Door Locks Appear as Lights in Alexa and Won't Function

[MCRadio]

I just migrated to eisy from an ISY (Insteon network) where voice control had been handled by a Homeseer system with ISY link.  I am now using the UD mobile app and portal and most things are working perfectly.  My door locks however are showing up as lights when discovered by Alexa preventing voice control of the locks.  A first world problem I know!

On the UD admin console they display a door icon with lock and unlock functionality and work fine.  On UD Mobile they have a light icon but still function as locks.  When discovered by Alexa they have a light icon and light functions with no ability to control the locks.  Again, this voice functionality worked when Homeseer was used as the voice interface but I can't get it to work here.

Any help/suggestions is greatly appreciated!

[tlightne]

What brand and type are the door locks?  

[MCRadio]

I use the Insteon Lock Controllers to control MI Q Series locks. I know this is "old school" compared to many of the new lock solutions but it stills works with the exception of voice control through the UDI/Alexa link.

I have 6 doors I would need to upgrade if I were to change so my preference is to stick with my current locks. 

[MCRadio]

My guess to the root cause of the problem is that the UDI Portal/Mobile App do not have a "Lock" selection under the Alexa Category drop down in the Spoken Mapping area for the device.

I am only doubting this as the root cause because voice control of locks has been available in Alexa for at least 5 years so I would have thought UDI would have it enabled by now.  I also assume others are successfully using voice control of more current lock platforms through UDI/Alexa even though a Lock category does not exist but that may be a bad assumption.

[Geddy]

16 hours ago, MCRadio said:

When discovered by Alexa they have a light icon and light functions with no ability to control the locks. 

When you're on the ISY Portal site (my.isy.io) and on the Alexa Echo settings how are the locks added? What category do they show?

You might want to select "Device with Open/Close" syntax. My thought is they're just showing as "Light"

You could then make a routine to "lock" or "unlock" to control them. 

After you change the category on the ISY Portal you need to remove the device from Alexa and re-discover. (Sometimes easier from alexa.amazon.com, but that site isn't as helpful as it used to be.)

 

[MCRadio]

Thanks for the suggestion Geddy!  Unfortunately I tried that already, along with ever other choice under Alexa Category.  They show up in Alexa as whatever device category I choose however none of the categories enable lock/unlock on the Alexa side.  Seems to me there should be "Lock" in that drop down.

[tazman]

57 minutes ago, MCRadio said:

Thanks for the suggestion Geddy!  Unfortunately I tried that already, along with ever other choice under Alexa Category.  They show up in Alexa as whatever device category I choose however none of the categories enable lock/unlock on the Alexa side.  Seems to me there should be "Lock" in that drop down.

Once you pick a lock from your devices it puts it in as a lock on it's own. If yours does not show as a lock in the portal I would open a ticket with UD because I would imagine the device is not being identified properly in IoX or you are picking the wrong node.

[Geddy]

1 hour ago, MCRadio said:

Seems to me there should be "Lock" in that drop down.

Bummer. Thought it might have worked. I don't know how long it has been since the skill has been updated, but it clearly says it supports LOCKS. I'm not sure if that's the Insteon equipment you're using or z-wave locks that others use.

I agree that maybe a support ticket might be best way to get attention to this. But @bmercier does check the forums now and then and might have some insight to this issue.

 

[MCRadio]

I opened a ticket and will report back when I know something.  Thanks for the help!

[MCRadio]

Well....one thing I did discover is: If you tell Alexa to turn on the locks, they will lock, and if you tell here to turn them off they will unlock.  Unfortunately she doesn't ask for a voice code since she doesn't know they are a lock so that solution isn't very secure.

Bottom line from UD support is that my lock controllers are not supported as they became obsolete by the time UD/Alexa support was implemented.  Time to go door lock shopping I guess!

Thanks again for all the help!