Amazon Echo Club

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by ApK

OMFG, has Alexa lost her bloody mind today for anyone else today??? Despite having no network/internet problems in the house, all our Echo devices have been intermittently complaining about the internet not being accessible today, and not just complaining, but INCESSANTLY yammering about it, telling me to reboot stuff, and will NOT shut up during the spiel. And thanks to her inability to discriminate between devices when (she thinks) the net is down, ALL of them within earshot in my house yammer at the same time. I've nearly smashed them several times today.

No, she has been her typical self with the equivalent IQ of about -33! But no senseless outbursts lately. But my internet hasn't gone down lately.

Originally Posted by CRussel

If you're using a router (either your own or one from your ISP), rebooting the router is the first defense. Nearly all of them leak a little memory over time, and a reboot clears that up.

I put reminders on my iOS Calendar to remind me to reboot both the modem and the router on the 1st of every month. I still usually need to reboot at least once during the month too.

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

My stuff has been working reasonably well lately except lights occasionally don't turn on or off.

Same here, but it doesn't happen often. She does occasionally forget to turn on/off a light or change the color and/or brightness. If I give her a voice command to turn on/off a light sometimes I get that weird sound she makes followed by silence and no action. I think that is when the light is not contactable via Wi-Fi. Sometimes they seem to go offline for a bit, especially the Kasa lights and switches.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by OtinG

No, she has been her typical self with the equivalent IQ of about -33! But no senseless outbursts lately. But my internet hasn't gone down lately.

Neither has mine, which is why this behavior was so maddening.

I put reminders on my iOS Calendar to remind me to reboot both the modem and the router on the 1st of every month. I still usually need to reboot at least once during the month too.

We had some brownouts last week that caused some issues. They likely fried my Tablo DVR, which means I may have a bad surge suppressor now.


It would be weird if after a week of no issues, that would be the cause of only the echos having problems yesterday. But to be fair, the issue did seem to resolve after I rebooted the AP that was attached to that same surge suppressor, and that AP is one that I used to have issues with, and at one time had a nightly reboot programmed into it, though it's run solidly for months, and all the other devices using it were happily streaming Internet content the whole time Alex was complaining.

I have to accept that theses things have to now be treated like chaotic, probabilistic systems, which may be on the verge of malevolent sentience, so who the heck really knows.


ApK

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Same here, but it doesn't happen often. She does occasionally forget to turn on/off a light or change the color and/or brightness. If I give her a voice command to turn on/off a light sometimes I get that weird sound she makes followed by silence and no action. I think that is when the light is not contactable via Wi-Fi. Sometimes they seem to go offline for a bit, especially the Kasa lights and switches.

I wouldn't use the term "forget" because one routine will turn on/off several lights, but only one random light ever fails. Thought it might be a timing thing so inserted waits, but that didn't improve reliability. I've lost track of which brand is where so can't point to a brand, and bulbs and plugs seem equally prone to glitching.

Now my landscape lighting is on an outdoor plug with bridge connection using timer, not a routine, and that has been completely glitch-free.

Edit> Oh wait - just remembered that outdoor plug and bridge are Ring devices so timer setup doesn't involve Alexa...

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

I wouldn't use the term "forget" because one routine will turn on/off several lights, but only one random light ever fails. Thought it might be a timing thing so inserted waits, but that didn't improve reliability. I've lost track of which brand is where so can't point to a brand, and bulbs and plugs seem equally prone to glitching.

Now my landscape lighting is on an outdoor plug with bridge connection using timer, not a routine, and that has been completely glitch-free.

Edit> Oh wait - just remembered that outdoor plug and bridge are Ring devices so timer setup doesn't involve Alexa...

It definitely gets a bit confusing when some of my devices are Amazon, some Kasa, and some Govee. Some use only their own proprietary system, some use Alexa, some can use both (either one). Some of the routines I created were done in Kasa, some in Govee, some in Alexa. Some require Alexa to pass a command to the device to use a proprietary routine, others work solely off of routines created directly in Alexa. Some routines have multiple parts, and occasionally Alexa will get 3 parts working and 1 that doesn't. It is enough to make your head explode. But at least the challenge of setting this stuff up probably keeps dementia a bit farther away!

We probably should be nice to these devices because they may one day be our masters and start programming us!

[ApK]

I'm pretty sure every smart device I have now goes through my hubitat elevation hub. Groups and the one routine I use are done in alexa, so it s a pretty clean delineation if I need to troueshoot anything. The hubitat has community-written drivers for kasa and the few other wifi devices I have and handles all the ZigBee devices natively. They can all be controlled local with the hub's dashboards, And they're all exposed to Alexa in the cloud through the hubitat's Alexa skill app. After my dvr-killing brownouts the other week, I had my first ever problem of two of the kasa devices not responding. I had to remove and readd them to the hub. It was easy enough to do, and it was the first time it had happened in the couple years I've had them.

[OtinG]

My second generation Kasa color bulbs do pretty well, and only have issues when the 2.4G Wi-Fi doesn’t have enough bandwidth or range to communicate well with them. I have a couple of older 1st generation ones that I basically retired because they periodically stop working, then require a manual turn off and back on.

I don’t think the Kasa bulbs require a hub. My Alexa Echo Plus 2nd generation has a built-in hub, but I don’t have a stand-alone hub. I have a lot of Apple devices, but since Apple doesn’t have much in the way of Home automation, I’ve gone with Amazon’s version of Home automation instead. I do wish there was ONE app to rule them all though! For some devices I have to use the Kasa app, for some the Alexa app, and for Govee their app, and sometimes I have to use two apps to get things working.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I do wish there was ONE app to rule them all though! For some devices I have to use the Kasa app, for some the Alexa app, and for Govee their app, and sometimes I have to use two apps to get things working.

I see there is a hubitat community driver for some govee stuff as well. You might want to consider it. Then the hubitat could be your One App to rule them all. (And in the darkness...turn on the smart lights....)

[cc_in_oh]

I have one 50' Govee LED strip which was easy to set up and has worked well so far. No need to reconnect phone to its local network to set up WiFi like some other devices. I'm thinking of getting more but I'm hazy on a few details. Some kits like the 65 footer consist of 2 spools of lights but only 1 power supply. Am I correct in assuming that means the PS connects to both, putting it in the middle of a 65' span? And does anyone have feedback on using the optional L connectors to make right angle turns in the strips?

I also have the Govee outdoor floodlights but so far weather hasn't cooperated to mount on my deck - looking forward to getting that going. If all goes well I'll look at the Govee motion-activated path lights and maybe those cool hex-shaped lights for my bar/game room. All the Govee products seem to get good reviews...

[OtinG]

I only have the smaller strip models designed to backlight a TV. The first one I got was the older style and all the LEDs had to use the same color at any time, and they only had a limited number of colors. I recommend getting the newer "RGBIC" which allow each LED to have a unique color, if desired, to create moving patterns. They are controlled by a smartphone rather than a remote, at least mine are, and programmable. But you cannot cut to shorten the RGBIC strips like you could the older strips.

The problem with Govee is they have so darn many models to choose from; some require a remote, some require a smartphone, some are programable, some are not programmable, some have only 16 colors, others have millions of colors, et cetera. You really have to read the fine print carefully.

[cc_in_oh]

The low end Govee products are mainly differentiated by bluetooth only vs. bluetooth initial connect to set up wifi with voice control. They do have a big variety, including the bendable neon-style tubes, rope lights, connectable bars, very cool connectable hex-shaped lights, outdoor path lights and floodlights, etc.

I have a bar in the basement I want to put some lights on but the available options make for a tough choice..

One complaint is that they all seem to use a power brick that won't fit in most outdoor weatherproof outlet boxes, so I'd need a weatherproof adapter plus some kind of waterproof wrap around the brick.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ApK

OMFG, has Alexa lost her bloody mind today for anyone else today??? Despite having no network/internet problems in the house, all our Echo devices have been intermittently complaining about the internet not being accessible today, and not just complaining, but INCESSANTLY yammering about it, telling me to reboot stuff, and will NOT shut up during the spiel. And thanks to her inability to discriminate between devices when (she thinks) the net is down, ALL of them within earshot in my house yammer at the same time. I've nearly smashed them several times today.

My living room Dot randomly announces it has lost connection to the Internet; this has been going on for months, but it's infrequent enough (maybe every two weeks or so) that I haven't bothered trying to do anything about it. My other Dots don't complain.

None of my Dots controls anything; I just use them to play music occasionally or to answer a random question (how many tablespoons in ... ?). I have three Kasa smart plugs that I control through the Kasa app rather than trying to deal with Alexa, and they work just fine.

[Catlady]

I hate Alexa.

Since I have a new stereo with Bluetooth, I spent a half hour or so trying to set up my Dot to play music through the stereo speakers. Ridiculous amount of time, but the Alexa app on my Fire tablet was finding dozens of devices, none of them the right one, and the Alexa app on my phone was finding nothing at all. Finally, by starting and stopping and unplugging and replugging, voilà! Dot and stereo connected.

Which didn't mean that the music I told Alexa to play actually played through the stereo. That took another round of stopping and starting. But, OK, I got it to work, everything's copacetic. Except Alexa decided to quit playing after ten minutes or so. When I got it playing again, despite Alexa insisting it was connected, it used the Dot speaker. Rinse and repeat, and again it stops after a few songs.

I hate Alexa.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I hate Alexa.

Yeah, there's a lot to hate.

Especially since all development seems to have shifted from improving core functionality to devising increasingly intrusive ways to promote other products and services.

We have a Fire tablet paired to a Dot in the kitchen. As long as we've had them, when the tablet wakes up, the Dot would announce it's connected to the tablet, and tablet audio would play through the Dot. Recently, that just stopped. Now each time I want the tablet audio to play through the Dot, I have to go to the Bluetooth settings on the tablet and toggle the media connection off then on again. No idea why it would have changed other than maybe a breaking upgrade from Amazon.

I wonder if our issues are related.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ApK

Yeah, there's a lot to hate.

Especially since all development seems to have shifted from improving core functionality to devising increasingly intrusive ways to promote other products and services.

We have a Fire tablet paired to a Dot in the kitchen. As long as we've had them, when the tablet wakes up, the Dot would announce it's connected to the tablet, and tablet audio would play through the Dot. Recently, that just stopped. Now each time I want the tablet audio to play through the Dot, I have to go to the Bluetooth settings on the tablet and toggle the media connection off then on again. No idea why it would have changed other than maybe a breaking upgrade from Amazon.

I wonder if our issues are related.

I think my issue might be related to Alexa telling me every few weeks that it's not connected to wifi. When I started setting up Bluetooth today, first I had to reconnect to wifi. I'm not sure why the Dot should be having any problem though, as no other device has wifi issues--including the Dot in the next room.

I'm curious about something I noticed when playing Amazon Music with Bluetooth. When I initially connected the music app to the stereo via Bluetooth, the stereo displayed the song info. However, when I connected the Dot to the stereo using the Alexa app and used a voice command, no song info was displayed. Is that normal? I know I can ask Alexa what's playing, but it sure would have been nice to have it displayed.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I hate Alexa.

Since I have a new stereo with Bluetooth, I spent a half hour or so trying to set up my Dot to play music through the stereo speakers. Ridiculous amount of time, but the Alexa app on my Fire tablet was finding dozens of devices, none of them the right one, and the Alexa app on my phone was finding nothing at all. Finally, by starting and stopping and unplugging and replugging, voilà! Dot and stereo connected.

Which didn't mean that the music I told Alexa to play actually played through the stereo. That took another round of stopping and starting. But, OK, I got it to work, everything's copacetic. Except Alexa decided to quit playing after ten minutes or so. When I got it playing again, despite Alexa insisting it was connected, it used the Dot speaker. Rinse and repeat, and again it stops after a few songs.

I hate Alexa.

Probably a good thing Bezos's giant sex toy looking spaceship he rode up to suborbital space wasn't using Alexa for control!

In December I bought an Echo Studio and tried to get it to connect and work with my Fire TV Cube, but Alexa kept disconnecting and trashing the system. It would work a few days then quit again. Plenty of reboots took place. After a few weeks I returned the Studio while I was still within the 30 day window. I actually have more luck using Apple Music with Echos than I do Amazon Music. I finally cancelled Amazon Music and went with Apple Music instead, even though I don't own any Apple HomePods.