Amazon Echo and Group Names Problem

[rderkis]

    I have a amazon echo in every room in my house. I have wemo light switches in every room of my house.
    I asked on this forum in another topic, how I could set them up so one phrase (Alexa turn on the lights) would turn on the lights in the room I am in.
  I was told by one of the members here, just set up a group with the light I want to control and the echo in that room and name the group "lights".  I tried it and that worked great! Trouble is using that method I can only name one group lights.

How can I walk into any of my rooms and say "Alexa turn on the lights" and have Alexa only turn that rooms lights on?

[dragon123]

    I have a amazon echo in every room in my house. I have wemo light switches in every room of my house.
    I asked on this forum in another topic, how I could set them up so one phrase (Alexa turn on the lights) would turn on the lights in the room I am in.
  I was told by one of the members here, just set up a group with the light I want to control and the echo in that room and name the group "lights".  I tried it and that worked great! Trouble is using that method I can only name one group lights.

How can I walk into any of my rooms and say "Alexa turn on the lights" and have Alexa only turn that rooms lights on?

Do as I said in the other thread, and name your alexa-enabled groups like the room. JUST the room. No "lights" in those names, so you make groups like "kitchen", "bedroom" etc.

You can make another group (without an echo) named "kitchen lights", "bedroom lights" and so on for turning on those lights from another room in the house if you want. but never name a group or object just "light" or "lights" as that is sort of a reserved word and you'd confuse alexa.

[mike27oct]

Ron,
I am going to help you one more time and this time pay c;oser attention.
 You do not need Groups <IF> your wemo devices can have a unique name (as my TP Link plugs can).  The only time you need a Group is when there is more than one wemo used to light a room.  Like is the case in my Living room.  In this situation, I have two plugs and each has a unique name and they are named One Lamp and Two Lamps.  I can turn either on individually, but to turn on both plugs I DO need a Group, and that group is called Living Room that turns on both plugs.

I have another TP link plug for a hallway lamp, and I did not name the plug hallway, but kept the default name of Smart Plug and when I ask ANY Alexa device to turn on Smart Plug the hallway lamp turns on.

If you or anyone else has questions about this let me know.

[jwlv]

The short answer is it's impossible to do that currently.

Regarding group names, you cannot have groups with the same name. That is, you can't name the group "lights" for every room you want to control. If a group is named "lights" additional groups must be named something different.

As dragon123 stated, the alternative is to give each group a unique name such as "kitchen", "bathroom", "bedroom". If you have multiple bedrooms that you want to control, you must give each one a different name, e.g. "bedroom one", "bedroom two", "bedroom three", "John's bedroom", "Mary's bedroom". As you walk into a room, you would say "Turn on kitchen" or "Turn on bedroom two".

If you only have one light in each room, you won't have to create groups. Just name each one appropriately. Although you can create a group of one smart device, it is redundant. Groups should be used for something that's actually a group of 2 or more smart devices.

The ONLY way I can think of to accomplish what you want is to register every Echo device on a different account. Then each Echo can only control Wemo switches that you added to it. But that comes with a problem because if the Echo in the adjacent room hears you say "turn off the lights" it will turn off a different light. In my opinion, you'll lose far more than the convenience you gain. Prime music, calendar, to do list, drop-in/calls, Amazon delivery tracking, voice training, etc. will all be separate and a nightmare to manage.

[rderkis]

The short answer is it's impossible to do that currently.

Ah! Finally someone smart enough to figure out what I am asking!

My alternative is to put a camera in each room and use blue iris to monitor them. I wrote a computer program that interfaces with blue iris and Alexa that turns on the lights in that room if motion is detected and then off again after a set period of time has passed. It works perfect in my rec room. The reason it is better than just a regular motion sensor is because you can use a mask, so my dogs, fireplace or overhead fans don't set it off. But I had rather just say just "Aleza turn the lights on", and only that for every room in my house.

[dragon123]

The short answer is it's impossible to do that currently.

Sure. Which is why I have that working in every room in my apartment... 

Regarding group names, you cannot have groups with the same name. That is, you can't name the group "lights" for every room you want to control. If a group is named "lights" additional groups must be named something different.

As dragon123 stated, the alternative is to give each group a unique name such as "kitchen", "bathroom", "bedroom". If you have multiple bedrooms that you want to control, you must give each one a different name, e.g. "bedroom one", "bedroom two", "bedroom three", "John's bedroom", "Mary's bedroom". As you walk into a room, you would say "Turn on kitchen" or "Turn on bedroom two".

There are 2 threads about this. Again, DO NOT NAME A GROUP "LIGHTS". Ever. At all.

Name them by room or give them another name just not 'lights' or 'light' and all your alexa-enabled groups will behave EXACTLY like OP wants. "Alexa, turn on the lights" will then turn on the alexa-enabled group of the room you're currently in. Voila.

Not sure why OP made this 2nd thread, I'm not going to type my entire answer again. See here:
http://www.echotalk.org/index.php?topic=3630.msg18983#msg18983

[dragon123]

The short answer is it's impossible to do that currently.

Ah! Finally someone smart enough to figure out what I am asking!

'

Why do you persist in not doing exactly as I outlined a few post above, here? 

Name your groups ANYTHING BUT "LIGHTS". Alexa KNOWS you mean "lights" in any alexa-enabled room but ONLY if you do not reserve that word for one specific group/room!!!

So, don't.

[mike27oct]

The OP refuses to get it, and insists he doesn't want to do it this way.
Such a boring thread at this point.  Goodbye

[rderkis]

You do not need Groups <IF> your wemo devices can have a unique name (as my TP Link plugs can).  The only time you need a Group is when there is more than one wemo used to light a room.  Like is the case in my Living room.  In this situation, I have two plugs and each has a unique name and they are named One Lamp and Two Lamps.  I can turn either on individually, but to turn on both plugs I DO need a Group, and that group is called Living Room that turns on both plugs.

I have another TP link plug for a hallway lamp, and I did not name the plug hallway, but kept the default name of Smart Plug and when I ask ANY Alexa device to turn on Smart Plug the hallway lamp turns on.

That's easy to understand and that's how I have all my lights and plugs configured, along with anybody else that are using Alexa and light controls.

But I just don't see how you can use one phrase and only one phrase(same exact phrase)to turn on the light in whichever room your in. Are you telling me you can say "Alexa turn on the Smart Plug" and it will turn on any ONE of the smart plugs in whichever ONE  room your in(if there is both a smart plug and a Alexa in that room as well as a Alexa and smart plug in every other room)?

To make it more clear. I want to enter living room and say "Alexa turn on the light" and only the living room light comes on.
Then I want to go to basement and say "Alexa turn on the light" and only the basement light comes on.
Then I want to go to garage and say "Alexa turn on the light" and only the garage light comes on.
Plus while still in the basement I still want to be able to say "Alexa turn on the garage light" and the garage light will come on. That's how it is set up now.

[mike27oct]

I think your problem is you don't want to think about what room you are in, you just want to tutn on an "Alexa" light switch.  If the wemo there is named Basement.  It's not that much trouble.to say turn on the basement..If it were me, I would turn on basement BEFORE I arrived there.

[rderkis]

I think your problem is you don't want to think about what room you are in, you just want to tutn on an "Alexa" light switch.  If the wemo there is named Basement.  It's not that much trouble.to say turn on the basement..If it were me, I would turn on basement BEFORE I arrived there.

And I think you problem is you don't want to just flip a light switch. How much work is that?

Eventually in the near future just walking into a room will turn the lights on and when the last person leaves the lights will go out all automatically.
And after that will come fusion and the lights will stay on 24/7 if we want.

[kevb]

But I just don't see how you can use one phrase and only one phrase(same exact phrase)to turn on the light in whichever room your in. Are you telling me you can say "Alexa turn on the Smart Plug" and it will turn on any ONE of the smart plugs in whichever ONE  room your in(if there is both a smart plug and a Alexa in that room as well as a Alexa and smart plug in every other room)?

To make it more clear. I want to enter living room and say "Alexa turn on the light" and only the living room light comes on.
Then I want to go to basement and say "Alexa turn on the light" and only the basement light comes on.
Then I want to go to garage and say "Alexa turn on the light" and only the garage light comes on.
Plus while still in the basement I still want to be able to say "Alexa turn on the garage light" and the garage light will come on. That's how it is set up now.

rderkis, name your living room light "Living room light". Make a group called "Living Room". Place the living room light AND living room echo in the group "Living Room".  Then when you are in the living room, say "Alexa, turn on the light". That Echo will turn on that light because they are in the same group. You can also tell any other echo to "Turn on the living room light" to control it from other areas. Repeat this process with a bedroom, garage, etc, putting each light switch (or plug) into a group with the appropriate Echo, in an appropriately named Group. It works exactly as you want it to. Each Echo "understands" which light to turn on, as they are in the same Group as the light. Each echo can also control lights in other areas by using the specific name of the light. Hope this helps you out.

[rderkis]

rderkis, name your living room light "Living room light". Make a group called "Living Room". Place the living room light AND living room echo in the group "Living Room".  Then when you are in the living room, say "Alexa, turn on the light". That Echo will turn on that light because they are in the same group. You can also tell any other echo to "Turn on the living room light" to control it from other areas. Repeat this process with a bedroom, garage, etc, putting each light switch (or plug) into a group with the appropriate Echo, in an appropriately named Group. It works exactly as you want it to. Each Echo "understands" which light to turn on, as they are in the same Group as the light. Each echo can also control lights in other areas by using the specific name of the light. Hope this helps you out.

Ok, I followed your instructions.

Group Name -> "Bedroom"
Wemo Device Name-> "Bedroom Light"
Echo Device Name-> "Bedroom Echo Dot"
*No quote marks of course

Said "Echo turn on the light" -> Response "Sorry I did not find light"
Said "Echo turn on the lights" -> Response "Sorry I did not find lights"
Said "Echo Turn off the bedroom light" -> Response "OK" -> Worked

[kevb]

I'm sorry this didn't work for you. I am at a loss to explain why. I have this set up in my home, but I am not using Wemo devices. I don't think that Wemo is the cause, but it is the only difference I can see. I hope you are able to get it working soon. Good Luck!

[dragon123]

Group Name -> "Bedroom"
Wemo Device Name-> "Bedroom Light"
Echo Device Name-> "Bedroom Echo Dot"
*No quote marks of course

Said "Echo turn on the light" -> Response "Sorry I did not find light"
Said "Echo turn on the lights" -> Response "Sorry I did not find lights"
Said "Echo Turn off the bedroom light" -> Response "OK" -> Worked

Hmm the above should work.
You are sure you put the correct dot in that group, were talking to that dot (only), and the group shows as "alexa-enabled" in the app?
Also, what happens if you say "echo, turn on bedroom"?