only launch the URL’s if the question was actually heard from that specific device. Imagine, you have a Dot in your hall with a small monitor and possibly a Raspberry Pi driving it. You ask, ‘Alexa … What’s the traffic like on main street’ the Web extractor could then launch a website to an actual traffic camera onto that particular monitor whilst you’re putting your coat on.

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[apnar]

It’s built into Alexa now. Go into the Alexa app, then smart home, then groups. Assign both a light and an echo to a group. From then on that echo will control that light when you ask to turn the lights on.

[kgividen]

Ok that’s really cool. Do you have to name the lights something specific? I have an echo dot in my boys room and named it “boys room”. Their ceiling light is currently named “boys light”. When I put them both in a group and say “Alexa turn lights on” it doesn’t seem to work. Is there some sort of convention with naming I need to follow?

 

If I say turn boys room on it does work...

[Goose66]

No convention - just the presence of the light(s) and the echo device in the group. Ensure that Boys Light does in fact appear to be a light to the Echo. In the group, it should appear with a light bulb.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kgividen]

Hmm. Ok all my lights are in there as “devices” so maybe I need to rediscover or something. I’ll play with it. Thanks for the info.

[kgividen]

Alexa seems to keep detecting the type as “other” even though in the portal it says it’s a device/Light even if I delete the device and re add it.

 

Anyone else seen this? I have messed with this for over a year so I’m probably behind on something...

[kgividen]

Oh. I’m using an old skill. Man...you stop paying attention for a bit and the world changes. For the better even...awesome!

[waffles]

I am trying to set up something similar to the OP. However, I have multiple lights/scenes in each room that I like to control individually. Each room has its own echo.

 

 

Example:

 

Bedroom A has 'Scene low', 'Scene mid', 'Scene high' 

Bedroom B has 'Scene low', 'Scene mid', 'Scene high' 

 

 

When I am in Bedroom B and say "Alexa, turn on Scene mid", it should only turn on that scene in that bedroom (and only there).

 

It seems that above may only work for Lights (Alexa: Devices), but not for Scenes (Alexa: Scenes). Furthermore, the ISY Portal does not allow me to use the same name twice ("The spoken "xxxx" is already in use").

 

BTW, I am not quite clear that the differences are between Alexa Devices and Scenes.

 

Looking forward to your comments.

 

Thanks!

[ScottAvery]

I am trying to set up something similar to the OP. However, I have multiple lights/scenes in each room that I like to control individually. Each room has its own echo.

 

 

Example:

 

Bedroom A has 'Scene low', 'Scene mid', 'Scene high' 

Bedroom B has 'Scene low', 'Scene mid', 'Scene high' 

 

 

When I am in Bedroom B and say "Alexa, turn on Scene mid", it should only turn on that scene in that bedroom (and only there).

 

It seems that above may only work for Lights (Alexa: Devices), but not for Scenes (Alexa: Scenes). Furthermore, the ISY Portal does not allow me to use the same name twice ("The spoken "xxxx" is already in use").

 

BTW, I am not quite clear that the differences are between Alexa Devices and Scenes.

 

Looking forward to your comments.

 

Thanks!

 

This feature does not allow the reuse of names for scenes.  Spoken terms can only be used once.  What this feature does is simply allow you to group all of the lights you want into a group with the echo that can respond to the generic term "lights" instead of their spoken.

 

There may be a workaround for you.  How may devices are in your scenes in each room?

 

We still need the Alexa API to pass echo device name to ISY before we could do any location specific logic without having to issue additional commands or use sensors for location.

[waffles]

This feature does not allow the reuse of names for scenes.  Spoken terms can only be used once.  What this feature does is simply allow you to group all of the lights you want into a group with the echo that can respond to the generic term "lights" instead of their spoken.

 

There may be a workaround for you.  How may devices are in your scenes in each room?

 

We still need the Alexa API to pass echo device name to ISY before we could do any location specific logic without having to issue additional commands or use sensors for location.

 

Thank you for your reply, Scott!

 

Hmm, these are pretty severe limitations for my application. I have about 10 dimmable lights in each room, with numerous scenes. A simple 'Lights' doesn't cut it for me.  Guess, I have to be patient until such feature becomes available.

 

 

 

Could you please help me understand the differences are between Alexa Categories Devices and Scenes? They seem to behave pretty much the same when imported as such through the ISY Portal.

 

Thanks!  

[Goose66]

This feature does not allow the reuse of names for scenes.  Spoken terms can only be used once.  What this feature does is simply allow you to group all of the lights you want into a group with the echo that can respond to the generic term "lights" instead of their spoken.

 

Just to clarify, the implicit targeting feature doesn't allow for any duplication in device or scene names. The implicit targeting feature works on the category of items in the group, not their names. For now, it appears to work only on devices and scenes that are categorized as lights (you categorize your scenes and devices in the ISY Portal).

 

Perhaps name your scenes specific to each bedroom, but put all of the light devices in the group with your echo, and at least a quick "lights on" will get you scene high for that room and "lights off" will turn them all off.

[ScottAvery]

Thank you for your reply, Scott!

 

Hmm, these are pretty severe limitations for my application. I have about 10 dimmable lights in each room, with numerous scenes. A simple 'Lights' doesn't cut it for me.  Guess, I have to be patient until such feature becomes available.

 

 

 

Could you please help me understand the differences are between Alexa Categories Devices and Scenes? They seem to behave pretty much the same when imported as such through the ISY Portal.

 

Thanks!  

 

What ISY considers a scene and what Alexa considers a scene do not have to be the same thing.  There are some new features, like this Echo Group "lights" function as well as Routines that Aexa will perform on things categorized as Lights or Switches.  The ISY portal lets you call anything you can expose to Amazon a light or switch, so this Portal trick gives access to scenes, programs, and variables in the new Alexa features.

[waffles]

...

 

Perhaps name your scenes specific to each bedroom, but put all of the light devices in the group with your echo, and at least a quick "lights on" will get you scene high for that room and "lights off" will turn them all off.

 

That's a good idea. This way I have at least one 'simple' command per room. Thanks!

[waffles]

What ISY considers a scene and what Alexa considers a scene do not have to be the same thing.  There are some new features, like this Echo Group "lights" function as well as Routines that Aexa will perform on things categorized as Lights or Switches.  The ISY portal lets you call anything you can expose to Amazon a light or switch, so this Portal trick gives access to scenes, programs, and variables in the new Alexa features.

 

I think I have to study up a bit more on these features to figure out the best way to utilize them. Thanks much!