Differences b/t 2 FC200+'s and Also Problems with Alexa

[ToinkyRoo]

I must be losing my mind! Allow me to elaborate in as few words as possible. Bought 2 HS-FC200+ switches. Installed one a few weeks ago on the fan in my family room. This replaced a GE Fan Control Z-wave switch. After doing so, the local and web control are fine, but I can't use Alexa to control it. When I try, she says, "A few things share the name family room fan. Which one did you want?" Granted, I did replace one device with another and named it the same. However, I renamed that switch (Sarah's fan). I have gone to amazon's site and forgotten all devices and rediscovered them multiple times. The most peculiar thing--and what is driving me nuts--is that there are NO devices in the Alexa profile online (or in the app for that matter) named "Family Room Fan." Yet, she says there are multiple devices with that name!

To add to my insanity, after a couple of weeks of fighting Alexa with the family room fan, I installed the second switch in my master bedroom, once again replacing a GE branded fan switch. Now, here comes crazy-making part #2. HS sees the second switch differently than the first. The family room fan switch has on/off/slider control while the master bedroom fan switch has on/off/1/2/3. I have no idea why they would be any different. I've tried to inspect the details of each switch in HS and can't spot any differences, but I admittedly don't know what I am looking for nor where to look. Oh, and the Alexa problem is still going on with this second switch.

I am losing the WAF war. I had finally gotten my wife to control the fan with Alexa by saying "Alexa, set the master bedroom|family room fan to 25%|50%|100%" to get the low, medium, and high settings to work. Now, not only do the controls of the two new switches have differing values to control speeds (one continuous and one 1-2-3), but they don't work with Alexa at all because she thinks there are multiple devices with the same names for both new switches, so there is no way to control either of them via voice.

I think the men with the long sleeved white jacket that fastens in the back are coming for me soon...

[Rupp]

Have you logged into https://alexa.amazon.com and deleted the old devices so you do not have both fans still listed?

[ToinkyRoo]

Yes. Sorry I wasn't clear in my original post, but that's what I meant by "I have gone to amazon's site and forgotten all devices and rediscovered them multiple times." I go from zero devices--after they are deleted--to having all my devices discovered EXCEPT the two new fan switches. That is, everything thing else shows up in Alexa's devices list and works fine--just these two new switches are missing. Even though they are not even listed in the list of devices, Alexa verbally reports there are multiple devices of the same name ("A few devices share that name...)!

[Statikk]

Did you remember to check the box for voice control? You could also try selecting the "Is Dimmable" checkbox. I ended up creating some virtual devices that Alexa detects in order to control the actual devices. I'm not sure if the way I configured things is "correct" since I have only been using HS a couple of weeks now but I posted screenshots of my config in another thread. The voice control commands are a little simpler than giving percentages which raised the WAF.

https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/ho...48#post1333748

[ToinkyRoo]

Bingo! Checking the voice command box did the trick. Makes a lot of sense, but I may never have thought of that because I have never had to turn on the voice command for ANY other devices/switches I have installed. I guess the default on these new switches for voice control is off, whereas before it was automatically set to being on. Thank you, Statikk. I can also conclude that the error of "A few things share that name" was totally incorrect--for reasons I don't think I'll explore. Alexa should have been saying, "there is no device by that name".

So, my major issue that I posted about is solved. However, here are some other puzzling issues. (1) In trouble shooting I went to alexa.amazon.com and disabled both HS skills. I deleted all devices and then rediscovered them. I expected to see only a few smart home devices (ring, harmony). However, all my HS devices were also listed. That is, even though I have no Alexa skill enabled for HS, she still finds my devices and controls them. Can anyone explain that!?

(2) I still have a discrepancy in my two HS-FC200+ switches when responding to voice commands through Alexa. One (family room fan) responds to on/off/% (that results in Hi/Med/Lo control of the fan). The other (master bedroom fan) only responds to on/off. In HS webpage is shows on/off/1/2/3. (Very different than the first one.) When I ask Alexa to set the master bedroom fan to 2, she says, "master bedroom fan doesn't support that. In other words, I have no way to dim or control the speeds.

(3) In the for what's its worth, department, when I send a "set status mode LED color" to the first switch for the LED to blink, it doesn't. It does turn the correct color but doesn't blink. The second switch I installed will blink as it's supposed to.

So, I still don't know why these supposed identical switches are behaving so differently, and, more importantly, how I get them behave the same way.

[drhtmal]

...So, I still don't know why these supposed identical switches are behaving so differently, and, more importantly, how I get them behave the same way.

If the switches are identically programmed and not working correctly it could be a hardware issue. You might want to contact HomeSee support.

[ToinkyRoo]

Not sure it's the best solution, but I just copied the Status Graphics screen from the first switch (the one with the slider) for the second switch (originally off/1/2/3. This will work for me because I've trained my wife to say "Alexa, set the bedroom fan to 25% [for low] | 50% [for med] | 100% [for high]". I would rather have it be, set the fan to low|medium|high, but this will work. Thanks for offering ideas that have helped me get the WAF back up to threshold.

[avpman]

Not sure it's the best solution, but I just copied the Status Graphics screen from the first switch (the one with the slider) for the second switch (originally off/1/2/3. This will work for me because I've trained my wife to say "Alexa, set the bedroom fan to 25% [for low] | 50% [for med] | 100% [for high]". I would rather have it be, set the fan to low|medium|high, but this will work. Thanks for offering ideas that have helped me get the WAF back up to threshold.

Hi,
Have you been able to find a way to use Low/Med/High voices to control the fan yet? I'm pulling my hair out over this as well.

[The Keeper]

FYI, it looks like another reason why "a few things share that name" was being replied with is if the Echo is registered to another person in the household. I created a group using an Echo that wasn't "mine", and that was the response to "turn the lights [on|off]". I tried again using the Echo in my workshop, and that worked. I'm going to see if I can "steal" the Echos from my wife, hopefully not damaging the WAF too badly, and try again.

Chris