Echo dot

[rderkis]

I can be upstairs in the master bath and tell the Echo in there to turn on the living room and they turn on!
I don't think I can be more clear about this.
And for  rderkis: Why not act your age, and keep your snide remarks to yourself.

I am sorry, it is me that is not making myself clear. I want to say THIS AND ONLY THIS  and nothing else.
"Alexa turn on the lights". And depending on which room I am in Alexa will turn on ONLY that room's lights.
I have a Alexa in every room and a wemo light switch in every room. If I need to make what I am asking any clearer please don't hesitate to ask what I mean.

[kevb]

Mike, putting an echo in a group does not preclude you from controlling lights in another room. It simply allows you to say "lights" when you are in the same room. That way one (you or a visitor) doesn't have to remember which bedroom you are in or what you've named the lights. You can still control lights in other rooms and groups. Putting the echo in a group will do exactly what the OP asked.

[jwlv]

Although the app makes it seem like it should work, it actually doesn't.
For one, when you create a group and specify an Echo device, it doesn't actually do anything different. The group is still accessible to any other Echo in the house. It's kind of curious why the Echo device choice is even there. Maybe it's a feature they plan to add later. But right now, the Echo device choice doesn't do anything at all. And you still can't create multiple groups named "lights". Group names still have to be unique.

So even if you created a group named "lights" with one Echo device enabled for that group, you'll still be able to turn on/off "lights" with any other Echo device in your house. The app will not allow you to create a second group named "lights".

I verified what I said is true and correct because i just tried it 15 minutes ago. It does not work.

[dragon123]

Although the app makes it seem like it should work, it actually doesn't.

Of course it does. Like I said before, it works just fine in all rooms in my apartment!

The group is still accessible to any other Echo in the house. It's kind of curious why the Echo device choice is even there. Maybe it's a feature they plan to add later. But right now, the Echo device choice doesn't do anything at all.

And you still can't create multiple groups named "lights". Group names still have to be unique.

Like I said a couple times now: DO NOT NAME A GROUP "LIGHTS".

AT

ALL.

It is sort of a reserved word, as in, a function of alexa. If you use it as a group name you'll miss out on the whole alexa-enabled part of the group

So even if you created a group named "lights" with one Echo device enabled for that group, you'll still be able to turn on/off "lights" with any other Echo device in your house. The app will not allow you to create a second group named "lights".

IMO it shouldn't allow you to name a group 'lights' at all.I think this is an oversight, and they might wanna fix that.

I verified what I said is true and correct because i just tried it 15 minutes ago. It does not work.

Yeah. Try again, and name the groups of lights+echo by room, use whatever name you want.

JUST

NOT

LIGHTS

Then try again.

[mike27oct]

QuoteL    I want to say THIS AND ONLY THIS  and nothing else.
"Alexa turn on the lights"

Well, it ain't gonna happen as mentioned above, so get over it.  Move on. Alexa is not like a securuty light with a photo cell.

[scottrods]

qUOTE scottrods. The easiest way is to make groups.

Oh sure. You knew it all the time.

I've known it for a few weeks now I guess... I got the info on a Hue Lights FB page... I don't have the screen shots of it, but I have seen them and actually did know how. Otherwise I wouldn't have said "Yes!"... really. Hope you get/got it working.

[scottrods]

QuoteL    I want to say THIS AND ONLY THIS  and nothing else.
"Alexa turn on the lights"

Well, it ain't gonna happen as mentioned above, so get over it.  Move on. Alexa is not like a securuty light with a photo cell.

Yeah... It does mike... If you make a group, name it bedroom, then within that group choose the dot that is in that bedroom as part of the group... When you walk into THAT ROOM and say "Alexa, turn on lights." The dot will oblige. only in that room. with that echo... if you want to use that same echo to control some other things as well, you can use the already common ways to use it to control other things. Such as "Alexa, turn on porch light." or Alexa, turn on Kitchen Lights"... still works, but the echo will recognize that you are closest to it when in that room, and will turn on only the lights in that group when you command "Alexa, turn on lights". As far as I know this only works with lights for now. I haven't any other things to control, but it may actually turn on smart receptacles as well... I have none to check. Could be fine as well.

[mike27oct]

It occurs to me there is a distinction I may be overlooking (others may too); that's the distinction of a snart wall switch (light switch) and a smart plug to control a lamp or light.  Maybe wall switches act differently than smart plugs. I dunno since I only have smart plugs as I have no interest in smart wall switches.  Jeeze, I am not unable to flip on a wall switch since all in my house are at each doorway, but lamps are a little more of a pain since many are within the room or in corners etc., not on ceilings controlled.by wall switch.  Another reason for plugs vs wall switches is cost and time to install.  I also do not have the urge to talk to most everything inanimate in my house.  Sometimes silence is golden. Sometimes home automation gets carried too far, I believe.

[scottrods]

It occurs to me there is a distinction I may be overlooking (others may too); that's the distinction of a snart wall switch (light switch) and a smart plug to control a lamp or light. 

I also may have inadvertently added to the mud as well... as I use no smart switches or receptacles... I use Philips Hue Bulbs and their bridge. All of the things I mentioned are "native" to the Hue system, so no changes need to be made for what "type" of item The Echo works with. In the other thread, I was reading this morning, Mostly because I was oddly concerned at how some folks weren't getting along so well in the discussion about lights and group control... when I realized that the OP had never said he was using Smart lighting, but had actually mentioned he was using the switches I believe. Wemo Light switches. In this thread rderkis wasn't as specific. But all the same advice applies, except he figured out through another poster, that he needed to change the "Type" of device somewhere, and what NOT TO NAME stuff... In hue It knows which type, but you still need to avoid certain names or multiple items and groups with the same names. Also, in the App (Alexa app) you cannot change the icon of a hue bulb to anything else... so I had no idea you could change it. It makes sense that you can on a Receptacle though. I just don't have anything to compare to.

So to wrap this up a little neater for anyone reading this in the future - dragon123 seems to have the better grasp and explanation of how it the echo works. Parsed together as one post kind of - -

The easiest way is to make groups. In the app, go to smart home -> groups. For instance I have a Kitchen Group that includes all kitchen lights and the kitchen echo. If you include an echo in a group, that group becomes 'Alexa enabled' which means that if you are in the kitchen and say 'alexa, turn on the lights' Alexa knows to turn on all kitchen lights.

Before there were alexa-enabled groups you could make a 'kitchen group' of lights, and had to say 'Alexa, turn on all kitchen lights', which of course still works and this is the command for when you are elsewhere in the house as well.And you still can't create multiple groups named "lights". Group names still have to be unique.
Like I said a couple times now: DO NOT NAME A GROUP "LIGHTS".

AT

ALL.

It is sort of a reserved word, as in, a function of alexa. If you use it as a group name you'll miss out on the whole alexa-enabled part of the group

IMO it shouldn't allow you to name a group 'lights' at all.I think this is an oversight, and they might wanna fix that.

name the groups of lights+echo by room, use whatever name you want. (just not "lights")

JUST

NOT

LIGHTS
 

and This little tidbit by rederkis related to WEMO SWITCHES -
 "I learned how to do it.
just make a group with the room's alexa dot in it and the rooms light/switch/plug you want to control.
Then make sure the icon of the light/switch/plug is a light bulb! You must tell alexa it is a light by using that light bulb's icon(found under type of device)"

[jwlv]

Apparently I was wrong. The way that I described it, it did not work at all.
But upon checking my settings, I saw that my Wemo light switches and Wemo smartplugs were all under the "switch" classification in the Alexa app. When I changed it from "switch' to "light" and then followed the directions from dragon123 above, it all worked. So now, I can walk into a room and say "turn on the light" and the appropriate light will turn on.

The group name, the Echo device name, and the smart device name really doesn't matter. You're going to put them in one group anyway. For multiple rooms, just repeat and use a different group name.

I am pretty sure that every type/brand of smart device will be a little different. But the main point here is to make sure it is configured as a "light" in the Alexa app. At least for Wemo, this is absolutely necessary.