Alexa won't find new devices or scenes

[Hossy]

Ok, I wanted to post this here for everyone who is having trouble. Mine is now working and the solution was NOT obvious. Thanks go to Greg Hughes @ HomeSeer Support!

Firstly, instead of obliterating my current configuration in the name of troubleshooting, I used BLBackup to take a backup first and then once I resolved the problem, restored the backup and made the ONE change.

No need then to worry about which devices I had enabled for voice. Although, it didn't stop me from trying. Data\HomeSeerData.hsd is a SQLite DB. In the Devices table there is a object_data column that contains BLOB data. On the 5A0 line, there is a entry (in mine anyway) for 0x33 which seems to indicate voice command is enabled. However, in playing with it, that one value appears to change based upon multiple check boxes, but doesn't appear to be a bitmask. I'm not totally sure, but BLBackup was good enough for me so I gave up trying to narrow it down.

Moving on to the fix...

Open your HomeSeer WebUI. Tools > Setup > Network. Make sure you have a user created with the same username/password as your MyHS credentials. Do this EVEN IF your HomeSeer Mobile app works perfectly outside your house or off your network. EVEN IF the HomeSeer Mobile app shows "Remote" and you have no problems controlling your devices.

IMPORTANT: If you change your MyHS password, you must ALSO update it here.

To confirm this is working, go to myhs.homeseer.com, login, and try and access your system. What you will notice is that even when accessing your system, the username reported by the WebUI is NOT your MyHS account, but probably your regular Admin account. Don't ask me why, I just [don't] work here. :-)

Run a discovery on Alexa.

Hopefully this resolves someone else's problem. Good luck!

[Hossy]

You can disable the voice commands quickly using this option.


Try disabling voice control for all devices, this can be done by using the check box and drop-down list directly under the words Device List, as seen in the screenshot.

Once you use the check box to select all devices, you will want to use the drop down menu to select Disable Voice. Then, you will want to go through your device list and click the checkboxes for the devices you would like to control. There are two rules about enabling voice control:

The device must have controls on the right hand side
The device must be on/off, dimmable, or thermostat controls.


For the device above, you would only want to enable voice control for the HomeSeer HS-WD100+ Switch Multilevel child device.

Once all appropriate devices have been selected, you will want to select Enable Voice from the drop down menu, then unlink and relink Alexa with HomeSeer.

When you are having issues you will always want to only select one or two devices to test with and then add more later. You will also want to keep your voice commands simple with no special characters.

Thanks, Rupp !

One more question, before I go making changes, how do I get a list of all the devices that CURRENTLY have voice enabled?

EDIT: ... or maybe a way to review the logs to see what device, if any, that it's hanging up on?

[Rupp]

Crap that would be a lot of work. You mean actual devices or just the events? Is there a quicker way of doing that short of wearing out my mouse button over the next few hours? :-)

You can disable the voice commands quickly using this option.


Try disabling voice control for all devices, this can be done by using the check box and drop-down list directly under the words Device List, as seen in the screenshot.

Once you use the check box to select all devices, you will want to use the drop down menu to select Disable Voice. Then, you will want to go through your device list and click the checkboxes for the devices you would like to control. There are two rules about enabling voice control:

The device must have controls on the right hand side
The device must be on/off, dimmable, or thermostat controls.


For the device above, you would only want to enable voice control for the HomeSeer HS-WD100+ Switch Multilevel child device.

Once all appropriate devices have been selected, you will want to select Enable Voice from the drop down menu, then unlink and relink Alexa with HomeSeer.

When you are having issues you will always want to only select one or two devices to test with and then add more later. You will also want to keep your voice commands simple with no special characters.

[Hossy]

Try disabling your voice commands on all of your devices and then test the events. Typically what happens is the discovery process hits one "bad" device and the entire process halts.

Crap that would be a lot of work. You mean actual devices or just the events? Is there a quicker way of doing that short of wearing out my mouse button over the next few hours? :-)

[Rupp]

Are we talking about devices or scenes here?

I just went through the steps as all the others here (delete all devices via alexa.amazon.com; relink "HomeSeer SmartHome" skill; confirm voice command text/checkbox). Devices are discovered without an issue, but Events (AKA Scenes) are not discovered even though they have a voice command (text) configured as well as the checkbox enabled.

I'm running both the "HomeSeer SmartHome" and "HomeSeer Home Automation Skill" skills on Alexa. HS3 version is 3.0.0.548.

Try disabling your voice commands on all of your devices and then test the events. Typically what happens is the discovery process hits one "bad" device and the entire process halts.

[Hossy]

The key to make this work is to click into the Device itself and make sure "Voice Command:" was checked in the configuration tab. Once I did that Alexa started to discover every device that I checked "Voice Command" for.

Are we talking about devices or scenes here?

I just went through the steps as all the others here (delete all devices via alexa.amazon.com; relink "HomeSeer SmartHome" skill; confirm voice command text/checkbox). Devices are discovered without an issue, but Events (AKA Scenes) are not discovered even though they have a voice command (text) configured as well as the checkbox enabled.

I'm running both the "HomeSeer SmartHome" and "HomeSeer Home Automation Skill" skills on Alexa. HS3 version is 3.0.0.548.

[scheder@ga.com]

The key to make this work is to click into the Device itself and make sure "Voice Command:" was checked in the configuration tab. Once I did that Alexa started to discover every device that I checked "Voice Command" for.

[lodi]

Any luck with consistently adding devices to Alexa via the HS SmartHome Skill. Alexa is not adding all devices with Voice Command checked. Frustrating....

[Haxster]

D'oh.

Alexa voice commands were working fine with HS3 Pro on a PC and the HomeSeer SmartHome skill. I added some additional devices, gave them Voice Commands, and got the Alexa app on my phone to scan for new devices. Nothing. Nothing again. And nothing.

Reading these posts got me to realize that just adding a Voice Command for a device in HS doesn't automatically enable the Voice command check box. D'oh. Checking the boxes on the new devices solved the issue for me. One more of life's unresolved issues taken care of.

Another new configuration option for HS?: Entering or editing a Voice Command automatically checks the Voice command checkbox.

[The Profit]

Pretty simple event and no special characters. I've tried it with a few others just to see if this one was broken in some weird way. Still no dice.

Everything in that event looks as it should, how frustrating.

I didn’t see in your list, have you tried creating a new event just to do something simple and adding the voice command to it and then discover? Also, have you tried to delete an existing event and recreate it?

I’ve noticed, sometimes a single event/device with voice command that is corrupt can cause problems when Amazon tries to discover devices/events.


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[Blackbeard]

Could you post a screen shot of your event with the options for that event expanded?


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Pretty simple event and no special characters. I've tried it with a few others just to see if this one was broken in some weird way. Still no dice.

[rotunnoe]

I'm in the same boat as Blackbeard. I called support and they had be hopping through the same steps. Has anyone on this thread been successful in activating a scene? I do not think the issue was repaired. The help desk analyst didn't even know of an issue.

[The Profit]

I have been going back and forth with a support rep for over a month. I have not had any success.

• I have disabled all devices and all scenes from voice commands
• Disable/re-enable the Homeseer Smarthome skill in Alexa app and re-authorize
• I have tried enabling just one device
• No luck

Then I tried:

• Disabled all devices and all scenes from voice commands
• Disable the Homeseer Smarthome skill in Alexa. Enabled the Dev skill in Alexa
• Enabled just one device
• I did find that device
• Tried to enable an event
• No event detected

Next I tried:

• Re-enable the standard Homeseer Smarthome skill in Alexa
• Enable an event
• No event detected

Finally I tried:

• Disable the Dev skill in Alexa
• Try voice command for single device that was working
• Error message. Cannot communicate with device.

Long story short: I can't get a single event to work no matter what I do. The Dev Skill will detect at least one device, but it will not detect events. The main skill Homeseer Smarthome fails on all attempts.

Could you post a screen shot of your event with the options for that event expanded?


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[Blackbeard]

I have been going back and forth with a support rep for over a month. I have not had any success.

• I have disabled all devices and all scenes from voice commands
• Disable/re-enable the Homeseer Smarthome skill in Alexa app and re-authorize
• I have tried enabling just one device
• No luck

Then I tried:

• Disabled all devices and all scenes from voice commands
• Disable the Homeseer Smarthome skill in Alexa. Enabled the Dev skill in Alexa
• Enabled just one device
• I did find that device
• Tried to enable an event
• No event detected

Next I tried:

• Re-enable the standard Homeseer Smarthome skill in Alexa
• Enable an event
• No event detected

Finally I tried:

• Disable the Dev skill in Alexa
• Try voice command for single device that was working
• Error message. Cannot communicate with device.

Long story short: I can't get a single event to work no matter what I do. The Dev Skill will detect at least one device, but it will not detect events. The main skill Homeseer Smarthome fails on all attempts.

[Rupp]

This should be fixed. Does a single event with voice command work? Also be sure your voice commands do no have any special characters in them.