ISY Skill new Open/Close/Set/Raise/Lower syntax

[DaveStLou]

Thanks @bmercier I switched to the Fan category thinking that would be better but I'm getting a lot of "I don't know how to do that" from Alexa. I'm investigating and will post over on that topic when I get better understanding of what's working and not since I have a mixed zwave and fanlinc environment.

[bmercier]

29 minutes ago, DaveStLou said:

Thanks @bmercier I switched to the Fan category thinking that would be better but I'm getting a lot of "I don't know how to do that" from Alexa. I'm investigating and will post over on that topic when I get better understanding of what's working and not since I have a mixed zwave and fanlinc environment.

Start by testing basic turn on/off on the fan. If this works, Alexa at least is talking to the right device.

This sort of error is often a case where there are several devices with similar names, and Alexa is directing requests to another device which does not have the capability or is offline.

You can also check the device in the Alexa app. If it has the fan icon, this means it is setup correctly.

Benoit

[DaveStLou]

2 hours ago, bmercier said:

Start by testing basic turn on/off on the fan. If this works, Alexa at least is talking to the right device.

This sort of error is often a case where there are several devices with similar names, and Alexa is directing requests to another device which does not have the capability or is offline.

You can also check the device in the Alexa app. If it has the fan icon, this means it is setup correctly.

Benoit

It was responding to on/off but not set to low/med/high. I removed the second spoken I had for each and it is now working on all but one. So confusion was apparently part of the issue.

The one that still doesn't work is a zwave switch. It turns on/off and responds to turn up/down. However, when I say "set deck ceiling fan to low (or medium or high)", it responds "I don't know how to set decking ceiling fan to that setting." Strange inconsistency.

[larryllix]

On 5/14/2020 at 12:50 AM, bmercier said:

FYI, without changing a thing, you can say:

Alexa, turn on kitchen lights to 50%

I see variables are locked out of being pseudo fan devices. It would be nice if variables could be allowed for this verbage, instead of requiring three different programs or scenes acting as three different devices with three different pseudo device names. It could then replace these (for each device / scene case)

Alexa...turn on Bright lights

Alexa....turn on Medium lights

Alexa...turn on Dim lights

Alexa....turn off Lights (requires Else programming to reverse logic)

could be replaced by one variable with programs behind it, but would allow verbal syntax such as
Alexa....set heater to high / medium / low / off

Alexa...set blinds to high / medium / low

Alexa...set amplifier volume to high / medium / low

Edited May 15, 2020 by larryllix

[bmercier]

13 hours ago, larryllix said:

I see variables are locked out of being pseudo fan devices. It would be nice if variables could be allowed for this verbage, instead of requiring three different programs or scenes acting as three different devices with three different pseudo device names. It could then replace these (for each device / scene case)

Alexa...turn on Bright lights

Alexa....turn on Medium lights

Alexa...turn on Dim lights

Alexa....turn off Lights (requires Else programming to reverse logic)

could be replaced by one variable with programs behind it, but would allow verbal syntax such as
Alexa....set heater to high / medium / low / off

Alexa...set blinds to high / medium / low

Alexa...set amplifier volume to high / medium / low

There are no plans to have variables exposed as fan devices.

There is a work-around however - just use a variable and set the Alexa category to Lower/Raise syntax.

With this, you can ask to set to low / medium / high and it will set the variable to, if I recall correctly, 25 - 50 and 80. You can then have programs that branches on these values. The only lack of functionnality you will experience is that the device icon will not be a fan.

Benoit

 

 

[bmercier]

23 hours ago, DaveStLou said:

It was responding to on/off but not set to low/med/high. I removed the second spoken I had for each and it is now working on all but one. So confusion was apparently part of the issue.

The one that still doesn't work is a zwave switch. It turns on/off and responds to turn up/down. However, when I say "set deck ceiling fan to low (or medium or high)", it responds "I don't know how to set decking ceiling fan to that setting." Strange inconsistency.

Another good way to test is to change settings through the Alexa app. If it works there, then the skill is responding as expected.

[asbril]

23 hours ago, DaveStLou said:

The one that still doesn't work is a zwave switch. It turns on/off and responds to turn up/down. However, when I say "set deck ceiling fan to low (or medium or high)", it responds "I don't know how to set decking ceiling fan to that setting." Strange inconsistency.

I don't know if this is helpful, but I had the same issue. I found that 2 of my Google Home devices had gone "local", meaning that they were no longer linked to my Google account. I have no idea how this happened but linking them back to my Google account resolved the issue.

[thruster999]

On 5/15/2020 at 3:52 PM, asbril said:

I don't know if this is helpful, but I had the same issue. I found that 2 of my Google Home devices had gone "local", meaning that they were no longer linked to my Google account. I have no idea how this happened but linking them back to my Google account resolved the issue.

just curious but is this broken? i use insteon and alexa and im getting the same response DaveStLouie. this was working great when the fix was in but all of a sudden it stopped working today

[asbril]

8 minutes ago, thruster999 said:

just curious but is this broken? i use insteon and alexa and im getting the same response DaveStLouie. this was working great when the fix was in but all of a sudden it stopped working today

I re-linked these 2 GH to my Google account and all has been well since. It may have been a coincidence that I had (more or less) simultaneous issues with GH and Alexa. Both have been working well for the past 10 days or so.

[thruster999]

11 minutes ago, asbril said:

I re-linked these 2 GH to my Google account and all has been well since. It may have been a coincidence that I had (more or less) simultaneous issues with GH and Alexa. Both have been working well for the past 10 days or so.

thanks for the quick response asbril

however, no joy. i relinked my echo to my amazon account - didnt work.  then i disabled my isy skilin the amazon portall, re-enabled it and scanned all devices - didnt work. then i deleted one of my fans from the isy portal and re-added and forced alexa to rescan devices - and it still didnt work. i can use the commands "turn on" which sets the fan to high, and "turn off". but any "set" commands return (from alexa) "i dont know how to set living room fan to that setting".

 

anyway, this was working great for me until today. all of a sudden it no longer works.

[asbril]

7 hours ago, thruster999 said:

thanks for the quick response asbril

however, no joy. i relinked my echo to my amazon account - didnt work.  then i disabled my isy skilin the amazon portall, re-enabled it and scanned all devices - didnt work. then i deleted one of my fans from the isy portal and re-added and forced alexa to rescan devices - and it still didnt work. i can use the commands "turn on" which sets the fan to high, and "turn off". but any "set" commands return (from alexa) "i dont know how to set living room fan to that setting".

 

anyway, this was working great for me until today. all of a sudden it no longer works.

My guess is that others are more qualified than me. I can only suggest to follow one by one the steps suggested by Benoit Mercier.

[PhoneGuy]

When using for a varriable I state "open" <spoke> and have it set for off is 0 and on is 100 but the variable does never changes.  if I say "turn open" <spoken> "on" then it works.  Any idea why?