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Slow to switch plugs & lights (63 switches)

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Slow to switch plugs & lights (63 switches)
« on: July 08, 2019, 11:57:57 am »
Alexa got slow recently when controling my switches and lights. I've got 7 dots and 63 (not a typo) switches between all my ESP8266's, Sonoff's and Wemos. Do I just have to much stuff? Alexa still switches the items as I ask "her" but she says it is "not responding" just before it switches the switch I requested. 
« Last Edit: July 08, 2019, 12:00:12 pm by tngw1500se »

Re: Slow to switch plugs & lights (63 switches)
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2019, 03:23:29 pm »
I am not totally sure there is anything you can do about this.  I have been reading a lot of complaints about this in other forums and the same has been happening to me including the not responding message while responding.   I don't have near as many switches as you - I think about nine.  I also have around 20 bulbs.    IMO, as long as it does work in the end, I am not too worry about it at this time. 
« Last Edit: July 08, 2019, 03:25:56 pm by renegade600 »

dmoos

Re: Slow to switch plugs & lights (63 switches)
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2019, 12:27:00 am »
I have 8 Echos, and 96 devices.  Actually I have had this issue several times in the past and have found a few things that may be able to correct the problem.  Mine respond quite quickly now.  Here are a few suggestions.

1.  Sometimes just using the Forget all devices and re-running discovery can help.  (Just keep in mind if you have created any routines you may need to add the those devices back to your routines.

2.  I configure all of my automation devices with a fixed IP.   Using the router I reserve an address for each device.
  (Make sure you reboot your router and your devices and check to make sure the IP addresses are correct when you finish)  You should also Forget all devices and re-run discovery.   

3.  If all else fails try this.  Found this out by accident.  I had been having issues for several weeks with response time from my devices after making some changes to my environment.  Just by chance I had an old echo dot that I wanted to replace with another.   I de-registered that echo dot.  To my surprise when I asked Alexa to turn on my office light I got a very odd response.  The message said something about my carrier was no longer responding, after trying several times with no luck I set up the new echo dot and tried again.  Same error.   Then I went to the application and ran the option to Forget all devices and then re-ran discovery.  To my surprise I found that everything was working like new, Alexa was quick to respond and turn on off devices.  I have a theory.  I think  the first time you do a discovery, via an echo device that device in effect becomes the master.  I assume if you do discovery via the app or the computer amazon will choose the device that is the master, as things change and updates are made I believe the "Master list" or whatever becomes cluttered, or for some other reason slows down.  I know the Echo dot I de-registered just happened to be the very first one I bought and did my initial discovery with, so hence the odd message about my service provider not responding.  So I assume my "Master list" was lost with the old echo dot that I de-registered and shut down, and then I Assume that by forgetting all devices and re-running discovery created a new fresh list.  This is all a theory of course, but ever since that whenever I am having performance issues, this always seems to do the trick. 
« Last Edit: July 09, 2019, 12:32:13 am by dmoos »

Re: Slow to switch plugs & lights (63 switches)
« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2019, 11:17:09 pm »
.......Sometimes just using the Forget all devices and re-running discovery can help.

I'll give that a try but when I do that, it enters my ESP's twice. I've got some esp's that have 7 switches programed in each one. They control RGB Led's so they have seven colors. Red, green, blue, purple, etc. Alexa always enters 2 blues, 2 reds, etc and I have to delete one of each. Weird. Might be my code. I don't know.