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Alexa for Australian Users - Will not discover devices

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    Alexa for Australian Users - Will not discover devices

    Hey all,

    I had my Amazon Echo working with Homeseer until Amazon have come to Australia. I'm running HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.435.

    Used to work when I set the echo to a U.S address. Now I cannot get it to discover devices at all. Can enable the skill and login to HS3 cloud.

    Any other Aussie users with any success?

    Cheers
    Troy

    #2
    I had this problem with Vera, not sure if the solution is the same but I needed to reset location to Australia and alter the Time zone IIRC, I might have also deleted the device and re-installed it, although the second Alexa was a breeze. It was very painful to get correct but it's on the Alexa side not HS.

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      #3
      I'm using Alexa in Australia, but as you've said I have mine set to US region. I didn't start using Alexa until post Australian launch, but I quickly switched to the US region due to the pathetic lack of skills for the AU region/language.

      I do have to use two accounts, one for my Australian Amazon account which I actually make purchases through, another account dedicated just to Alexa. It means I can't make voice purchases but that's probably a good thing.

      From memory, I originally tried to run Alexa with my Australian account, but after a lot of song and dance couldn't get the Alexa to behave properly, changing regions/addresses wasn't working. Factory reset, made a new dedicated account on amazon.com (VPN'ed to avoid any region redirects) and went from there.

      I have the occasional device that won't discover, an RGB dimmer being a recent case. But I created a virtual device in HS3 that acts as a command proxy, which was discovered fine. If your Echo isn't finding any devices though I doubt this helps sorry.

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        #4
        Oh, also check which HomeSeer skill you're using.

        HomeSeer = Old Alexa integration skill. Avoid it, I don't know why it's still published.

        HomeSeer SmartHome = The correct current Alexa integration skill, other users have reported some problems being fixed after switching to this.

        HomeSeer Home Automation = The HomeSeer command relay skill, ie "...tell homeseer to [blank]"

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          #5
          Thanks guys, Thanks Fellhahn I'll create a new Amazon account and give it a try. Wish they would get it working for us Aussies!

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            #6
            Hi guys - I have HS3 ZEE S2 Edition 3.0.0.435 purchased from homeseer with the AU ZWave radio.

            I also have an AU Amazon Echo set to all Australian region options and the "Homeseer Smart Home" (space between smart and home) skill is the only one available and it doesn't discover any devices as others have said.

            Any news when the "HomeSeer Smarthome" skill will be released for Australian Echo owners?

            J.
            Last edited by JBoman32768; August 25, 2018, 09:56 AM. Reason: Corrected exact skill name

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              #7
              This is a problem:
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                #8
                Yeah we have none of those in Australia - just "Homeseer Smart Home" (space between smart and home) which doesn't detect any devices.
                Click image for larger version

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                  #9
                  JBoman create a new Amazon account as suggested by Fellhahn and make sure its an American account. You can use a VPN or I used firefox to create the amercian amazon account ( make sure their is no .au and the end of the amazon domain ). Once I created the account I then reset my Echo to factory defaults and rejoined the echo with my amercian amazon account, Set the echo timezone/location to US, install the homeseer smarthome skill. Once done Echo should discover your devices. Its all working fine for me thanks to Fellhahn post.

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                    #10
                    Yup don't bother trying to use Alexa in "Australia" mode. Set it up as a US device. It's not just HomeSeer you'll have problems with, there's a ton of other skills which aren't available in the AU region for no good reason whatsoever.

                    For instance, some other things you CAN'T do with Alexa on an AU account:

                    Can't use TrackR to find your phone.
                    Can't use Bond (Olibra) to control ceiling fans.
                    Can't use Yamaha music cast.
                    Can't use Ambient Weather to get reports from your personal weather station.
                    For some reason, when trying to use both the Plex skill and a Spotify music account, the Plex skill stopped working after connecting Spotify.

                    And finally, if you take a look at the total number of skills available in the AU region, it's about 1% of the number of skills available in the US region.

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                      #11
                      As a side note I'm finding the Echo not as good as it used to be. I see alot of devices showing offline on the Echo and alot of times when I say turn off TV it will say "theirs a few devices sharing that name, Which one do you want?" I've got the Google Home and I'm find thats much better now. Especially how I can rename each device in the google home app.

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                        #12
                        Australians seem to have access to HomeSeer SmartHome too now, however the problem remains - I have opened a support case with HomeSeer and Amazon and referred to each other, so leaving it the hands of professionals to resolve.

                        A lot of the people using Alexa devices actually want the localisation options too so switching to USA isn't really a viable workaround to get all that we want from both products. As a workaround I have just linked a couple of services direct thus avoiding HomeSeer for voice control at the moment.

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                          #13
                          Yeah it's not worth running an Echo in US mode just for homeseer. I like my weather in C and all the other localisation stuff. Google does this just fine and I just got their Home Hub with the touchscreen which works a treat. I think Alexa is in trouble - just like Microsoft consumer efforts, if you can't make something for markets outside the US, it will ultimately fail.

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