Alexa Discovery of New Devices...Solved

[msachs9393]

After adding all of my devices I tried getting Alexa to discover the ones that had "Amazon Alexa Discovery" checked. Didn't work, none of the Insteon devices in HomeSeer were discovered.

I unlinked the HomeSeer skill in my Alexa app, relinked it, then was immediately given the option to discover devices, and bingo, they were all found, and Alexa voice control has been working wonderfully since.

I needed to replace a couple of Insteon SwitchLinc dimmers that had gone bad and also installed a few TP-Link wall switches - added all of these new devices to HomeSeer, tried discovery again, and the TP-Link devices were all discovered by Alexa in the HomeSeer skill but the new Insteon devices were not. I asked HS Support, and their suggestion was to delete all existing devices linked through HomeSeer in the Alexa app, unlink, then relink the HomeSeer skill, and all the devices including the new Insteon devices should be discovered.

I'm sure they're correct and had already anticipated that as one possible solution, but after the work I did renaming and configuring the devices in the Alexa app after the first round of discovery awhile back, was hoping to avoid having to do that again.

I'm posting this in the MNS Insteon forum rather than the Alexa forum because the problem appears to be with adding new Insteon devices (the new TP-Link devices were discovered through the HomeSeer skill). I noticed that when attempting to add new devices in Alexa, the app offers a list of a few dozen brands of wall switches in the initial drop-down, but Insteon is not in the list so I choose "Other", and this might be the reason those new Insteon switches aren't being discovered.

Has anyone been able to add additional Insteon devices to their Alexa app without having to do as HS Support suggested (deleting, unlinking and relinking, rediscovering)?

[DrJB]

Yes, I’ve added new devices twice, and Alexa discovered them without issue. I would suggest shutting down HR4 and restarting it, then trying again. This has been the magic bullet for any number of intermittent problems like this I’ve had. I will say this, though: I have a couple of switchlinc dimmers in my setup (of about 70 devices), and they are the quirkiest of all with Mark’s Insteon plug-in. They work, but not flawlessly. They were always the strange switches in Insteon’s lineup (not dual band).

[Burrington]

In the Alexa app you can tell Alexa to Discover new devices by:

"Devices" > "+" > "Add Device" > "Other" (Scroll way down at the bottom of the list) > "Discover Devices"

That has worked for me every time I change something.

[Burrington]

I have a couple of switchlinc dimmers in my setup (of about 70 devices), and they are the quirkiest of all with Mark’s Insteon plug-in. They work, but not flawlessly. They were always the strange switches in Insteon’s lineup (not dual band).

Non-dual band devices rely solely on Insteon Powerline signals going through the power lines, rather than RF over the air. If you search the word "powerline" in Mark's HS3 (not HS4) board, you will find lots of discussion about how to resolve Powerline signal strength issues. The very first thing to do is put a FilterLinc (or any old X10 Filter if you have one) on everything plugged into the same outlet as the Insteon Hub (or PLM). Leave the Insteon Hub (or PLM) plugged directly into the outlet, but everything else into the bottom of the filter. Doing that will greatly strengthen your Insteon Powerline signal strength and probably be enough to resolve the issues you're seeing with non-Dual-Band devices.

[msachs9393]

Thank you both for responding, so at least I know it's possible, I just don't know why those new SwitchLincs aren't being discovered in the Alexa app.
"Amazon Alexa Discovery" is checked (tried in just the Feature and in both the Feature and the Device).
Have restarted HS4 multiple times since those devices were added. They're both dual-band devices and Test Comm on both consistently give uniform 1-Hop responses so not worried about their connection to the Insteon hub.

I've tried:

• "Devices > + > Add Device > Other > Discover"
• "Devices > + > Add Device > Switch > Other > Discover"
• "Devices > + > Add Device > Light > Other > Discover"

So should be working, it's not been working .... and after writing all that had an inspiration that will hopefully help others who might be going through the same thing.

Unchecked "Amazon Alexa Discovery", restarted HS4. Rechecked "Amazon Alexa Discovery", restarted HS4.

Re-ran Alexa Discovery using "Devices > + > Add Device > Other > Discover"......and, TA-DA, the two new SwitchLinc dimmers were discovered and are working with Alexa voice control !!!

[mnsandler]

I wonder if a simple HS4 restart would have have worked (ie without changing the Alexa discovery checkbox )

for the record, Alexa doesn't talk directly to Insteon devices, that is why its not listed specifically. Other is the correct choice

[msachs9393]

I'd updated to the latest HS4 and MNS plugin beta versions and restarted HS4 and the Hometroller Plus multiple times since the new switches were installed in the walls.

Discovery in the Alexa app didn't find the new devices (multiple tries over several days) until the Alexa Discovery boxes uncheck, HS4 restart, checking the boxes again, restarting HS4 again - then discovery worked on the next attempt. That change definitely made a difference.

[mnsandler]

I will report this to HS and we can consider this solved.