Amazon Echo Club

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

20 bucks for a piece of plastic? Someone is pulling a Microsoft...

But it tilts and it's magnetic

[wodin]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Connect with Family and Friends


...you can easily drop in on another room...

Like a bedroom or bathroom???

Originally Posted by Tarana

I use the drop in function all the time. It 'announces' that it has connected. We have a doorbell thingie in the bathroom. I have a very disabled brother here and it saves a lot of steps. While the intercom system isn't fabulous, it's good enough for a brief message. For longer ones, he uses the intercom on the portable phone.

As do I, my Echo enclave functions as a wireless intercom system. We have an Ohana apartment with an outside entrance that our son and his SO live in. It's extremely convenient to ask Alexa do drop in on Michael's living room instead of going outside to knock on their door. His phone is not always turned on, but his Echoes are.

And we can call from any room that has an Echo, currently every one except the bathroom. And when my new Echo Show 5 arrives, I'll repurpose one without a camera to there too.

Have you ever priced a dedicated intercom system? Big bucks now!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Wow. This club has really gone downhill! When did it become all Fearful and Bashy?

I was checking in to see if anyone else was experiencing any new connectivity issues with the Echo Dot. Same Dot, same network, same router and suddenly it's telling me it's "lost its connection" all the time.

Original Dot? Yup. And if you check, I'll bet they just downloaded new firmware to it. Bottom line? You're f'd. Best you can do is call CS, complain, and convince them to give you a discount on a newer dot. Which is a good deal, since the newer ones are definitely a step up.

(Before they'll actually offer you anything, expect to have to do a hard factory reset at least once, and probably 2 or 3 times. And all sorts of other hooey before they admit that yes, it's dead.)

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Original Dot? Yup. And if you check, I'll bet they just downloaded new firmware to it. Bottom line? You're f'd. Best you can do is call CS, complain, and convince them to give you a discount on a newer dot. Which is a good deal, since the newer ones are definitely a step up.

(Before they'll actually offer you anything, expect to have to do a hard factory reset at least once, and probably 2 or 3 times. And all sorts of other hooey before they admit that yes, it's dead.)

Thanks. I'll guess I'll go ahead and try the factory reset first. It happened rather suddenly (and coincided with a sudden, holiday-weekend influx of guest mobile devices) so I thought perhaps its was a dhcp issue (especially when a smart-bulb and a smart switch began to misbehave as well), but a router reboot provided no relief. And those other issues settled down leaving just the Dot malfunctioning. Another full-sized--but older--Echo is still working fine.

I suspected an update after that, but I couldn't find an easy way to tell if that had indeed happened. Not without having written down the old firmware version before-hand, anyway. I'll hold out a bit of hope that a new update will restore it (for a little while anyway).

It just seems to lose its connection after being idle. Then when waking for a command, it spins its lights forever and finally turns red and announces that "this device has lost its connection." The same command reissued immediately works fine about 9 out of 10 times. I can see it continually trying to renew its dhcp lease every 30 sec or so, so I may see if a static ip settles it down any.

But if I need a new one--so be it. It's had a pretty good run. My main router is aging, so I'm going to try upgrading it first. I can keep the old one as an access point for some ancient tech that doesn't play nice with the "Smart Connect" feature of more modern tri-band routers. I might actually offload many of the Kasa switches/lights/outlets onto it as well if I get motivated enough. Sort of a dedicated "invisible" 2.4Ghz-only, utility network.

Thanks again for the info that some original Dots are getting hosed by updates.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Thanks. I'll guess I'll go ahead and try the factory reset first. It happened rather suddenly (and coincided with a sudden, holiday-weekend influx of guest mobile devices) so I thought perhaps its was a dhcp issue (especially when a smart-bulb and a smart switch began to misbehave as well), but a router reboot provided no relief. And those other issues settled down leaving just the Dot malfunctioning. Another full-sized--but older--Echo is still working fine.

I suspected an update after that, but I couldn't find an easy way to tell if that had indeed happened. Not without having written down the old firmware version before-hand, anyway. I'll hold out a bit of hope that a new update will restore it (for a little while anyway).

It just seems to lose its connection after being idle. Then when waking for a command, it spins its lights forever and finally turns red and announces that "this device has lost its connection." The same command reissued immediately works fine about 9 out of 10 times. I can see it continually trying to renew its dhcp lease every 30 sec or so, so I may see if a static ip settles it down any.

But if I need a new one--so be it. It's had a pretty good run. My main router is aging, so I'm going to try upgrading it first. I can keep the old one as an access point for some ancient tech that doesn't play nice with the "Smart Connect" feature of more modern tri-band routers. I might actually offload many of the Kasa switches/lights/outlets onto it as well if I get motivated enough. Sort of a dedicated "invisible" 2.4Ghz-only, utility network.

Thanks again for the info that some original Dots are getting hosed by updates.

I've got several Kasa bulbs and they periodically go off line from Alexa even when the WiFi is functioning correctly. When that happens I just open the Kasa app and control them from there. Occasionally the Kasa app will say to turn them off then back on, and that quickly resolves any issues. Alexa is bad about dropping out from the Amazon servers though so I think that is mostly an issue on Amazon's end. I play a white noise app at night on my Echo Plus Gen 2 to drown out annoying noises, and early this morning it started pausing for 10-20 sec then running again then pausing again. I checked the WiFi it was okay. It was either an app issue or more likely the Amazon servers acting up again. I also noticed last night and this morning that various Alexa devices were not hearing some commands and I had to repeat them and even raise my voice. Again, likely an Amazon issue since they are always changing stuff and often for the worse.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I've got several Kasa bulbs and they periodically go off line from Alexa even when the WiFi is functioning correctly. When that happens I just open the Kasa app and control them from there. Occasionally the Kasa app will say to turn them off then back on, and that quickly resolves any issues. Alexa is bad about dropping out from the Amazon servers though so I think that is mostly an issue on Amazon's end. I play a white noise app at night on my Echo Plus Gen 2 to drown out annoying noises, and early this morning it started pausing for 10-20 sec then running again then pausing again. I checked the WiFi it was okay. It was either an app issue or more likely the Amazon servers acting up again. I also noticed last night and this morning that various Alexa devices were not hearing some commands and I had to repeat them and even raise my voice. Again, likely an Amazon issue since they are always changing stuff and often for the worse.

Yeah, I'm used to the occasional Kasa bulb problem. I don't have that many left. I've replaced most of them with standard dimmable A19s controlled by Kasa in-wall dimmer switches. I experience way less issues with the switches than I do with individual bulbs (especially when part of a multi-bulb--but single-fixture--group controlled by Alexa). Plus I just hate the notion of individual bulbs needing wifi built into them to begin with.

My main beef with this instance of Echo failure is the voice control of my TV/FireTV/Roku via inherent Alexa/streaming app features plus Harmony Hub skills. It's killing me having to root around for the remote(s) all the time! There isn't any "play the next episode (and turn the volume up a tad while you're at it)" button in the Kasa app.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Yeah, I'm used to the occasional Kasa bulb problem. I don't have that many left. I've replaced most of them with standard dimmable A19s controlled by Kasa in-wall dimmer switches. I experience way less issues with the switches than I do with individual bulbs (especially when part of a multi-bulb--but single-fixture--group controlled by Alexa). Plus I just hate the notion of individual bulbs needing wifi built into them to begin with.

My main beef with this instance of Echo failure is the voice control of my TV/FireTV/Roku via inherent Alexa/streaming app features plus Harmony Hub skills. It's killing me having to root around for the remote(s) all the time! There isn't any "play the next episode (and turn the volume up a tad while you're at it)" button in the Kasa app.

I gave up on the idea of voice control for watching/streaming TV. It just doesn't work for me. Some report a good experience, but I got tired of arguing with Alexa, and I got tired of Amazon inundating me with ads to buy or rent videos. I also got frustrated with Hulu Live TV's inability to accurately use voice for controlling their TV options. It worked on some channels, but failed on most. Add to the mix that Fire TVs have a BT remote rather than an IR remote, then that limits the types of remotes you can use with them. To get around that you have to get a special work-around to plug an IR receiver into the Fire TV (more money), or buy an insanely priced special type of remote (way more money). I'm surprised that companies have never figured out how to make their devices play nice with each other as far as watching video goes, rather than making us use kluge methods and setups to watch multiple device outputs on a single TV and hear the audio from them on a single audio system. They have a LONG ways to go in pulling that off.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by OtinG

...

I'm surprised that companies have never figured out how to make their devices play nice with each other as far as watching video goes, rather than making us use kluge methods and setups to watch multiple device outputs on a single TV and hear the audio from them on a single audio system. They have a LONG ways to go in pulling that off.

Hear! Hear!

We can have standards for broadcast formats, WiFi, Bluetooth, cell phones, etc. etc, ad. nauseum but we can't have standards for IR remotes? I just replaced a broken remote for my cable box. The setup destructions had dozens of TV manufacturers and hundreds of model codes. WTF's up with that? Why not just define a standard that everyone uses and Bob's your uncle.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I gave up on the idea of voice control for watching/streaming TV. It just doesn't work for me. Some report a good experience,

I'm certainly the among the latter. Works fairly flawlessly and painlessly the vast majority of the time.

Originally Posted by OtinG

but I got tired of arguing with Alexa,

Which is why I learned very early not to do that. I find out what exactly she needs to get the results I want, and then give it to her.

Originally Posted by OtinG

and I got tired of Amazon inundating me with ads to buy or rent videos.

'Fraid I don't quite follow, there. What ads?

Originally Posted by OtinG

I also got frustrated with Hulu Live TV's inability to accurately use voice for controlling their TV options. It worked on some channels, but failed on most. Add to the mix that Fire TVs have a BT remote rather than an IR remote, then that limits the types of remotes you can use with them. To get around that you have to get a special work-around to plug an IR receiver into the Fire TV (more money), or buy an insanely priced special type of remote (way more money).

Don't know what to say, there. Between Alexa's inherent ability to be linked to my FireTV and my Harmony (Logitech) Hub (and its Alexa skill), I've never had a much trouble getting control of my stuff. Certainly no extra IR blasters (other than what's built into the Harmony Hub) necessary.

Granted: I don't overly complicate stuff. Power/Play/Pause/Resume/Next Episode/Volume are basically my needs in a nutshell. And they seem to work just fine for me (when my Echo is online, that is). *shrug*

[ApK]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Granted: I don't overly complicate stuff. Power/Play/Pause/Resume/Next Episode/Volume are basically my needs in a nutshell. And they seem to work just fine for me (when my Echo is online, that is). *shrug*

Play and pause is pretty much all I want out of TV voice control too. I'm always leaving the room and forgetting to pause (due to a lifetime of pausing TV not being a thing). The xbox skill, which we use on the main family room set, has been working well for that (other than the fact that we can't share the same devices control between my wife's profile and mine), but the Roku Alexa skill sucks, and is poorly implemented, even if it worked as intended. I disabled it. The Google Roku control (which I tried through the Assistant on my phone) seems to work fine.

BTW, we are redoing our kitchen, and I just picked up a set of 6 independently Alexa-controllable recessed light fixtures for it.

If all goes as I hope, we'll have remarkably flexible lighting in that room....

ApK

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ApK

but the Roku Alexa skill sucks, and is poorly implemented, even if it worked as intended. I disabled it.

Agreed. I rely on the Harmony Hub (and its Alexa skill) to control my Roku (though truth be told: I use the Roku in that room less and less).

Originally Posted by ApK

BTW, we are redoing our kitchen, and I just picked up a set of 6 independently Alexa-controllable recessed light fixtures for it.

If all goes as I hope, we'll have remarkably flexible lighting in that room....

ApK

Sounds like fun! I'm currently trying to decide how to tackle multiple ceiling fans with light fixtures. Some are wired to turn both the fan and light light on (so a dimmer switch is out in that situation without disabling the fan first), and some have special "sideways" switches (basically a double-gang situation crammed into a single-gang box with a custom cover). Some are wired where the fan is turned on by pull-chain-only. Trying to decide what I can accomplish without resorting to buying new smart fans!

I don't really need the fans (especially since Symphony WaterFurnace finally released an Alexa skill that integrates with Symphony/AWL to allow voice-control of individual zone 'stats), but ... much like climbing mountains: it's very much a "because they're there" kind of thing at this point.

Good luck with your lighting project!

[wodin]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Yeah, I'm used to the occasional Kasa bulb problem. I don't have that many left. I've replaced most of them with standard dimmable A19s controlled by Kasa in-wall dimmer switches. I experience way less issues with the switches than I do with individual bulbs (especially when part of a multi-bulb--but single-fixture--group controlled by Alexa). Plus I just hate the notion of individual bulbs needing wifi built into them to begin with.

...

I'd love to replace all of my somewhat less than reliable smart bulbs with smart switches, however my house is a bit older than the code requiring neutral wires, and thus in the older parts of the house the wiring won't support it.

I periodically look for switches that specifically state "no neutral required" and have yet to find any. A great many of them specifically state "neutral required" so I'm pretty sure that the manufacturers are aware of the problem, but don't feel it's cost effective to address it.

And don't tell me to rewire my house, it'd be cheaper to demolish and rebuild it.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by wodin

And don't tell me to rewire my house, it'd be cheaper to demolish and rebuild it.

Ha. I told someone what it was costing to redo our kitchen, they asked why we didn't move instead.

We're in the same spot with old wiring. With these new kitchen lights, we're effectively tripling the number of smart bulbs we have....I hope it doesn't triple the glitches. Even if the new kitchen wiring supported smart switches, we really want independent control of these lights.

Originally Posted by wodin

I periodically look for switches that specifically state "no neutral required" and have yet to find any.

This is the one LED-compatible one I always see mentioned:
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00KLAXF..._yVc8CbPM4YT2K

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Which is why I learned very early not to do that. I find out what exactly she needs to get the results I want, and then give it to her.

"Argue" was a figure of speech. I get tired of repeating and having to reword commands in the format she needs, whatever the hell that means! Every time they update her FW it can friggin' change.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

'Fraid I don't quite follow, there. What ads?

Tomāto, tomäto... Again, you are being too literal. Whether you get "ads" per se or "suggestions for other videos" when Alexa cannot friggin' find what you want to watch, or chooses not to find it, it is the same thing. In either case you don't get what you ask for but instead you did get shown some stuff that you can rent or buy. I say ads, you say suggestions. Pretty much the same thing...

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Don't know what to say, there. Between Alexa's inherent ability to be linked to my FireTV and my Harmony (Logitech) Hub (and its Alexa skill), I've never had a much trouble getting control of my stuff. Certainly no extra IR blasters (other than what's built into the Harmony Hub) necessary.

Your expensive Harmony hub has both BT and IR capability, and that is why it works with your BT Fire TV. For the record I have absolutely no trouble in "getting control of my stuff" but I hate having to jump through hoops and spend a small fortune to so and then still just having lackluster control.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Granted: I don't overly complicate stuff. Power/Play/Pause/Resume/Next Episode/Volume are basically my needs in a nutshell. And they seem to work just fine for me (when my Echo is online, that is). *shrug*

I'm glad it works out for you, but you are not everybody by any means...so double shrug.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by wodin

I periodically look for switches that specifically state "no neutral required" and have yet to find any.

Oh, there's a few out there that don't require a neutral. The most popular one that comes to mind (that work with Alexa/Google) is Lutron Caseta (EDIT: whoops, I see that's what ApK linked to above).