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    Alexa not kicking off scene connected to switch

    I have a switch set up as a 3 way switch. The physical switch and a button on a keypad. Of course to get this to work I had to create a scene where turning on the switch lights up the button and pushing the button turns off/on the switch. This all works fine.

    However, when I use Alexa to turn on the switch (not the scene), it doesn't fire off the scene. I know this because turning on the light doesn't light up the button on the keypad.

    For the scene, the switch is both controller and responder. Same for the button.

    The switch is a dimmer switch so using the scene doesn't allow me to change the brightness of the light, just on/off.

    Am I doing something wrong?
    Last edited by JeffryE; 02-14-2018, 03:44 PM.
    Proud tinkerer with Insteon Hub, Switches, Dimmers, Fanlincs, etc. Plus some Amazon Echos to make things more fun!
    I blog about smart home stuff too!

    #2
    You are not doing anything wrong. The response you are seeing is the way Insteon was designed, If you control a switch, only that switch responds, not any of it's links. To do otherwise can result in an infinite loop. If you want to control more that a single device, then you need to control the scene that contains those devices, not just one member of the scene.
    Message from Forum Admin: stusviews passed away in April 2018. Stu was a huge fan of Insteon and a huge presence on both the Smarthome and Insteon forums, helping thousands of us along the way (he had nearly 20,000 posts to his name). We thank him for his contributions, dedication, and passion for making the Smart Home a reality. He will truly be missed.
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      #3
      So...the answer for you is to use the scene name with Alexa, not the switch name. Of course, this means you need to have defined the scene through the Insteon app, not just by manually linking the devices together.

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        #4
        Thanks for the replies.

        stusviews - I see what you mean about infinite loops but it still messes with my setup as a scene cannot set variable dimness (no "Alexa, set the dining room light at 20%" via a scene).

        rgunther - I had been using the scene name - however then I can't control the dimness of the switch with my Echo.

        I guess I'm going to have to decide how important it is to be able to dim a light from the Echo (and using the device name for dimming and the scene name for everything else will not satisfy me or my wife or my kids).
        Proud tinkerer with Insteon Hub, Switches, Dimmers, Fanlincs, etc. Plus some Amazon Echos to make things more fun!
        I blog about smart home stuff too!

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          #5
          Jeffry, you may be able to do what you want. but it won't be perfectly seamless. If your dimmer switch is wired to the light, just use the scene name to turn it on or off, then you can tell Alexa to dim by the switch name. The light will dim and the switch will show the dim value change. If the keypad is wired to the light, it's a little more jenky. Still use the scene to turn it on and off, but use the keypad name to dim up or down. In this case, your "remote" dimmer switch will not reflect the dim level change. But my bet is your scenario is the first oneā€”the dimmer is wired to the light.

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