Amazon Echo

Author
Discussion

B'stard Child

28,320 posts

245 months

Monday 19th February 2018
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aquarianone said:
Turn it off, then turn it on again?

biglaugh
lol - thanks for the IT support biggrin

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 20th February 2018
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swerni said:
B17NNS said:
swerni said:
my dot now has an India accent, which is far more amusing that it should be.
Fabulous, how do I do this?
Settings in the app
Go in to languages and you have several options.
Works on dot but seems not to on my echo


The Australian and Canadian ones are a bit unnatural sounding. hehe

silobass

1,176 posts

101 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
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Just seen the Echo Spot on Amazon. Looks quite good to have a screen on it.

LeadFarmer

7,411 posts

130 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
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Alexa has suddenly stopped playing Tunein radio stations, instead she responds...

"BBR Radio 2 on Tunein Live is currently not available"

davek_964

8,795 posts

174 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
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LeadFarmer said:
Alexa has suddenly stopped playing Tunein radio stations, instead she responds...

"BBR Radio 2 on Tunein Live is currently not available"
I just told mine to play radio 2 and it's worked perfectly

ecsrobin

17,016 posts

164 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
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davek_964 said:
I just told mine to play radio 2 and it's worked perfectly
BBC now has its own skill which I believe is a better streaming quality than tunein.

LeadFarmer

7,411 posts

130 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
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Its now working via Tunein.

But, If I ask my Dot to "play Radio 2 on Sonos" she always defaults to Tunein. She will only play via the BBC skill directly on the Dot, and not on my Sonos speaker. Can radio via the BBC skill not be played on a speaker connected to my Dot?

TartanPaint

2,981 posts

138 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
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On a similar note, BBC skill has been the default for radio on the Echo, Dot and Spot since about December I think, but if you set an alarm to wake up to Radio 4, it still uses TuneIn (which is rubbish).


Zoon

6,653 posts

120 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
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TartanPaint said:
but if you set an alarm to wake up to Radio 4, it still uses TuneIn (which is rubbish).
Do you need a US account to do that? Can't see the option to wake up to radio stations?

tankplanker

2,479 posts

278 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
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Zoon said:
Do you need a US account to do that? Can't see the option to wake up to radio stations?
I don't think you can setup a new radio alarm in the app, you have to do it by voice, say: "wake me up to..."

You can choose a radio station, an album, or a particular song. I changed the wife's alarm to Dying Fetus's Wrong One to fk With when she was out of the room, was most amusing at 5:50am.

Zoon

6,653 posts

120 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
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tankplanker said:
don't think you can setup a new radio alarm in the app, you have to do it by voice, say: "wake me up to..."

You can choose a radio station, an album, or a particular song. I changed the wife's alarm to Dying Fetus's Wrong One to fk With when she was out of the room, was most amusing at 5:50am.
Thanks, just tried it.

davek_964

8,795 posts

174 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
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Has anybody found a way to have a repeating alarm to radio?

If I say "wake me up at 6am to radio 2" it tells me it's set an alarm for 6am to radio 2.

But if I say "set a weekday alarm for 6am to radio 2" it just says it's set an alarm for each weekday. It seems to ignore the radio part!

tankplanker

2,479 posts

278 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
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davek_964 said:
Has anybody found a way to have a repeating alarm to radio?

If I say "wake me up at 6am to radio 2" it tells me it's set an alarm for 6am to radio 2.

But if I say "set a weekday alarm for 6am to radio 2" it just says it's set an alarm for each weekday. It seems to ignore the radio part!
Once the alarm has been created via voice command you can then edit when it is repeated in the app. Should be settings, routines & alarms (on the left hand menu in settings), then alarms.

LeadFarmer

7,411 posts

130 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
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Ikea bulbs - is it their Tradfri bulbs I need to work with my Dot via Alexa app? I fancy giving them a try.

B17NNS

18,506 posts

246 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
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LeadFarmer said:
Ikea bulbs - is it their Tradfri bulbs I need to work with my Dot via Alexa app? I fancy giving them a try.
Yes. Personally I'd get a Hue Bridge and use Tradfri bulbs with it (they're compatible). The Hue experience is nicer than the Ikea one.

LeadFarmer

7,411 posts

130 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
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B17NNS said:
Yes. Personally I'd get a Hue Bridge and use Tradfri bulbs with it (they're compatible). The Hue experience is nicer than the Ikea one.
Thanks, I'm already using Hue bulbs and the bridge. Just thinking out loud for the future smile

Watchman

6,391 posts

244 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
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My mother has just bought two packs of LightwaveRF plug-ins (6 in total). She used to have those mechanical timer plug-ins bought for £1 from B&Q's bargain bucket to make the house look occupied when she was out but the tiny motors that power the rotary dials burn out after a while, and I thought they represented a fire risk. Anyway, having set up the timers for them in the LightwaveRF app, I then set up a few Alexa routines for her so she can call for individual lights or sequences of them, and the timers are all internet-referenced times based on "dusk" so they shift a little each day.

She's 71 and amazes her friends with voice control over her dominion, especially as they all click off one at a time when she says "Alexa, Goodnight". smile

Nigel_O

2,858 posts

218 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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Watchman said:
having set up the timers for them in the LightwaveRF app, I then set up a few Alexa routines for her so she can call for individual lights or sequences of them, and the timers are all internet-referenced times based on "dusk" so they shift a little each day
I also have half some Lightwaverf plug-ins, but they randomly go unresponsive, even though all of the lugs are in the lounge and the Lightwave hub is in the kitchen. If I stand by the kitchen door, I can see all four plugs and the hub, so distance shouldn’t be an issue.

I’m wondering if the Lightwave hub is too close to the router (although the hub only came with an 18” cat5 cable)

Watchman

6,391 posts

244 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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Nigel_O said:
I also have half some Lightwaverf plug-ins, but they randomly go unresponsive, even though all of the lugs are in the lounge and the Lightwave hub is in the kitchen. If I stand by the kitchen door, I can see all four plugs and the hub, so distance shouldn’t be an issue.

I’m wondering if the Lightwave hub is too close to the router (although the hub only came with an 18” cat5 cable)
My hub was originally in another room constructed with concrete blocks, and I had a problem with a plug-in and a double LWRF socket being intermittently unresponsive. I was never sure if the problem was to do with the concrete block walls or the hub's proximity to the router.

To move the hub away from the router, to a room only constructed with partitioning/plasterboard, I had to use mains networking to connect the two but I have moved it and it is working fine now.

As yours is in line of sight, it doesn't sound like you have a weak signal issue but maybe the proximity to the router is a problem. I honestly doubt this because they're intended to work this way but maybe you should clear the memory of the plug-in and re-pair... might work.

Edited by Watchman on Sunday 25th February 11:03

dmsims

6,449 posts

266 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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Nigel_O said:
I also have half some Lightwaverf plug-ins, but they randomly go unresponsive,
My experience also - drove me nuts and got rid!