How to setup regular Homeseer Skill with Alexa?

[Integraoligist]

Using HS3Pro 3.0.0.368 and Smartstick+ with 3.0.1.130

I'm sure this is a super simple issue but for some reason Alexa likes to aggravate...

I've got the standard Homeseer Skill on the Alexa app so we don't have to say "alexa tell homeseer to..." I've gotten all the devices in alexa, i say "alexa turn on the kitchen lights" and sometimes it will say OKAY and turn them on. Other times it will say "a few things share that name, which one do you want?" then I say "kitchen lights" again and it responds "sorry, i can't find kitchen lights" and does nothing. It's 50/50 which it will say, dont understand why.

So i'm looking at the CONSTRUCTING PHRASES on this page:
https://homeseer.com/amazon-alexa-integration/
even though this is for the advanced skill, but is this the same way the standard skill sees the devices?
"{Attention Phrase} {Command} {Location 2} {Location 1} {Device Name}"



For my setup I don't use "Floor", instead I use "Category" (as I have only 1 floor so the floor column is useless to me)... attached is a pic of my setup.

Is the Category the issue that is causing all of this? I went through every single item in Homeseer and un-ticked the "Voice Command" box in everything except the items with "lights on/off". So why it's saying "a few things share that name" makes absolutely no sense.

Thanks all for the help!

[concordseer]

I'm using x10 with my Devices in Alexa using the basic skill. The Device Name is the main driver when I address Alexa. For example I have two devices in the Kitchen. The devices are called Kitchen Main and Kitchen Lamp. When I address Alexa I say " Alexa Kitchen Main On" and the correct light turns on. I then say "Alexa Kitchen Lamp On" and this turns on the second kitchen unit.

Your device name Kitchen Lights On/Off is your problem here. If its an actual device it's not a valid name and Alexa is reacting accordingly. Keep your device names as short and simple as possible. If you have two or more devices names starting with the same room name as I have, say the room name first and pause slightly before you say the second name. For example say "Alexa Kitchen (pause) Lamp On.

[Integraoligist]

I thought of this before too, the original name for that was just "lights"... It has this Alexa issue so I changed it to "lights on/off" because I thought it was seeing the first item called "lights".

So I should change it to "kitchen lights"?
The standard skill does not see the Catagory or room name and thus has no effect?

[Rupp]

I thought of this before too, the original name for that was just "lights"... It has this Alexa issue so I changed it to "lights on/off" because I thought it was seeing the first item called "lights".

So I should change it to "kitchen lights"?
The standard skill does not see the Catagory or room name and thus has no effect?

When you state Category what are you referring to? For the standard skill you can use the Voice Command on the Devices Configuration tab to identify the devices making it easier to remember the name of the device.

[lj502]

As soon as the V3 skill is released from Amazon's testing you will need to rethink some of your names anyway, but it is SO much better than the current skill. You will be able to walk into the kitchen and say Alexa lights on and only the light or lights that you set up in the skill will be controlled. In the new skill you set up Echo devices tied to a room or lights (groups) and only those lights included in that group will work with basic commands (lights on/off) and others will be called by their name. I can walk into our bedroom now and say "Alexa lights on/off" and 3 LIFX bulbs, 2 Z-wave lamp modules, and 1 X-10 switch all fire together as one. If I say "Alexa lights red" then only the LIFX bulbs change red as the others don't support that. Now If I go into the Livingroom and say "Alexa lights on" the Livingroom fan lights turn on, Alexa now knows what room I'm in and controls those "lights" only by using the new groups feature in the new V3 skill. There is a little more setup but the result is simply great. The best feature I think is the routines section in the Alexa app, it allows you to pick the word or phase after you say Alexa and the run any number of things, much easier to use and remember, almost like an Event in HS3.
I'm using (testing ) the new V3 skill and while it is awesome there will be another learning curve for most users. Their are so many ways to get the same thing done that this board is gonna really light up with confusion but also very many new ideas and uses will come from it. Alot of what you can do is redundant as HS3 can link so much together, so do you make Events in HS3 to control things and just use Alexa to fire those Events or do you create inside the Alexa app and let it control HS3, that's just one example. I personally love Alexa for firing events inside HS3 but using the routines in the Alexa app, it allows for such ease of use, "Alexa bedroom volume up" "bedroom TV" "bedroom music" "bedroom off" and HS3 handles the rest. "Alexa jump" and Squeezebox moves to next song. Letting my wife pick the words or phrases was the game changer, she uses it for everything now, priceless!

John

[concordseer]

I thought of this before too, the original name for that was just "lights"... It has this Alexa issue so I changed it to "lights on/off" because I thought it was seeing the first item called "lights".

So I should change it to "kitchen lights"?
The standard skill does not see the Catagory or room name and thus has no effect?

Yes and keep you device naming as simple as possible. If you have two or more devices in the same room it's room name first and device name second. As I said above Kitchen Lamp for one device and Kitchen Main for the second device.

Alexa easily recognises room names which effectively helps group all devices in one room.

The rest of your design can be controlled by events. Something like the following

If Kitchen Main is set to on then set Kitchen Lamp to on etc etc.

this means you can turn all the devices on you require in one room at the same time. Play around with time of day and anything else you require to set scenes for different times of the day.

In x10 I have 3 different devices all set to the same address which I need turned on at the same time. A variation on the above.

As I said it pays to keep device naming as simple as possible.

[Integraoligist]

When you state Category what are you referring to? For the standard skill you can use the Voice Command on the Devices Configuration tab to identify the devices making it easier to remember the name of the device.

When I say Category, I'm talking about the image i attached in the original post where I changed the name of a column and called it "Category".

Just changed a couple of lights in the "Voice Command" slot and updated Alexa, it changed the names of the lights, so I'll test this out and get back to you.

Thanks!