Question about commands to address my WEMO devices

[johnehurst]

I have a couple of WEMO devices that I purchased to play around w/ Echo.  I've been able to get Echo to recognize them and have even created a group called "All the lights", so I can tell Alexa to turn off (or on) all the lights.  All of that works really well.  So cool. 

I have NOT been able to get Alexa to understand (even though when I give her the commands she says OK) that I want the lights on (or off) at a certain time.  Alexa, at 10:30, turn on all the lights   or Alexa, turn on all the lights at 10:30.  Neither work.  Mostly she says "OK" then turns the lights on (or off) right away. 

What is the verbal syntax I should be using?

[George Jetson]

John,  Echo does not recognize the command that you might give regarding turning off your WeMo switch off at a specific time.  She only responds to "Turn off the (Name of your WeMo Switch)"  I have several WeMo switches.  Family Room Lights, Outside Fountain, Hot Water Heater.  I have them all set up with WeMo rules.  I use my Echo to override the rules as the need arises.  Example... If it's really windy outside I will tell Alexa to "Turn off the Fountain"  This way my fountain will not run dry.   

[jwlv]

Unfortunately, Alexa can't set a timer to turn on/off your Wemo switches. It can only turn it on/off at the moment you ask her.  For example, "Alexa, turn off the kitchen light."

It seems to me that Alexa only listens to certain key words. If I say, "Alexa, time" she will tell me the time. I can also say, "Alexa, what is the time?" or "Alexa, what time is it?" and the response is the same. This leads me to believe that the key word "time" is what Alexa listens for.

Similarly, as you found out, "Alexa, turn off the lights at 10:30" seems to trigger on these key words: turn, on/off, and [name of your Wemo switch]. Anything else seems to be regarded as extra data which is ignored.

[lordjoe]

Help - I just tried to talk to a WEMO switch and cannot even get their own app to recognize the device. This MIGHT have to do with 2.4 vz 5.?? MHZ wifi but I do not know how to debug this and Belkin's own site and APP are totally useless - can anyone help

[jwlv]

Wemo devices only work on the 2.4GHz band. When setting up for the first time, make sure your phone is also connected to the 2.4GHz side of your router.

If you're setting up through an Apple device, the big problem that I've ran into is that Apple automatically remembers previous networks. That is, all of your Wemo devices that you connected to when setting up is still remembered. And you can't remove it since those networks are no longer visible. What I've done in the past is to go to iPhone Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. As far as I know, that is the only way to remove those invisible Wemo networks. You might ask, why would you even need to do this? Well, if you have more than one Wemo device, whenever you set up a new Wemo device, the iPhone will try to connect to one of the networks it remembered from before. And that could be any one of your Wemo devices. Of course, when that happens, the connection fails since a Wemo network doesn't get you on to the Internet. And the entire setup of the new device fails along with it. Ideally, it should be connecting to your Wifi router, but that doesn't always happen.

[mike27oct]

This is a good time to clear up misunderstandings about wireless signals.

I will start at the beginning – with the home router; especially a dual band (2.4G/5G) type.  Most new routers come out of the box with both bands functional on the default wireless signals.  In the case of my Asus router one band was named Asus, and the other band was named Asus_5G.  This is important for a few reasons as you will see.  (I also renamed the two bands from the defaults to be what I wanted them to be.  For this discussion, let’s say I renamed them Elmer_2.4G and Elmer_5G.  NOW, they are distinct.  To keep life simple I logged into each one separately and using the same password.   In my case I never want my mobile devices (iPhones, iPads and Kindle tablets to use the 2.4G band to connect to devices – it is too slow for HD video streaming; I connect to the 5G signal at all times, so I instructed my mobile devices to “forget” the Elmer_2.4G network, although I can always connect to it again by putting in the password.

The 2.4G router signal is still present for devices that need to connect to it such as my Echo and if I had a WeMo device it would connect to it as well.

So, to configure a WeMo, Echo, and similar devices, you need to access the device’s own unique wireless signal and not your router signal.  Once connected this way, you direct the device to connect to either your 2,4G router wifi (or as in the case of the dual band Echo, even the 5G signal if you prefer). Once set up, return your mobile device to your preferred wifi  router signal.  Even if a WeMo or Echo is not on the band your mobile device is on the mobile device can communicate with another device since both the device AND mobile device are now on the SAME NETWORK!  I do this all the time; e.g. I can use the Alexa app when on 5G to control the Echo on 2.4G.  BUT, if I find I need to access the advanced settings of a device again, I likely will need to access the devices’ unique wifi signal as for set up.

After setups always direct your mobile device to re-connect to your router wifi signal since all mobile devices remember the last wifi they connected to, and you want it to remember your wifi signal and NOT the signal of a device you have set up.

All for now; any questions let me know.