Certain devices sometimes ask a different question

[andrew77]

First off, I apologize for the vague title, I didn't know exactly how to describe my issue in the title.

When I tell Alexa to "Turn on Uppers 20%" she sometimes says "You have Smart Life enabled. Do you want to Open it?"

If I ask to "Turn on Uppers" usually that works fine.

This only happens with the uppers and the Sink devices in the Kitchen.

Other times she just does what she's asked and I cant pin down any differences in situations for the differing outcome.

I have a SmartLife device that turns on a water tap for the outbuildings but I believe that's it. Everything else is Insteon

 

Any thoughts would be great. This has happened for a while and I've tried to trouble shoot it but with no luck

 

Drew

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by andrew77

[lilyoyo1]

10 minutes ago, andrew77 said:

First off, I apologize for the vague title, I didn't know exactly how to describe my issue in the title.

When I tell Alexa to "Turn on Uppers 20%" she sometimes says "You have Smart Life enabled. Do you want to Open it?"

If I ask to "Turn on Uppers" usually that works fine.

This only happens with the uppers and the Sink devices in the Kitchen.

Other times she just does what she's asked and I cant pin down any differences in situations for the differing outcome.

I have a SmartLife device that turns on a water tap for the outbuildings but I believe that's it. Everything else is Insteon

 

Any thoughts would be great. This has happened for a while and I've tried to trouble shoot it but with no luck

 

Drew

 

That's an Alexa issue. All of them do that unfortunately. You can look to see what Alexa thought she heard by going into the app. 

[MrBill]

in addition to voice history in the app as suggested by @lilyoyo1 you might also log into https://alexa.amazon.com via a computer browser, I sometimes find it's easier to see name conflicts there.

[andrew77]

Thanks for the tips. I did find the page you mentioned. IT said "Alexa didn't understand the question" or statement. 

Should I contact Amazon? Or do I fix it somehow on my end?

 

[lilyoyo1]

56 minutes ago, andrew77 said:

Thanks for the tips. I did find the page you mentioned. IT said "Alexa didn't understand the question" or statement. 

Should I contact Amazon? Or do I fix it somehow on my end?

 

Nothing they can do to fix it. It's no different from us as people not understanding what someone says for various reasons. You could potentially try to make your spokens clearer or easier to understand. 

[MrBill]

6 hours ago, andrew77 said:

"Turn on Uppers 20%"

 

1 hour ago, andrew77 said:

Alexa didn't understand the question

Best thing to do is rename the light.  I have some rather generic names for some like "lamp one" and then some more bizzare names like "animal crackers" that really don't describe the light at all, but Alexa knows what we mean and she never mishears it.

Edited March 31, 2022 by MrBill

[larryllix]

I would use "set" uppers to 20%. It is much more effective in Alexa lingo.

 

also

"Turn On Uppers to 20%"

 

I also use Turn ON and Turn OFF for almost everything.
Create a few programs with different results like this
Turn On dim uppers
Turn On bright uppers
Turn On very dim uppers
Turn Off uppers.

Make Alexa think they are all different devices.

I found the percentages were always flakey.

Edited April 1, 2022 by larryllix

[andrew77]

13 hours ago, larryllix said:

I would use "set" uppers to 20%. It is much more effective in Alexa lingo.

Thank you thank you

This has fixed the problem 100%

I can say "Turn on Uppers 20%" and Alexa asks about Smart life

I say Set Uppers 20% (or any percentage) right after and she does it perfectly.