Annoying Conflicts with Smart Devices and Names. HELP!

[Agrajag]

So I have your typical complex setup at home. I have Alexa in several rooms (both full devices and Dots) as well as Samsung Smartthings, Lutron switches (with their own hub as well) and about 80 different varied smart devices in total.

In my main bedroom I had a Dot named "Master Bedroom" and when the Echo Input came out I decided to replace the Dot with this as the Dot is plugged into high-end powered speakers there so its own speaker was useless. The new Input came and I named it "Master Bedroom", renamed the Dot to "Old Master Bedroom", matched all settings and fired it up. All seemed fine.

Then my wife came into the room later and said, "Alexa, turn off the bedroom light". That worked 100% of the time under the Dot, but with the Input it didn't. Instead we heard something like, "Bedroom doesn't support that." Huh? So I look in my devices and see that Smartthings calls the lights there "Bedroom" but it's really "Bedroom Lutron" controlled by the Lutron hub. Smartthings hub is actually faster and working with it than Lutron so this used to be a win/win.

I tried changing the setting in Alexa app for the Bedroom device from "Switch" to "Light" and it still wouldn't work. I changed the device name in Alexa of "Bedroom" to "Bedroom 1" (and reset the device back to its default of Type "Switch" and then it worked. "Alexa, turn off Bedroom 1 light". Bing.... Done.

I don't get it. Why did the changing of the Dot to the Input cause this issue and why won't it work with the device named Bedroom??? It's the ONLY device in the system specifically named that, though there are Bedroom 2 and Bedroom 3 devices.

I also have a similar issue in my family room. I have a light there called "Family Room Lights". I mistakenly called it this when I set it up because it is 3 recessed lights. My wife continually says, "Alexa, turn off Family Room LIGHT" and it fails to do it. "I can't find any device named Family Room Light." So I changed the Alexa device name to "Family Room Light" and, surprise, now when she says, "Alexa, turn off the Family Room Light" we get "Family Room Light doesn't support that." WHAT THE HECK!?!

Any ideas?

[renegade600]

some suggestions from my experience.  you may or may not have done it but...over the years, I found alexa can be very finicky when it comes to names.

1.  try not to use the word light in the name or as part of the command.  if it is named family room, just say turn off family room.  do not say family room light.  I make my commands as short as possible.  when turning on lights, I just say "Alex, turn on bedroom"  I leave out all unnecessary words like "the" and "lights"
2.  when you rename something, make sure to change it using the devices own app.   then forget it in alexa.  then do a discovery. 
3.  try a short pause after waking alexa up when you have similar names.  this is to make sure it hears the full name - like the old part. 
4.  try using different names.  for example instead of master bedroom, say main bedroom for the old master bedroom dot, for living room, use family room and so on. 
5.  take notice of the sounds in the room when giving commands.  I found sometimes alexa will hear differently depending on the background sound.  see if there is a pattern of mistakes. 
6.  when alexa makes a mistake or claims it does not understand or whatever, check the settings history and see what it heard.  might even use playback to see how what was said sounded and make adjustments from that.

[asianrocker]

 I find making a group name even if it is only 1 light make it easier for Alexa to function as it should.

[mike27oct]

I do not use the word light either. Alexa seems to prefer the word lamp. So, in living room we have 3 lamps, two are in one smart plug and single lamp is alone in another plug.  Plugs are named One Lamp and Two Lamps and we can control each plug separately. 

In addition, we have a group called Living Room for both plugs, and if we say "turn on living room" (wife just says "living room on") and always works for controlling all lamps. .

[scottrods]

"Old Master Bedroom Dot" and Master Bedroom *anything* will conflict... I suggest calling the old one by initials OBD, or OBEEDEE as Alexa will hear it... This conflict stuff is pretty annoying, but can be overcome.

I currently have 3 bulbs named "Fan 1", "Fan 2", and "Fan 3", they are in a group named "Ceiling Fan", calling them out one by one causes issues, but using the group name work without issue EVERY time. Sometimes I want to light them different colors, so I use the phone app and set them up how I want. Quicker that way for now. I will one day change all of the names to names that are easier for Alexa to differentiate. But for now, I'm good. I find some days I can call out the individual names and all works well... next day... does the "there's more than one" message or Cannot do it message...

[kenf]

Just had an argument with Alexa this morning over "there are multiple devices with the name Living Room Lamp"

Good times.

I think the common advice is:
avoid using the same words in names (like Living Room)
avoid using keywords in names (like Light)

In most of my rooms, there's only one light hooked up.  So I name the Echo after the room, create a group with the same name, and then name the light with the same name, suffixed by Light. (Ex, Study, Study, Study Light for dot, group and light switch respectively).

This generally works fine when I ask her to call the Study, or "turn on the study light" or "turn on the light" when I enter the study.

Things get funky in the living room with the echo named "Living Room" in a group called "Living Room" and lights called Living Room Light, Living Room Lamp and Reading Lamp.

I'm reasonably convinced the Echo and Group need the same name or it's just too hard calling a room or turning off the lights in another room.  I don't like having to think about what I called stuff.

But those lights with the word "Living Room" in them, yeah, that's adding some pain.

Top it off that this arrangement used to work fine, but lately, Alexa's gotten dumber about the whole thing

[buffaloquinn]

There was some kind of glitch with Alexa and names today. It seems like it has been resolved.

[renegade600]

"Old Master Bedroom Dot" and Master Bedroom *anything* will conflict... I suggest calling the old one by initials OBD, or OBEEDEE as Alexa will hear it... This conflict stuff is pretty annoying, but can be overcome.

I currently have 3 bulbs named "Fan 1", "Fan 2", and "Fan 3", they are in a group named "Ceiling Fan", calling them out one by one causes issues, but using the group name work without issue EVERY time. Sometimes I want to light them different colors, so I use the phone app and set them up how I want. Quicker that way for now. I will one day change all of the names to names that are easier for Alexa to differentiate. But for now, I'm good. I find some days I can call out the individual names and all works well... next day... does the "there's more than one" message or Cannot do it message...

if you are having problems calling the fan names individually, try spelling out the numbers.  that is what I had to do with my ceiling fan lights. 

[renegade600]

There was some kind of glitch with Alexa and names today. It seems like it has been resolved.

yea, I wish amazon would have a page that we can check when there are temporary bugs and glitches.  sure would solve a lot of problems with people messing with their settings for nothing. 

[scottrods]

"Old Master Bedroom Dot" and Master Bedroom *anything* will conflict... I suggest calling the old one by initials OBD, or OBEEDEE as Alexa will hear it... This conflict stuff is pretty annoying, but can be overcome.

I currently have 3 bulbs named "Fan 1", "Fan 2", and "Fan 3", they are in a group named "Ceiling Fan", calling them out one by one causes issues, but using the group name work without issue EVERY time. Sometimes I want to light them different colors, so I use the phone app and set them up how I want. Quicker that way for now. I will one day change all of the names to names that are easier for Alexa to differentiate. But for now, I'm good. I find some days I can call out the individual names and all works well... next day... does the "there's more than one" message or Cannot do it message...

if you are having problems calling the fan names individually, try spelling out the numbers.  that is what I had to do with my ceiling fan lights.

I have them spelled out in the app in set-up... but what I really did was make a *room* called "ceiling fan", not actually a group. Sorry... just thought I would clarify that. I will eventually figure out a set of names that make sense and are different enough to use and remember well. Haven't had them up long and have been pretty busy and not in creative mode much lately, and in reality it will be rare the bulbs are summoned individually anyway...

Wife's job of Many years is coming to a close (Due to GM's poor decision making skills) and we're kind of scrambling to make decisions as she either finds a new job or takes a loss of some kind or whatever...

[buffaloquinn]

I think there are a lot of us that have approached the "Smart Home" piece by piece as we could afford to add things. Without a master plan, I know I've changed names of devices & groups numerous times. I'm getting a little better about not jumping to a name right away, instead sticking with generic names like LR ONE, COLOR ONE, SWITCH ONE, until I decide exactly how I want to use them in the house. I've already swapped bulbs for switches & vice-versa a couple of times because I didn't like the original setup.

[renegade600]

I think there are a lot of us that have approached the "Smart Home" piece by piece as we could afford to add things. Without a master plan, I know I've changed names of devices & groups numerous times. I'm getting a little better about not jumping to a name right away, instead sticking with generic names like LR ONE, COLOR ONE, SWITCH ONE, until I decide exactly how I want to use them in the house. I've already swapped bulbs for switches & vice-versa a couple of times because I didn't like the original setup.

for a lot of the long time members here, it is more like as the different devices became available.  when the echo was first released there were just a hand full of smart devices.    Now, there are hundreds if not thousands of different smart devices.   and then, yes in some cases, as we can afford them  :-)  they are a whole lot cheaper now than a couple of years ago.