Alexa No Voice Control My Insteon Devices

[Capt T]

HomeSeer Newbe here & need help! I bought & installed HomeSeer HomeTroler Plus OK with my 2014 Insteon Hub (FYI. it now has a green LT vs Red) which I factory reset per instructions on HandyDadTV part 2 video. I can not "discover" new Insteon Devices I add with the Insteon Plugin or control my Insteon plugs or switches with Alexa voice commands. FYI. Other smart plugs (Kasa & Wemo) voice commands work fine & show up in the Alexa list. Insteon devices do not show up in the list of insteon plug-ins even when I run "Add a Device". FYI. Insteon is not listed under "Brand" to set up so I select "Other" and click "Discover". Do I still need to have the Insteon App & Skill (can not "Enable to Use" it will not let me Sign In using my Insteon Username & pw. It did let me reset my pw but won't accept it... when reinstalled the Insteon App (Android) and I set up a new account.. When I try to Enable to Use the Insteon Skill it Says "No valid hub subscription for this account). Should it work w/ Alexa by just using the HomeSeer Skill or do I need both to make Alexa discover & able to voice command the Insteon devices on/off? This is the main reason I bought the HT Plus & MNS Insteon plug-in. FYI. I'm downloaded the free 30 day trial... would it work if I buy & registered it?

[mnsandler]

Welcome. We need to start at the beginning.

1. please post your tools/help/message board info.

2. please post a pic of the devices you have registered on the plugin Devices page.

3. are you able to control insteon devices from the hs UI?

4. you should disable internet access for the insteon hub in your home router.

[Capt T]

1. I copied my system profile from my Tool /Help info... here is a link to it.
Visitor message from capt-t - HomeSeer Message Board

2. I attached a photo of my HS screen listing all my devices I have loaded so far.


Here is what I copied when I went inside my Insteon Hub (after factory reseting it)

INSTEON HUB2 Details
Hub2-V04-20140904
PLM Version:A5
Firmware:1019 Build Nov 18 2019 13:45:08
Insteon ID:45.5A.3A

3. Yes, all works OK when I use the Insteon plug-in to turn my devices on/off.

4. I followed instructions on "RECOMMENDED: Secure your Insteon Hub Now!" after following the directions on Read This First Sticky Note & before I tested my Insteon Hub connection (step 0).

(is that what you mean by disable internet access...?) if not please provide more instructions..

by blocking

• Block access to these URLs/Hosts
  • connect.insteon.com
  • prod.insteon.pubnub.com
  • pubsub.pubnub.com
  • pubnub.com

FYI My Router is Netgear NightHawk R6900v2

[mnsandler]

here is info on alexa control. this is a function of HS not the plugin. if you can control insteon devices from the hs ui, then there is something else going on

To Control devices with Alexa

• https://homeseer.com/amazon-alexa-integration/
• See the following forum for support:
  • https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/ho...art-home-skill

alexa doesn't understand insteon directly. everything must be discovered as Other.

make sure the Alexa Discovery option is checked on the hs devices created.

[Capt T]

That was all good to know!.. I found the Cloud/Voice Settings and they were all unchecked so I fixed them all & rebooted it.. Tools/ System/ Restart System.
Next I did another Alexa Devices "Discover" and it "found 8 Devices found & connected"! After I set up "Master Bedroom Lamp 2" and now Alexa voice control is working! You be the man!

The only catch is Alexa wants me tp say "Alexa, turn on/off Plugin Master Bedroom Lamp 2"
I did some test and I can eliminate "Plugin" in the command by saying "Alexa, Master Bedroom Lamp 2 off/on"
Might be a little more than the wife would like to say to turn her light on/off.. not a techie Insteon fan.. ;-/
But at least you don't need to include "Plugin" in the command!

[mnsandler]

Glad to hear its working. you can set custom voice commands with a special hs field on the hs device. you may need to rediscover after the change.

[Capt T]

Update.. the Alexa voice commands are still working fine. I forgot I could also rename the commands with Alexa; select light to rename & the "Cog Gear" upper right corner then rename it to three or two words.. for the wife & my old brain. Just make sure the name isn't too similar to another light or plug-in. You will have an option to add it to Rooms too. Works best if you have the name of the room in the command if you have similar names for lights. ex: Fan Light best to save it as Bedroom Fan Light. The only downside to using the Alexa app for turning on/off Insteon lights & plugs it doesn't show if the light is already ON like the Insteon App did. The HomeSeer App does but so far I can't log onto the App with my user name & pw... (I submitted a request for help at HomeSeer main Forum page but no reply back yet) but I found I can use a browser on my cell phone to logon to MyHS Mobile page. I was also able to recover one "FOSCAM" Insteon smarthome camera. I found the IP address on the list on my router & my old username & pw still worked! If I factory reset my other 3 smarthome cameras how can I set them up (pls send me a link if how to do it is already posted on the forum) on my wifi & new pw without the Insteon App or can I only have one camera on my free account with HomeSeer?

[mnsandler]

cameras are controlled or monitored by the free webcam plugin.

https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/camera-plug-ins