Device Naming Convention

[john66public]

My 2 cents about naming devices.

Using clear names will sort the devices base on the names. For this reason some will add the room name to the beginning of the device name. this is a big help when you are using the rules engine searching for the device to add. Some will put the room name at the end so that the sort goes by type of device rather than room name. There are pros and cons to these methods. everybody's environment is different and i suggest that you use what works best for you.

I use a mixture of all of these examples. depending on the device and how it's used.
In my environment i also use HomeKit. The homekit is restricted to voice commands and a quick UI to the devices. I have no automations in homekit.

I use a name "Living Room Chair Lamp" this is perfect for sorting by room name in HE. This is horrible for HomeKit. If the HK name for a device includes the name of the room at the beginning HK does hide it from the button view but it affects how you can use it via voice commands. If the room name is part of the HK button you have to say the room and the device. If you don't Siri will interpret lamp to all lamps/lights in the room. you can simply fix this issue by removing the room name from the beginning. With one caveat. From HE if you disable the HK and then re enable it, the room name will get put back in the front. You will need to be aware of this. Or you can just leave the room name off the front in HE but hen your sort in HE changes.

I have another virtual switch named "Im in the Kitchen". The room name on this does get hidden in HK so it will just say "Im in the". I have to put it this way so that i can speak a plane sentence "Hey Siri Im in the Kitchen" sounds better then "Hey Siri Kitchen Im in the Kitchen". because i would have to speak the room name if it was in the beginning of the device name.

Another side effect of putting the room name in the HK button. if you have a home pod in the room you're in. and you just say "Hey Siri turn off the light" it will assume the room you are in. if you put the room name at the beginning this function breaks. you would need to speak the room name to make it work.

so in HE i do put the room name in every device name but sometimes its at the beginning and some times its at the end but when i enable HK for the device i go into HK and remove the room name from the beginning of the button. just remember disable/enable the device will replace the room name as it is in HE.

Let me know how you do this? If you have better ways id love to hear them.

[calinatl]

Absent a better solution within the current environment, I also use a version of "Device Type+Room+Specific Location in Room"

This becomes an issue on Dashboards, because a device such as a Humidity sensor then tells me it is a "Humid+Room" before it gets to the specific location, and the dashboard tiles inexplicably truncate the second row of a room name to a few letters. Of course I don't need it to tell me it is a humidity sensor on the dashboard, because the only data the tile displays is humidity, so it is obvious...

The ideal solution would be fields for:

• Device type
• Room name (which we already have)
• Specific location in room
• Device mfg
  AND a corresponding way to insert each piece of data onto a dashboard tile so each user could insert or leave out the info important to them...

[jameslslate]

This is how I do mine.

Function (Motion, Temperature, Humidity, Illumination, Lock, Door Sensor, Window Sensor, etc.) Then Location. Works for me, If I can remember the symbol, that is.)

[jshimota]

A nice topic to discuss - I'm hybrid myself. By using the Device Name and Device Label I can benefit from easier device searches.
In addition, I use the rooms to help sub-categorize. Sadly Rooms isn't well used but it's a start at least for HE interface.
I add a room called Virtual. This allows me to put numerous objects that aren't real somewhere without cluttering a room. Here's one (random)

Finally, Overrides at the end - EG; in Alexa, you can specify a device name directly. So for bulbs, fixtures, outlets etc I can take advantage of being in the room and saying 'turn lights off' and only that room is affected.
My dashboard also allows overrides in many/most cases. (Thank you @jpage4500 !!!) and since I'm also reliant on @garyjmilne and his incredible work on Tile Builder and the sub-components of his app - in the end I think, dare I say - I've reached Nirvana.
I want to add I do have 1-2 problem devices - in both cases they are in-box multigang switches - the driver that works, refers to them as 'Child01', 'Child02' etc and I don't get much leeway here - but thankfully overrides cover my 90% of use.