Alexa Group doesn't work to turn off Hive lights with just "Turn off lights"

[Compact]

I have a few dots and some Hive lights
I have set them up in different rooms and created groups of lights that seem to work well.

I read that a new feature, you can add an Echo into a Group and so you don't have to call the lights by their name

i.e. you should be able to say "Alexa turn off lights", rather than "Alexa turn of PlayRoom lights"

So I create a Group called Playroom, I add Echo dot "Playroom", I add lights "Front Room".
From here I would expect I could say "Echo turn off lights", but it says "Sorry I didn't find lights."

Or am I misunderstanding the new feature?

[Metroland]

Think you need to ask the echo to turn on or off the group that contains the individual lights. So turn off playroom. It works for me but name your groups very different to the names of individual items to avoid Alexa getting confused.

[Compact]

I have read a few reviews / pre release articles that say other https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/28/alexas-routines-will-combine-smart-home-control-with-other-actions-like-delivering-your-news-and-weather/

If you are in the room and the echo, plus lights are in the same group, it knows what to direct those lights.
I am looking for a way not only for groups of lights, but to reduce the amounts of words you say for 1 light.

To use this option, you’ll place your Echo devices into smart home groups. That way, you’ll be able to use a simpler command like “Alexa, turn on the lights” when you enter the kitchen, instead of “Alexa, turn on the kitchen overhead lamp.”

Good tip on the Groups and names.
Will keep playing to see if I can get the above working

[jnex26]

Firstly your right that is how the feature is supposed to work.. however it's not working for the UK had a looooong conversation with Amazon support on this and the support person had never even heard of this feature and called the press release a mistake

My suggestion is to bombard the support desk or email Jeff Bezos jeff@amazon.com to complain

[orange]

Firstly your right that is how the feature is supposed to work.. however it's not working for the UK had a looooong conversation with Amazon support on this and the support person had never even heard of this feature and called the press release a mistake

My suggestion is to bombard the support desk or email Jeff Bezos jeff@amazon.com to complain

had that same conversation with amazon support too

[jnex26]

I've just noted mine has started working, my wemo plugs and hue lights are responding as advertised.

[tuicemen]

@ Compact
Are your lights in the play room actually lights or smart modules with lamps plugged in?
I've read this feature only works with actual smart lights not modules.

[jnex26]

Mine is working with the Following Devices in the following modes.

Wemo - Plug units work but it comes from the description of the item, E.G. Turn on Monitors ( will turn on the relevant monitor )
Energnie - Light switches are not recognised under the moniker lights, can't find anything to control these switches.
Hue - Works as expected HOWEVER I added the bulbs and the room not just a room or a bulb.

It should be noted that making any changes to these groups from the html (desktop) based site broke all integration on that group .    and I needed to recreate it.

also Alexa is a little slow to update one you have created the smart group it can take up to an hour before I noticed it properly start working.

[Compact]

@ Compact
Are your lights in the play room actually lights or smart modules with lamps plugged in?
I've read this feature only works with actual smart lights not modules.

Hi these are Hive bulbs

Setup
Group "Playroom"
Echo dot "Playroom"
Hive Bulb "Front Room"

The usual "Alexa turn on Front Room" works, however "Alex turn on Playroom" doesn't.
As I am writing this, I may rename the Echo, so to remove that confusion from the equation