Breakiing news: UK Amazon Echo works with Evohome!

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  • paulockenden
    Automated Home Legend
    • Apr 2015
    • 1719

    #76
    The controller certainly supports non 0.5 degree increments.

    I sometimes see non 0.5 temps in my zone that uses an HCW82. (Which allows you to set an analogue local override).

    Comment

    • DBMandrake
      Automated Home Legend
      • Sep 2014
      • 2361

      #77
      Originally posted by bruce_miranda View Post
      I have been waiting for a Dot. Got one! Don't really need the Echo. Let's see how I get on.
      Add me to the list. Just impulse bought an Echo Dot.

      I'm hoping to use it to both integrate with the Evohome (and look forward to configuring groups in particular) and with Spotify so I'll have it plugged into the stereo in the living room semi-permanently. If it can do those two functions well anything else is gravy.

      Does anyone know whether the voice response to commands can still be relayed using the built in speaker even if you have something (stereo) connected via the 3.5mm jack for music playback purposes ?
      Last edited by DBMandrake; 14 December 2016, 01:04 PM.

      Comment

      • paulockenden
        Automated Home Legend
        • Apr 2015
        • 1719

        #78
        Originally posted by DBMandrake View Post
        Does anyone know whether the voice response to commands can still be relayed using the built in speaker even if you have something (stereo) connected via the 3.5mm jack for music playback purposes ?
        It behaves like most other 3.5mm sockets on equipment, disabling the internal speaker completely.

        P.

        Comment

        • DBMandrake
          Automated Home Legend
          • Sep 2014
          • 2361

          #79
          Originally posted by paulockenden View Post
          It behaves like most other 3.5mm sockets on equipment, disabling the internal speaker completely.
          Bother! My hope was that it could respond to voice commands without having the stereo switched to the Dot but play music through the stereo when I so desired. I'll have to come up with another plan then...

          Comment

          • Mavis
            Automated Home Ninja
            • Oct 2014
            • 322

            #80
            Originally posted by paulockenden View Post
            It behaves like most other 3.5mm sockets on equipment, disabling the internal speaker completely.

            P.
            Yes, I can also confirm this - I have one of my Dots connected to a Sonos Connect Amp in the bedroom. It also appears to mess up the volume but that may be more down to user incompetence rather than the Dot itself.

            For those interesting in the Sonos setup at the moment, now I have one Dot set up with my Sonos system, I can play music using Alexa on any of my speakers (mixture of Play 1s and Connect Amps) by selecting Line Out on the individual speaker (I find it easier to group them and then ungroup). I have an Alexa remote on order that will make it easier to change tracks once playing.
            Once Sonos is officially compatible next year then it will be much better hopefully.

            Comment

            • jzwack-honeywell
              Automated Home Jr Member
              • Jan 2016
              • 36

              #81
              Originally posted by Mavis View Post
              Once Sonos is officially compatible next year then it will be much better hopefully.
              I'm still personally wondering how that is going to work for older devices. I've read they are going to probably do an equipment refresh in 2017 that will include a microphone and alexa onboard.
              developer.honeywell.com | I work for Honeywell. API Evangelist. Views are my own.

              Comment

              • Muzz
                Automated Home Jr Member
                • Mar 2015
                • 14

                #82
                Has anyone else found that the Alexa says the device has stopped responding in the last few days? Disabling and adding the skill has fixed it, but this is now the second time its happened. The first time Quick actions appeared, so I'm wondering if it's connected to the skill being updated?

                Comment

                • Mavis
                  Automated Home Ninja
                  • Oct 2014
                  • 322

                  #83
                  Originally posted by Muzz View Post
                  Has anyone else found that the Alexa says the device has stopped responding in the last few days? Disabling and adding the skill has fixed it, but this is now the second time its happened. The first time Quick actions appeared, so I'm wondering if it's connected to the skill being updated?
                  Yes I had that a couple of days ago so deleted the Honeywell skill and readded it.

                  Comment

                  • jzwack-honeywell
                    Automated Home Jr Member
                    • Jan 2016
                    • 36

                    #84
                    Originally posted by Muzz View Post
                    Has anyone else found that the Alexa says the device has stopped responding in the last few days? Disabling and adding the skill has fixed it, but this is now the second time its happened. The first time Quick actions appeared, so I'm wondering if it's connected to the skill being updated?
                    Do you mind sending me a PM with some more details (like your TCC email address)? I've been trying to track down these cases and fix it.
                    developer.honeywell.com | I work for Honeywell. API Evangelist. Views are my own.

                    Comment

                    • HenGus
                      Automated Home Legend
                      • May 2014
                      • 1001

                      #85
                      Originally posted by Muzz View Post
                      Has anyone else found that the Alexa says the device has stopped responding in the last few days? Disabling and adding the skill has fixed it, but this is now the second time its happened. The first time Quick actions appeared, so I'm wondering if it's connected to the skill being updated?
                      When I stop responding to verbal instructions, my OH just gives me a gentle kick.

                      Comment

                      • DBMandrake
                        Automated Home Legend
                        • Sep 2014
                        • 2361

                        #86
                        Originally posted by paulockenden View Post
                        IFTTT is now working with UK Alexa.

                        Not showing as an Alexa skill yet, so for now you need to set it up from the IFTTT end, but it works fine.

                        P.
                        Any advice on how to get IFTTT connected to Alexa ?

                        After an hour playing around with the official Honeywell Alexa Skill on the echo dot I've sadly come to the conclusion that it's just not usable at the moment.

                        Too many limitations and problems. For example:

                        I made a group called All Rooms and when I ask Alexa to make a change to that group, not only does it take a long time and painfully adjust each zone one at a time with separate requests, more often than not one of the 6 zones fails to change, with an "Alert: Failed Zone Change" email cheerfully delivered to my inbox...

                        In the hour that I was testing I received no less than 5 failed zone change alerts - so it's pretty unreliable. I've also been unable to figure out the correct wording to activate a quick action, and am aware that there is currently no way to cancel an override.

                        Yet another problem was some overrides I made (including an all zones one) simply appeared not to work - Alexa said "OK" after the command but nothing changed on the controller, at least within 5-10 minutes.

                        Then about half an hour later I noticed that all my zones were running at 20 degrees because it had belatedly actioned my all zones to 20 degree command at least 15 minutes late. Whoops.

                        So, not useful to me as it stands, and I'm glad I only paid for an echo dot not an echo... (Spotify support is very good though, so it will get good use for that if nothing else, and I'm sure other skills will be found that are useful in the future)

                        I think I'll give the IFTTT support a try instead as a bridge, if I can figure out how to connect it to Alexa...
                        Last edited by DBMandrake; 17 December 2016, 12:06 AM.

                        Comment

                        • paulockenden
                          Automated Home Legend
                          • Apr 2015
                          • 1719

                          #87
                          Originally posted by DBMandrake View Post
                          Any advice on how to get IFTTT connected to Alexa ?
                          You have to do it from the IFTTT side. It doesn't show as a skill in Alexa.

                          P.

                          Comment

                          • DBMandrake
                            Automated Home Legend
                            • Sep 2014
                            • 2361

                            #88
                            Yep found it.

                            Looks like IFTTT is incapable of making arbitrary temperature adjustments under voice command (only preset ones set in an applet) so I've set up quick actions via IFTTT applets which seems to work reasonably well and re-instated the Honeywell skill for manual temperature adjustment.

                            Interestingly I get "failed system change" alerts relatively frequently when using IFTTT as well, especially if I don't leave a good gap (20+ seconds) between commands, so this seems to be endemic to the Honeywell API, and the same problem I reported a long time ago with the iPhone app which seemed to get better for quite a while but has been bad again in the last few months.

                            Quite frustrating that this stuff is so unreliable when put to real world use. The voice recognition is actually very good, its the API stuff in between that is falling flat.
                            Last edited by DBMandrake; 17 December 2016, 01:26 AM.

                            Comment

                            • Rameses
                              Industry Expert
                              • Nov 2014
                              • 446

                              #89
                              Originally posted by DBMandrake View Post
                              Any advice on how to get IFTTT connected to Alexa ?

                              After an hour playing around with the official Honeywell Alexa Skill on the echo dot I've sadly come to the conclusion that it's just not usable at the moment.

                              Too many limitations and problems. For example:

                              I made a group called All Rooms and when I ask Alexa to make a change to that group, not only does it take a long time and painfully adjust each zone one at a time with separate requests, more often than not one of the 6 zones fails to change, with an "Alert: Failed Zone Change" email cheerfully delivered to my inbox...

                              In the hour that I was testing I received no less than 5 failed zone change alerts - so it's pretty unreliable. I've also been unable to figure out the correct wording to activate a quick action, and am aware that there is currently no way to cancel an override.

                              Yet another problem was some overrides I made (including an all zones one) simply appeared not to work - Alexa said "OK" after the command but nothing changed on the controller, at least within 5-10 minutes.

                              Then about half an hour later I noticed that all my zones were running at 20 degrees because it had belatedly actioned my all zones to 20 degree command at least 15 minutes late. Whoops.

                              So, not useful to me as it stands, and I'm glad I only paid for an echo dot not an echo... (Spotify support is very good though, so it will get good use for that if nothing else, and I'm sure other skills will be found that are useful in the future)

                              I think I'll give the IFTTT support a try instead as a bridge, if I can figure out how to connect it to Alexa...
                              Ref Modes - You can say the mode as it appears. Eg Away Mode, Custom Mode etc.

                              You can issue commands such as:

                              “Alexa, make my bathroom 21 degrees”

                              “Alexa, switch on hot water” (if you have stored hot water option)

                              “Alexa, switch on economy mode”

                              For zones and hot water making, these changes will set them until the next scheduled change point. For instance, if you turn on your hot water at 5pm and it was due to come on at 6pm and go off at 10pm, it will be on from 5pm to 10pm. For ‘mode’ commands (ie Alexa switch on away mode) these are permanent until you override and change.

                              As for command actions, not sure why the commands are not getting to your devices, but what describe is as it should be in that the cloud servers will still try an execute the API command on a repeat basis after an initial failed attempt.

                              Not sure what or where your expectations are at - but this is an emerging technology. All the Honeywell system does is be leveraged by Alexa, I get the same 'hit an miss' with Philips Hue and other devices. I observe that Alexa (like any new free tech) is getting better over time.
                              getconnected.honeywell.com | I work for Honeywell. Any posts I make are purely to help if I can. Any personal views expressed are my own

                              Comment

                              • chrisgare
                                Automated Home Guru
                                • Dec 2013
                                • 182

                                #90
                                I only only use Alexa to control individual zones and I find it entirely reliable for that activity. I personally wouldn't use for aggregated commands as I'd rather do this using the controller. Harmony have just released their Alexa support and that leaves something to be desired with the tortuous language needed to control it. Like IFTTT (Alexa trigger...) You have to say" Alexa tell Harmony to turn on BBC1". Now that gets us all very frustrated! Well done Honeywell for simple Alexa commands!

                                Comment

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