Like many of us, I've linked my Amazon Echo units with my HomeSeer system (HS3Pro).
And I've been successful in adding both HomeSeer 'skills' to my Amazon account.
(That is Option #1 and Option #2 from Here)
Further, for a bit of fun, I renamed the Alexa skills "Daphine" so that instead of saying, "Alexa, tell HomeSeer to do something.", I can say "Alexa, tell Daphine to do something."
And this all works.
But telling Alexa, to tell HomeSeer to do something is awkward and bulky.
My Amazon Echo is also directly connected to my Philips Hue Bridge.
So, I can control my "Living Room" lights via Alexa by two different ways:
Guess which one my wife likes better.
And... by speaking from Alexa to the Hue bridge directly, we can easily control color and level of the lights. Even say things like, "Alexa, make the Living Room lights cooler.", and this all works very well.
Further, I have 65 Z-Wave switches throughout the house, and 15 "5 scene" controllers, along with 80 Hue lights (requiring two Philips Hue Bridges). I've recently enjoyed making the 3-way, 4-way and even 5-way control circuits work very well using the "Linked" Z-Wave feature. This works much better than ANY of the previous ways I've tried to implement multi-way switches. The "Linked" feature is instantaneous, and keeps all the status indicators synced very nicely. A big THANK YOU to the HomeSeer folks that supported the linked feature!
I also recently found out how to make those darn "5 scene" controllers work reliably. Either for controlling scenes, or just being extra buttons to activate events.
For the first time since I bought the HomeSeer system, my home Z-Wave, and Hue lighting is working solid and reliable. (It is amazing how enjoyable the HomeSeer system can be when it just works.)
But this now brings me to my problem.
By having Alexa communicate directly with the Hue bridge the command is easier to say, and the lights change reliably, but that bypasses the HomeSeer system, and my Z-Wave switches.
This results in the lights being on, but the Z-Wave switch that would control those lights being 'off'. Meaning the indicator on the switch is off, and to turn the lights off using the Z-Wave Switch, we have to 'turn the lights on using the Z-wave switch" so that the switch is now in the 'on' condition, THEN we have to "Turn the lights off using the Z-Wave switch." to make the lights go off.
This upsets my wife. (And we all know that the success of a home automation system is in part based on spouse acceptance.)
A Solution?
I've tried many attempts at having the HomeSeer 'detect' when lights change, and then change the Z-Wave switch state appropriately so that the lights and the switches are in sync. But none of the things I've attempted have worked.
For example, I can say, "Alexa, turn the Living Room lights on red." And the lights will turn on red, but when I detect the lights have turned on, and I set the Z-Wave wall switch to on, that triggers the HomeSeer event for that switch, and the lights turn on 'cool white' in this case. (This gets particularity tricky for the multi-way switch setups.)
So, does anyone have any ideas or insight on how to synchronize the Amazon Echo and the HomeSeer system?
I'm open to any suggestions/solutions from either the Amazon, Philips, or HomeSeer side.
Suggestions? Solutions? Insights?
Thanks in advance.
And I've been successful in adding both HomeSeer 'skills' to my Amazon account.
(That is Option #1 and Option #2 from Here)
Further, for a bit of fun, I renamed the Alexa skills "Daphine" so that instead of saying, "Alexa, tell HomeSeer to do something.", I can say "Alexa, tell Daphine to do something."
And this all works.
But telling Alexa, to tell HomeSeer to do something is awkward and bulky.
My Amazon Echo is also directly connected to my Philips Hue Bridge.
So, I can control my "Living Room" lights via Alexa by two different ways:
1) "Alexa, tell Daphine to turn on Living Room lights."
2) "Alexa, Living Room lights on."
2) "Alexa, Living Room lights on."
Guess which one my wife likes better.
And... by speaking from Alexa to the Hue bridge directly, we can easily control color and level of the lights. Even say things like, "Alexa, make the Living Room lights cooler.", and this all works very well.
Further, I have 65 Z-Wave switches throughout the house, and 15 "5 scene" controllers, along with 80 Hue lights (requiring two Philips Hue Bridges). I've recently enjoyed making the 3-way, 4-way and even 5-way control circuits work very well using the "Linked" Z-Wave feature. This works much better than ANY of the previous ways I've tried to implement multi-way switches. The "Linked" feature is instantaneous, and keeps all the status indicators synced very nicely. A big THANK YOU to the HomeSeer folks that supported the linked feature!
I also recently found out how to make those darn "5 scene" controllers work reliably. Either for controlling scenes, or just being extra buttons to activate events.
For the first time since I bought the HomeSeer system, my home Z-Wave, and Hue lighting is working solid and reliable. (It is amazing how enjoyable the HomeSeer system can be when it just works.)
But this now brings me to my problem.
By having Alexa communicate directly with the Hue bridge the command is easier to say, and the lights change reliably, but that bypasses the HomeSeer system, and my Z-Wave switches.
This results in the lights being on, but the Z-Wave switch that would control those lights being 'off'. Meaning the indicator on the switch is off, and to turn the lights off using the Z-Wave Switch, we have to 'turn the lights on using the Z-wave switch" so that the switch is now in the 'on' condition, THEN we have to "Turn the lights off using the Z-Wave switch." to make the lights go off.
This upsets my wife. (And we all know that the success of a home automation system is in part based on spouse acceptance.)
A Solution?
I've tried many attempts at having the HomeSeer 'detect' when lights change, and then change the Z-Wave switch state appropriately so that the lights and the switches are in sync. But none of the things I've attempted have worked.
For example, I can say, "Alexa, turn the Living Room lights on red." And the lights will turn on red, but when I detect the lights have turned on, and I set the Z-Wave wall switch to on, that triggers the HomeSeer event for that switch, and the lights turn on 'cool white' in this case. (This gets particularity tricky for the multi-way switch setups.)
So, does anyone have any ideas or insight on how to synchronize the Amazon Echo and the HomeSeer system?
I'm open to any suggestions/solutions from either the Amazon, Philips, or HomeSeer side.
Suggestions? Solutions? Insights?
Thanks in advance.
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