Amazon Echo

[B17NNS]

TartanPaint said:

Anyone with a Dot wondering if the Spot is just a Dot with a screen, no, it's a step up from that. I happily use the Spot with no external speaker for listening to the radio, but the Dot definitely needs extra speakers. Which is fine, I expected that. I'm more pointing out how good the Spot is for such a small device.

I've read that the Spot is reasonably good as a speaker (just waiting for it to be on sale). I just use Dots as an interface/means of controlling things rather than listening to music.

[TartanPaint]

B17NNS said:

I've read that the Spot is reasonably good as a speaker (just waiting for it to be on sale). I just use Dots as an interface/means of controlling things rather than listening to music.

Exactly. Echos in rooms for music, dots for voice control, spot by the bed as an alarm clock.

I have discovered a missing feature. I read that you can voice control a Fire TV via the Echo (same as the Fire TV remote, but without pressing the listen button). I wanted "Alexa, turn on the Fire TV" and "Alexa, play xyz on iplayer on the Fire TV" and also some routines to dim the lights at TV time.

Turns out you can't do this in the UK yet and it's been a long time since they rolled it out in the US, so who knows if we'll get it. Grrrrr!

[B17NNS]

TartanPaint said:

Turns out you can't do this in the UK yet and it's been a long time since they rolled it out in the US, so who knows if we'll get it. Grrrrr!

Yes, US only at the moment, can't see why they won't roll it out here. Denon receivers are getting Alexa control in spring too.

[davek_964]

So, with smartthings - can you get controllable light switches (the smart things website doesn't seem to list any).

The bulbs in my lounge / bedroom are small halogens - this kind of thing :

http://www.destinationlighting.com/item/35-watt-lo...

So a "smart" version seems rather unlikely. Plus there are about a dozen per room, which would make it a tad pricey anyway. Hence I'd need to be able to control them via the switch - is it possible?

(At the moment, I have Rako for the lounge lights - but I don't want to buy the Rako hub, and would be happy to get rid of it for other reasons anyway).

[dmsims]

davek_964 said:

So, with smartthings - can you get controllable light switches (the smart things website doesn't seem to list any).

The bulbs in my lounge / bedroom are small halogens - this kind of thing :

http://www.destinationlighting.com/item/35-watt-lo...

So a "smart" version seems rather unlikely. Plus there are about a dozen per room, which would make it a tad pricey anyway. Hence I'd need to be able to control them via the switch - is it possible?

(At the moment, I have Rako for the lounge lights - but I don't want to buy the Rako hub, and would be happy to get rid of it for other reasons anyway).

Very few options in the UK, one that does not need a neutral is the Z-Wave Fibaro Universal Dimmer

[B17NNS]

davek_964 said:

Hence I'd need to be able to control them via the switch - is it possible?

https://www.lightwaverf.com

[davek_964]

Thanks - I'll take a look at both.

[mel]

B17NNS said:

davek_964 said:

Hence I'd need to be able to control them via the switch - is it possible?

https://www.lightwaverf.com

You'll be lucky.

[PixelpeepS3]

mel said:

B17NNS said:

davek_964 said:

Hence I'd need to be able to control them via the switch - is it possible?

https://www.lightwaverf.com

You'll be lucky.

[davek_964]

I'm finding one very odd thing with the echos - they misunderstand what I say far more than the dots did.

Obviously the 'understanding' is common since it's not done by the actual device, and they are placed in the same locations at the dots were in each room. So I can only assume that the microphones are not working as well - even though they should be better.

[anonymous-user]

davek_964 said:

I'm finding one very odd thing with the echos - they misunderstand what I say far more than the dots did.

Obviously the 'understanding' is common since it's not done by the actual device, and they are placed in the same locations at the dots were in each room. So I can only assume that the microphones are not working as well - even though they should be better.

Has it got worse or always been like this,

I’ve got a feeling that mine aren’t understanding as well lately but it’s difficult to quantity.

I have introduced lots of groups and scenes etc so I was wondering if that somehow influenced it.

[tenohfive]

El stovey said:

davek_964 said:

I'm finding one very odd thing with the echos - they misunderstand what I say far more than the dots did.

Obviously the 'understanding' is common since it's not done by the actual device, and they are placed in the same locations at the dots were in each room. So I can only assume that the microphones are not working as well - even though they should be better.

Has it got worse or always been like this,

I’ve got a feeling that mine aren’t understanding as well lately but it’s difficult to quantity.

I have introduced lots of groups and scenes etc so I was wondering if that somehow influenced it.

I've pondered the same with my Dot's; either Amazon is tinkering with Alexa and making her less able to comprehend speech, or it's down to the number of extra connected devices that it has to look through.

Either way it is noticeable. Much as I'm trying to use ST to automate tasks that I would previously use Alexa for (which reminds me, must look for a deal on ST motion sensors.)

[B'stard Child]

El stovey said:

My echo plus came with a free Phillips hue white bulb, they are very nice bulbs. (As far as bulbs go) but obviously more expensive than the Ikea innr etc bulbs.

So did mine - it's now unresponsive.......

Delete it from the Alexa App - and it won't even turn on an off from the switch like a normal bulb

[Xaero]

I'm finding Alexa struggles more to understand me too, it seems to confuse lights too, asking to turn on the living room turns the dining room on. I have a Google home too, and find it much better to the point that I only really use the Echo to play music as Google home seems to choose kids or karaoke versions of any songs I request if they aren't in my music library.

[B'stard Child]

Xaero said:

I'm finding Alexa struggles more to understand me too, it seems to confuse lights too, asking to turn on the living room turns the dining room on. I have a Google home too, and find it much better to the point that I only really use the Echo to play music as Google home seems to choose kids or karaoke versions of any songs I request if they aren't in my music library.

I found that naming things xxxx room light was a disaster - Now all my main room lights are just Room Name

Alexa - "Bedroom" on
Alexa - "Dining" on
Alexa - "Hallway" on
Alexa - "Landing" on
Alexa - "Kitchen" on (All this one is a group of 5 lights)
Alexa - "Utility" on
Alexa - "Front" on

Had some difficult with the "Dining" light being unresponsive "Dinning" being the issue in terms of name

Trying to get Mrs BC to stop saying Light after everything is tough going but if she can manage to get the TV on she'll maybe get there in 2022

[davek_964]

I've only noticed mine being worse at understanding since I got the full Echo's at the weekend. The Dots seemed fine before that. It is a bit annoying.

Back to smart switches :

I assume I would need the Lightwave RF hub if I bought Lightwave RF, and can't use those switches with a generic (Smart Things) hub?

Whereas I'm guessing Z-Wave Fibaro Universal Dimmer would work with the Smart Things Hub (and I guess means I have a choice of light switches).

[tankplanker]

davek_964 said:

I've only noticed mine being worse at understanding since I got the full Echo's at the weekend. The Dots seemed fine before that. It is a bit annoying.

Back to smart switches :

I assume I would need the Lightwave RF hub if I bought Lightwave RF, and can't use those switches with a generic (Smart Things) hub?

Whereas I'm guessing Z-Wave Fibaro Universal Dimmer would work with the Smart Things Hub (and I guess means I have a choice of light switches).

Correct, the Lightwave stuff uses its own RF signal and you must have its dedicated hub, whereas Fibaro uses the industry standard z-wave and should work with any z-wave compatible hub including smartthings.

[davek_964]

Having upgraded to echo's so that I could listen to the radio in the bathroom in the morning, I'm finding it doesn't do a very good job of that.

It seems to play (Radio 2) for about 5 mins - then stop. This has happened on two of the Echo's, and has happened 3 or 4 times now (in fact, I think it's every time I've tried it). I never really did this with the Dots so don't know if it's a new issue or was always there. Not very impressed though.

[PixelpeepS3]

davek_964 said:

Having upgraded to echo's so that I could listen to the radio in the bathroom in the morning, I'm finding it doesn't do a very good job of that.

It seems to play (Radio 2) for about 5 mins - then stop. This has happened on two of the Echo's, and has happened 3 or 4 times now (in fact, I think it's every time I've tried it). I never really did this with the Dots so don't know if it's a new issue or was always there. Not very impressed though.

I bought the dots with the intention of controlling another system for music - this works fantastically well and looking forward to the extra functionality when they add it.

Example...

We have Sonos play:1's in the bedroom and office and an echo dot in the bedroom (this is a temp set up and intend to have more of both around the house)

At the moment we can say:

Alexa, play some pink floyd in the bedroom - this will play pink floyd (via spotify) on the bedroom sonos.
Alexa play my classical play list in the bedroom - as above, it will search your spotify for a play list and play it via the bedroom sonos
Alexa turn up the music in the bedroom - this will turn up the sonos
alexa skip track - this will make spotify skip the track on the sonos (unless for some odd reason you've got music playing on the dot itself)
If you forget to say a room, it will play the default music service on the dot, through the dot speaker - wish i could disable this..

limitations - you cant say 'play my 80's playlist in the bedroom and office' - grouping speakers isnt supported yet,

When listening to music on the dot you can also say "alexa, play this song in the bedroom" and it will transfer the song to the sonos.

I suppose the answer is buy a sonos one with alexa built in - its nearly the same price as the echo plus and sounds (IMO) a million times better.

it works perfectly for me and cant wait to have some ceiling speakers in the bathroom fed from a Sonos connect:AMP and a dot in there too.

as a footnote - did you know these run really well off a battery power bank? like what you charge your phone with out and about? it makes the dot really portable, you can just take it with you into the garage etc and as long as the wifi is connected it'll (obviously) still do everything you could in the house...

[sybaseian]

PixelpeepS3 said:

davek_964 said:

Having upgraded to echo's so that I could listen to the radio in the bathroom in the morning, I'm finding it doesn't do a very good job of that.

It seems to play (Radio 2) for about 5 mins - then stop. This has happened on two of the Echo's, and has happened 3 or 4 times now (in fact, I think it's every time I've tried it). I never really did this with the Dots so don't know if it's a new issue or was always there. Not very impressed though.

I bought the dots with the intention of controlling another system for music - this works fantastically well and looking forward to the extra functionality when they add it.

Example...

We have Sonos play:1's in the bedroom and office and an echo dot in the bedroom (this is a temp set up and intend to have more of both around the house)

At the moment we can say:

Alexa, play some pink floyd in the bedroom - this will play pink floyd (via spotify) on the bedroom sonos.
Alexa play my classical play list in the bedroom - as above, it will search your spotify for a play list and play it via the bedroom sonos
Alexa turn up the music in the bedroom - this will turn up the sonos
alexa skip track - this will make spotify skip the track on the sonos (unless for some odd reason you've got music playing on the dot itself)
If you forget to say a room, it will play the default music service on the dot, through the dot speaker - wish i could disable this..

limitations - you cant say 'play my 80's playlist in the bedroom and office' - grouping speakers isnt supported yet,

When listening to music on the dot you can also say "alexa, play this song in the bedroom" and it will transfer the song to the sonos.

I suppose the answer is buy a sonos one with alexa built in - its nearly the same price as the echo plus and sounds (IMO) a million times better.

it works perfectly for me and cant wait to have some ceiling speakers in the bathroom fed from a Sonos connect:AMP and a dot in there too.

as a footnote - did you know these run really well off a battery power bank? like what you charge your phone with out and about? it makes the dot really portable, you can just take it with you into the garage etc and as long as the wifi is connected it'll (obviously) still do everything you could in the house...

They work equally as well in a car when connected to your phones hotspot. Audio via aux port or bluetooth to car audio system.