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    #1

    Alexa and Scenes

    Hi,

    Or should I say, Hi Stu? 😄

    So now I have purchased an Amazon Echo Dot, gotten it successfully installed and working, and integrated it successfully (mostly) with my new hub kit. I can tell her Lights On, Lights Off, and it works fine. "Lights" is an Alexa Group. I have read that it should also work with Insteon scenes as of last fall. But when I try "evening on/off" (evening is an Insteon scene), she says I'm having some trouble. But Lights on/off works fine immediately after this attempt. Do I need to delete the Alexa group? Can they not coexist in peace and harmony??

    I attempted to update the firmware, but it said it was already up to date. Which brings up the question, does Insteon post the current firmware version no. anywhere? If so I sure haven't been able to find it.

    Thanks for for your help once again! 😊

    Terry
    Tags: None
    #2
    I'm unsure about your exact difficulty. That's me, not you because I'm very literal. You mention both a group and a scene. Groups are an Amazon app concept whereas scenes are part of the Insteon protocol. Both groups and scenes can co-exist. I use both. But, you may run into problems if a particular group and scene are duplicitous.

    OTOH, Alexa often replies incorrectly, but carries out the task. That's strictly an Amazon speech recognition anomaly. It gets better as voice commands get repeated, but I've never gotten !00% success.

    You should (not will) get an email for each upgrade. If you have a 2245 Hub, then the upgrades should occur automatically, but it doesn't harm to try manually.
    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.
    Saving energy is not always free. Be a world saver.

    Comment

      #3
      Thanks Stu. Guess I don't really need both, but since I am just starting don't know the limitations of each. So I will try removing the Alexa Group and trying it with the I-Scene.

      I am used to being able to review firmware versions and Rev Notes. Is this not available from Insteon?? This would be highly unusual and nonstandard from most technical standards, and technology products in general.

      TG

      Comment

        #4
        The latest note are somewhat dated. You may want to check out [url]http://www.insteon.com/support-knowledgebase/2015/5/6/insteon-hub-release-notes[/url] every once in a while.
        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.
        Saving energy is not always free. Be a world saver.

        Comment

          #5
          OK, thanks buddy! :)

          Comment

            #6

            I have found that there are some reserved words. IE: "Goodnight" If I say "Alexa, ...Goodnight", she will say "Goodnight, ...sleep well". Hard programmed into her. So I renamed my "Goodnight" scene to "Bedtime" and it works fine.

            I have every light in my home on Insteon(except some closets) so I have a lot of points that can be automated. I had knee surgery and spent a few weeks getting everything tuned up. Nice to control things with just my voice when the alternative is to use a walker. The Alexa integration is pretty slick!

            Comment

              #7
              That's awesome Marty. I have found it to be amazingly responsive, when it works. I have two dimmable modules, one of them has been replaced by Insteon when it proved unresponsive, but I find it to be glitchy also. The other one seems to work flawlessly. I tried swapping outlets between the two, and that helped for a bit, but now the replacement seems to be flaking out in that outlet as well. Not sure what's going on there, and am reserving expansion based on this trial, but I would give it a 50% thumbs up based on my personal experience.

              Comment

                #8
                [QUOTE=Tgarrity;n93336]That's awesome Marty. I have found it to be amazingly responsive, when it works. I have two dimmable modules, one of them has been replaced by Insteon when it proved unresponsive, but I find it to be glitchy also. The other one seems to work flawlessly. I tried swapping outlets between the two, and that helped for a bit, but now the replacement seems to be flaking out in that outlet as well. Not sure what's going on there, and am reserving expansion based on this trial, but I would give it a 50% thumbs up based on my personal experience.[/QUOTE]

                Are you referring to LampLincs or something else?
                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.
                Saving energy is not always free. Be a world saver.

                Comment

                  #9
                  Hey Stu, I'm talking about the LaampLinc Dimmer Dual-Band #2457D2 modules.

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Tgarrity, what do you mean by flaking out? Can you be more specific?
                    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.
                    Saving energy is not always free. Be a world saver.

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Hey Stu,

                      When I ask her to "Turn off "Lights"" (scene), sometimes she says she was unable to contact the devices, and to check the wifi connection. I would say almost 50% of the time only one light will respond to scene activation. Same thing happens when I ask her to turn on/off modules individually. Now, I will admit I have the Hub connected to an APC UPS, as is my PC, cable modem/router, etc. for protection, and I have read that it should be directly connected to a wall outlet, so maybe this is the source of the problem.

                      Also wanted to give Insteon a heads up re: this forum. I received this warning from Firefox when I logged in today: [url]https://support.mozilla.org/t5/Protect-your-privacy/Insecure-password-warning-in-Firefox/ta-p/27861[/url]

                      Thanks,

                      Terry

                      Comment

                        #12
                        The Hub depends on a [I]direct connection[/I] to the powerline. Any device between the Hub and the powerline will diminish or even prevent communication. Also, the Alexa app is not perfected. Even with a direct connection to the powerline, there will be occasional glitches. In any case, do not plug the Hub into anything but an outlet with no other unfiltered electronic gear on that same circuit.
                        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.
                        Saving energy is not always free. Be a world saver.

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Thanks Stu, I'll give it a shot. Otherwise I think both Alexa and the Insteon products work pretty well. I was a long time X10 user.

                          Comment

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