I've been using the echo skill for quite a while with great success. I've run into this problem before but gave up.
I added a new zigbee outlet plug to turn on some lamps. I named the device "den lamps".
I exposed it to the echo skill through hubitat. The problem is that alexa confused "den lamps" with "den cans"(other ceiling lights I have in the den). Never would respond to den lamps no matter how I said it.
So, I removed the "den lamps" device from the echo skill, renamed it to "sofa lamps" and then added it to the echo skill. On the Alexa mobile app, I could see the sofa lamps get added to it and I see the sofa lamps as a device on the alexa app and the name is "sofa lamps." Unfortunately, when I say alexa turn on the sofa lamps, she says "sorry, I didn't find a group or device named sofa lamps." She still turns the den can lights on and off when I say Alexa turn on the den LAMPS.
Ayone have any idea why she has a mental block on this device? Thank you
could be a few things - I see you mention 'I removed it from skill' - did you also remove it from Alexa? I think you need to.
One trick I use is to have a full name of some sort - then rename then inside Alexa after added. that helps a lot as there is ambiquity in many cases.
Lamps are considered a keyword somehow. If you speak to an alexa and use that word, you need to be careful how you described the device to Alexa. In the alexa app there is a 'this is a light' vs 'this is a switch'. The question is asked of you when you add the device and review it the first time in the Alexa app. Here is an example where I've described a switch as a light:
Another failure area is redundant names - If another device has a name like 'Hall Right Light' and 'Hall Left Light' - saying 'turn off Hall Light will fail. I'd expect both to be turned off, but Alexa can not differentiate between them. The same problem happens when we have groups and rooms.
If you put a light into a room called 'hall' and have a device called 'hall light' it will fail when commanding 'turn off Hall'. It's the redundancy that is hard to navigate.
Remove and rediscover the devices your working on. Check for redundant names. Past that - um. call Amazon? hahahah
Um one good note - if you have numerous Alexa's - and assign them to a room, the light in that room can be commanded without specifying the room. Alexa will default to the room that hears the command and seek a device with that name. 'Turn off light' when said in my living room turns off ALL lights in the living room. a useful feature for sure.
Just a caution: I had to remove the word “hall” from all device names because Alexa, if she misheard “turn on the hall light”, would turn on ALL lights in the house.
What do you mean "if"? The voice recognition is terrible these days.
Thank you. I'll go back through, remove these two devices from Hubitat and alexa and carefully re-add them. Maybe I didn't do everything the way I thought I had.
I'm not at home now, but I do see in my alexa app that sofa lamps is set up as a plug instead of a light. First I'll see if switching it to a light makes a difference.
I want to also add some comment about experiences I've learned in my setup that are somewhat tangential to the original topic.
Rules.
My initial integration was just using Alexa to trigger my HE. The whole 'standalone/local' thing was a factor in my original decision to play with HE initially. I wrote rules in HE and learned that Alexa didn't pickup all devices for various reasons (many are gone now). Depending on the driver, some devices are seen as both switches and bulbs. Further, some devices just didn't show up at all - so Virtual switches started to appear in my HE - tied to the real device just so I could control the device with voice.
Later, I realized the whole 'local' thing wasn't that critical to me. In fact, if voice was offline, (power outage EG;) then my hub was likely offline anyway. A few years back I got yelled at here about putting a UPS on the HE and did so. But with all my mains repeaters offline, the house got stupid - I was just protecting the Hub so it really didn't do a whole lot for me.
But I live where power is very stable. I started to get tired of digging through numerous virtual switches and added some routines to Alexa. IFTTT connected items that HE couldn't handle, and a few other items like my vacuum. the Routines as there called worked really well. it became a bit confusing if I was running a routine or a HE Rule.
I standardized my rules and routines - the native connectivity of a device is the playground I stay in. If it connects to Alexa and is handed to HE, I use routines. If it connects to HE and is handed to Alexa I use Rules. This has worked out well for me. I hope me sharing helps others.
I had a very similar issue so I changed from "hall" to "hallway" and it cleared up the issue.
me too! That was exactly the change I made. Bath vs Bathroom was another. I still stumble with Garage. I tend to tell the alexa in the garage, 'Turn off Garage'. and bang. 'there are multiple devices with that name, which one did you want?' I just want the lights off damn it!
Same thing with multiple rooms on the name such as bathroom. Problem I am having is like bedroom lights and bedroom lamps. Not working out good at all. Any suggestions?
I've 2 bathrooms - I call one Guest Bath, the other bathroom.
I have 3 bedrooms, but one i use as an office, so 'office' obviously. the 2nd is Guest Bed, and my room, Bedroom. Sorry- just no easy way round this one!
For bedroom lights - I've a ceiling, an led strip and a CT bulb. Dresser Lamp for CT Bulb, Light for the ceiling and bed strip light stays bed strip light. For this room, I let room light manage most of it, but use a group 'bedroom lights' with alexa. so it's an all or nothing. But this works for me and my needs however weak it seems.
As long as it works that is all that matters. I will try some of those names.
You should not have to remove anything, just rename it in the Alexa mobile app. You can see a full list of devices and change the names to anything you want.
While reading some of the other posts and re-reading my own - I noted your pluralization of some things.
A big change I went through was using the word Lights if it was an HE group that I brought across to the Alexa world. In Alexa, I use the singular 'Light' if it is specifically a device. Alexa recognizes the difference in pronunciation really well and I added a mental rule to follow a standard of plural only on a group.
Another trick - remove the space! This suggestion is one of those 'use in emergency' things ...
If you take the three word Living Room Light and in Alexa make the name 'livingroomlight' somehow Alexa handles it much more appropriately during word recognition and differentiation.
Interesting. I'll give this a try as well. Thank you
That's what I thought as well, but it doesn't work for me.
