Using Alexa with more than one Harmony Hub can be done!

[Eric_L]

I have two Echo Dots - on in my living room and one in my man-cave.   You can imagine my dismay when I found out that  I had to decide between the two Harmony hubs when setting up Alexa.   

I tried a few options;   

1) I set up an IR blaster and attempted to put all of my devices on one hub and then blast that between the IR sender/receiver.  (and yes, I am such a geek i actually had two sets of these already laying around) Flaw - My Harmony only allows eight devices.   Fail.

2) I could revert to IFTTT.   I like going forward, not backward.  Not even going to bother.   

3) I set up a second Amazon account and then added it to my Amazon household.  I linked the living room to one account and the man-cave to another.   All services are there because the accounts are linked.  I can even manage the same shopping list!   Win!

4)  If I had a third Harmony I would be totally hozed, though the IR blaster might work since I have far fewer items on my man-cave hub.

[Snakeyes]

Can do this by using SmartThings. You need to link the smartthings hub with each of the the harmony hubs and then use Alexa to execute the differently named smartthing "devices/actions"

[sdn9609]

Can also do this with Yomino, a free app that works well for on/off of Harmony activities.  Ones is named Living Room Hub, the other is Bedroom Hub.  For the Living Room, I just say "Alexa, turn on {activity}".  For the Bedroom I say "Alexa, turn on bedroom {activity}".  Red skill for volume etc will only work with one remote still.  Don't even use the blue skill since Yomino covers that functionality and less to clog my device list.

Bonus that Yomino ties my Wink, Nest, Hue and the two Harmonies into routines.  So with "Alexa, turn on the Movies" along with the activity, the color Hues turn blue, kills the main living room light, dims the lamps, lowers the temp two degrees...  Other activities control everything as appropriate.

[lazer9]

Hello. New forum user here. Found this site researching how/if possible to use 2 separately purchased "Logitech Hub" devices in multiple rooms for FULL control "Alexa" voice commands to (for example): Turn TV on/off - Volume control - Change Dish Network channels, ect...

My original and currently working as desired in main room (living room) Logitech device is the "Elite combo w/ the pretty color touch screen remote". (I don't even use the remote) Bought for the Alexa voice integration.

Most recently, I bought the "Logitech Smart Home" Hub/basic remote system to configure in my bedroom in hope to have the same functionality as in my original first paragraph above. Should have done my research as unfortunately I find a bit of a problem doing this simply.

I've read a few of the suggested workarounds in this thread and to be honest, I am not sure what the best route to move forward is.

- The creation of "Multiple Amazon and/or Logitech Accounts" Of which I am a bit uncertain of the process if both are  needed and then the Logitech Hubs can be actually used with the better Alexa Logitech Skill to obtain the more advanced commands rather than on/off for said TVs, Soundbar, ect...?

- Purchasing the "Samsung Smart Hub" and apparently it can link simply to BOTH Logitech Hubs & assign thorough Alexa voice control commands as I desire? (I see one of these are going to set me back aprox $100 on Amazon). Curious what additional benefits would be going this route or if this would be the simplest most desired way to go?

- Usage of the "Yonomi" app, of which I have attempted but the damn thing still is not distinguishing between the two separate room hubs and often turning off/on the living room TV instead of the bedroom TV. I am sure this is user error trying to set everything up on my end but I also researched and note that with "Yonomi", one is basically going to be limited with ONE of the room's entertainment devices commands to basically On/Off as in no "Alexa commands - volume control, channels switching, and whatnot"?

Can those familiar as per this thread and my situation chime in on the most desirable route to go as this Alexa-Smart Home integration has become a bit disappointing and confusing to me?

Thanks!

[dixonbm]

I am having the same issue with Yonomi. Can someone explain how they set up Yonomi to work with each hub? I have them both appearing as devices, but can't figure out how to distinguish them from one another. Thanks!

[dt126]

This highlights one of my overall biggest frustrations with Echo, in most cases you cannot bind functions to specific Echos and this really needs to happen for these devices to really take off as true smarthome hubs. I have this issue with both Lutron Homeworks and Harmony Hub integration. Users want to be able to say, "Alexa, turn on TV" or Alexa, "Turn off lights" without having to constantly remember which room they are in. Am I in Mark's Bedroom or Jamie's Bedroom? Is this the upper hallway or the stairwell? This ability is clearly possible as you can turn some functions on/off by Echo name already and multiple Echo's already have algorithms to determine which one is closer to you.

I really hope they add this ability sooner than later. For now, my vote to this original post is definitely multiple Amazon accounts so that you can keep the Entertainment system controls identical between rooms. This is especially true if you want your system to be usable by your spouse, kids, guests, parents, etc. 

[Banished]

Using Eric_L's idea I used my wife's Amazon account and set up my new Harmony Home Hub for just my bedroom and added all the other things we might need to control from the rest of the house in there as it seems that each Harmony Hub is the only thing (so far) not discoverable on more than one account. I now have left that Echo on her account and can control the bedroom tv without controlling my living room Tv but can still call for doors to lock and lights to work etc

[Mihinc]

Using Eric_L's idea I used my wife's Amazon account and set up my new Harmony Home Hub for just my bedroom and added all the other things we might need to control from the rest of the house in there as it seems that each Harmony Hub is the only thing (so far) not discoverable on more than one account. I now have left that Echo on her account and can control the bedroom tv without controlling my living room Tv but can still call for doors to lock and lights to work etc

What seems to be the downsides to this?
   Do u need to sign in and out each time you need to discover devices?  Or will Alexa pick up whatever accounts are attached?
   If you are in the bedroom , can you just say turn on the TV like you can do with the first harmony hub?
  Right now I am using the virtual habridge to control the second and it works pretty flawlessly except I need to leave the computer running all the time.
   I would like to just walk in the bedroom and ask Alexander to turn on the tv, watch netflix etc, without it turning on the other TV associated with harmony in my living room. Just curious?

[Banished]

 Mihinc, It works well as I usually just leave the echo in the bedroom on my wife's account as she doesn't really use it for anything but occasional shopping. My TV and light commands for the bedroom have no effect on the hub or TV in the livingroom If need be I can just ask Echo(in that room) to switch accounts (which are linked) and use it for the rest of the house. The same goes if I am in the livingroom and want to turn on the lights and TV in the bedroom..I just switch to her account, give my commands and switch it back to my account right away or it could get confusing.

[Drwoodr]

Mihinc, It works well as I usually just leave the echo in the bedroom on my wife's account as she doesn't really use it for anything but occasional shopping. My TV and light commands for the bedroom have no effect on the hub or TV in the livingroom If need be I can just ask Echo(in that room) to switch accounts (which are linked) and use it for the rest of the house. The same goes if I am in the livingroom and want to turn on the lights and TV in the bedroom..I just switch to her account, give my commands and switch it back to my account right away or it could get confusing.

I'm about to set this up, but not clear on some of the details. Do the accounts need to be linked? If they are linked, do routines work separately? For example, I created an alexa routine "watch netflix" in my echo account. Can I just log in on my wife's account to set up identical routines for the second harmony hub? I'm worried that if the accounts are linked, it won't know which routine to run, or are the routines account specific?

[Banished]

I know this will all sound confusing as it is to me even....My whole house routines work regardless of which account I use. Yes, they are linked but her account just runs that second hub and whole house commands. I have one routine thats " secure the house" which turns off all the lights, locks the doors and turns the living room TV off and turns on the light in the bedroom.It doesn't matter which account I use but it works. NOW, thats not to say it would work the other way. I don't know if my account is like master and slave because I set up 99% of whole house commands under my account....   I'm not sure how the routine to each TV will work as I haven't set any up to be specific to a hub other than operating the TV with the her account. BUT as I said last time I can switch accounts too!. I'm new to the "routines" and am working through them slowly. The way its set up is somewhat confusing because multiple TVs and cable boxes and hubs came up after searching devices I just got lucky with the tv I picked but now my cable box stays on when the secure command is given but it really has no effect on using TV commands or operation at this point. My best advice would be trial and error. Set up your netflix commands for the second hub under your wife's account as a routine and try it. If it fails, delete the routine and try setting up a specific routine under your account . Thats about where I am at this point. My wife locks "secure"s the house and I have the light in the bedroom go on but haven't gotten the bedroom tv to turn on for her yet. Its a trial and error process with some spare time needed! If I was doing what you are trying I would just try a routine under hers with specific commands for that hub as thats whats gonna control that TV. The whole multi hub thing is a mess and I assume it will be some how fixed and updated soon but it seems Harmony is in the driver's seat on this one. Take a breath and just work one command at a time as you can backtrack and not have to remember too much to what you just did and how you want to change your set up and try again. Let me know how you make out! Good luck!

[Drwoodr]

You are right about this being trial and error. I set the second harmony hub up today, and tonight set up Alexa. I have the basement echo on my wife's account, and it currently is not linked to my account. I'll admit I'm a bit nervous to create the link, afraid it will cause the second hub to not work, but you apparently aren't having any issues.

I took my ipad, logged out of the Alexa app and logged in using my wife's account. I then set Alexa up to use the second hub. It worked, but then I went back upstairs to the main tv, and many of the harmony commands no longer worked (turn to channel 3, etc), but my Alexa routines still worked. So I logged out and then back in on my account, switched it back the the upstairs hub, and everything was back to normal. So I was expecting the basement echo to not work with the new hub any longer, but it does. I have not set up any routines for the new hub yet. So do you have to set things up using different devices, or is logging in and out of the Alexa app fine?

On the new Alexa routines, I really like them, but I did find a few issues that drove me crazy until I figured out what was going on. I had some routines working fine, but others did nothing. But I noticed that the ones that didn't work had abbreviations and numbers. For example, I created routines like "Watch NBC" or Watch Channel 10". Neither would work. But "Watch Channel Ten" does. So "Watch HBO" becomes "Watch Home Box Office". I have a routine to turn on just my receiver, but off routines don't currently work, so still need Yonomi commands for those.

[Banished]

"So do you have to set things up using different devices, or is logging in and out of the Alexa app fine?" I'm not sure what you mean by this.  Yes, Alexa has some issues understanding some of my commands also. Sometimes rephrasing it works OR sometimes just repeating the same thing works...sometimes a bit slower.. I am going to try the voice training for both my wife and I and see if this helps with Alexa issues which I must say are much less lately with the last few updates but come and go like the wind.

[Drwoodr]

"So do you have to set things up using different devices, or is logging in and out of the Alexa app fine?" I'm not sure what you mean by this.  Yes, Alexa has some issues understanding some of my commands also. Sometimes rephrasing it works OR sometimes just repeating the same thing works...sometimes a bit slower.. I am going to try the voice training for both my wife and I and see if this helps with Alexa issues which I must say are much less lately with the last few updates but come and go like the wind.

Sorry this wasn't clear. Related to having 2 different accounts on 2 echos to control each harmony hub -- when setting up routines, etc for each account in the Alexa app, it should be fine to log in as account 1, and set up echo 1 to control harmony hub 1, then log out of the Alexa app, then sign in using account 2, set up echo 2 to control harmony hub 2 -- correct? I assume so, but given how my first echo got messed up last night I just wanted to confirm that.

My understanding issues were not related to voice, but specific phrases I used in setting up routines in the Alexa app. It didn't like abbreviations and numbers, everything had to be spelled out.

You mentioned voice training. I linked our 2 accounts tonight, and everything appears to be working correctly, with my wife's account set on the basement echo. If you do voice training and set up voice profiles, wouldn't each echo automatically switch accounts based on your voice? Then if I would speak to the basement echo, it would switch to my account, and control the other hub upstairs. I think I will avoid voice profiles for now.

[Banished]

Yes, correct on signing in and setting up hubs. Thats how I did mine. You bring up a good point with the voice training..I'm not sure how that will work out but I will try it at some point on another device thats not related to that second hub and see what happens. Maybe the bathroom one we use for music ,news and the light in there. The only real issue I have had consistently with Alexa and understanding is I have about 20 lights I control with Alexa and she seems to get confused as to which "light" I am talking about as I named many of them light..bathroom light, kitchen light fireplace light etc. She will ask often.."which light?" So I am changing most of them to just what area they are in to avoid conflict. I'll keep you updated. Happy Thanksgiving!