Hello I'm new to Hubitat (not home automation however).
Anyways for the life of me after some of my own troubleshooting I have been unable to figure out whats going on with the Alexa Echo Skill. In fact, Trying to keep it simple, I have gone so far as to factory reset my hub, delete devices from within Alexa, and remove the Hubitat Skill in the Alexa App from my phone, and unplugging other Zigbee devices in the house.
So now I have a very basic install with only two Sengled RGBW Zigbee bulbs utilizing the built in Hubitat Sengled drivers. They are named Top Bulb and Bottom Bulb. Its in a two bulb lamp about 5 feet from the hub (again no other Zigbee devices).
I have noticed changing between Colors(RGB) and Shades of White(CT) modes on any bulb doesn't seem to work correctly in Alexa. Doing so results in a timeout with the response "Device is unresponsive". It also introduces about 5 seconds of lag time.
ex:
What interesting is the device itself will change over. But Alexa will still show it as being the last preset/color after the timeout or no preset/color at all.
for example going back to the device page in the Alexa app results in:
I don't know if this would help you any but try creating a group and using that for Alexa. I have 8 recessed color+ and 2 color+ standard bulbs in a group called "Den Lights" (zigbee messaging on) and am able to control the color changes.
Note: I don't really like telling Alexa about all my devices. I give enough info to Amazon as it is..
Hrm I gave it a try. It seems to not have the device unresponsive error as a group but the color/mode setting stays at the last change. Doesn't really help with my other single bulb lamps though.
What manufacturer are your bulbs? I wonder maybe something to do with Sengled/Hubitat.
Argh my morning coffee has not kicked in.. I am not using sengleds directly - I am using HubConnect to share my sengleds as a group device to my controller hub which has the Alexa skill... I keep my cloud apps on a separate hub.
So I have an extra level of abstraction/complexity - although changing drivers is kinda similar I guess.
Let me guess ST? I am trying to find a suitable replacement for Wink myself. I actually first tried a ST hub which was ok (except not having Zigbee group messaging support ) before deciding to give HE an evaluation.
Whatever I end up with kind of has to meet the non techy family acceptance factor which is why Alexa control can't be wonky.
No I have all HE's - main floor hub (C4), upstairs hub (C4) and a controller hub (C5).
Sengled Lights are on my main hub. The lights are grouped into a single group which is "shared" to my control hub via HubConnect. On the control hub that group shows up as a "HubConnect RGBW Bulb" device and is linked to Alexa.
I use multiple hubs because I have a fair number of devices (over 150 or so) and want to split up the processing (and failure points). Also I like the idea of separating out my cloud apps on a separate hub.
I just tried it with my Sylvania lights (using a group device) and it correctly displays the change from CT to color, but not from color to ct on the app when controlling by voice. The lights themselves changed correctly though, and the Hue lights that are in the same room and controlled through Hue integrated directly with Alexa don't have this issue.
Although this won’t help your eval much, I see this same behavior on Inovelli Zwave RGBW bulbs when controlled from Alexa. I haven’t found an answer, but am starting to suspect there is a glitch in how the transaction between Amazon and Hubitat is handled (not sure where in the process, but likely the confirmation path). The fact that you see it on Zigbee devices deepens my suspicion.
My bulbs virtually always respond to the color commands, however, very often, Alexa indicates that the device isn’t responding. I’m not as annoyed by this error since it works, so I can’t say if I’ve specifically noticed it when transitioning between color and white modes (I only use Alexa’s control via voice input).
Yes I suspect there is a glitch/bug in the transaction between Amazon as well. Question is it with the Skill in Alexa(provided by Hubitat) or on the HE Hub itself?
Looks like you are correct @Ken_Fraleigh. Changing from color to CT is likely the issue as I was just able to confirm it myself. Same behavior.
This also intrudes the " device not responding" error both in the Alexa app and on the Echo voice speaker.
I have the Alexa skill on the same HE hub as my Sylvania RGBW lights. I don't share the Hue lights to Alexa from HE, I integrate the Hue lights with the Hue skill in the Alexa app. All of my lights change correctly, but the group dimmer for the Sylvania lights doesn't show the change back to CT from color. It's not just a voice thing; it also happens when using the Alexa app. It also happens with a non grouped bulb. It appears that if you go from CT->Color->CT you have to pick a different CT level the second time for it to register correctly in the app. The same happens with color; going from Color->CT->Color doesn't register correctly unless you pick a different color the second time.
I hadn't had a chance to report back yet as work got in the way the past few days. Having to pick for a second time through Alexa to the CT level or color to register correctly but your right I'm noticing the same behavior with my Sengled Bulbs directly connected to the HE Hub.
A directly connected bulb seems to be key from what I gather. Since it seems to operate correctly if you have Hue or HubConnect.
I guess the next thing would be to get support involved. @bobbyD
So I managed to get Alexa to say "device not responding" last night by asking it to change colors back and forth a bunch of times in a row .. "magenta" to "soft white". However I just tried it again and also tried cycling through some different colors as well (red, cyan, magenta, softwhite). It worked for the most part.. What I'm seeing now is not all the bulbs in my group are responding to the change.
The interesting part is I have 2 sub-groups in a group called "Den Lights" they are "Den Table Lights" and "Den Recessed Lights". Sometimes the "Den Table Lights" do not change and sometimes the "Den Recessed Lights" do not change. If I repeat the command one or more times they will.
"Den Lights" group does not have Zigbee Messaging on and is shared via HubConnect to my controller hub which is synced with Alexa.
It should be easy to replicate, since we were all able to. It would be really great if Alexa didn’t turn every device off (outlets, fans, thermostats) when you say “turn off the lights”, but maybe that’s an Alexa issue.
I hadn't noticed that so I just gave it a try. Interestingly my Eco responds "A few things share the name lights, which one did you want?" when I tell it to "turn off the lights".
I do have other skills installed in Alexa besides just Hubitat though, including Wink. So maybe that's it.
