Don Cohen

Excellent - thanks. I'm also reading that officially neither Amazon nor Control4 allow including Unlocking Doors in these scenes, so if that's the case, this wouldn't help in at least the 2nd scenario, which does include unlocking the garage door. The other locks it, and I'm guessing this is okay? Initial reading suggested possible work-arounds, but it's unclear whether or not it's appropriate or safe to pursue these. Thoughts on this issue?

I guess my only concern in adding the driver, is whether or not it will disrupt my current setup with Alexa, where it works quite well controlling a complex home theater, family room tv, etc. Will this require me to reconfigure, re-do, my current setup?

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm new to this industry, so will do some reading up on the Voice Scene Driver. I'm not sure which scenario you're referring to, though, in your question: For the Lighting Scene for lights off at the end of the day, I added Programming steps to turn on the light when off, and lock the garage door, triggered by that scene being invoked. For the Custom Button, I just created and programmed a custom button to unlock the door, and turn on a few lights. But it sounds like the Voice Scene Driver is where I need to go next, thanks to you and msgreenf below. I'll see what I can learn about that. Thanks!

I currently have Control4 2.10.6, as both a Dealer and End-user. I activated the Control4 Skill within the Alexa App, and generally things work quite well. I have discovered, however, what appears to be a current limitation: I have a Lighting Scene that I execute when going to bed, which turns off all downstairs lights, with 10 and 20 second delays for 2 of the lights, so I can see while heading upstairs. I can activate this scene by voice through Alexa, and it works fine. I have enhanced this through programming: 1. When this scene is activated, if the last light is currently is off, it turns it on, so I can see on my way up, and then turns it back off using that 20 second delay. 2. I also added a command to have it lock the garage door lock when the scene is activated. When this scene is activated within Composer Pro, with the Control4 Tablet, or the Control4 App on my phone, everything works as desired - both the lighting, and the associated programming steps. When I activate the scene through Alexa, it only executes the Lighting Scene, and doesn't seem to 'trigger' those 2 associated programming steps within Control4. Is there any way to get this working so that activating the scene through Alexa also triggers the associated programming? Would 3.0 provide this functionality? Would the Epic 3rd party driver allow this to work properly? Bonus question: Is there any way to use an Alexa command to activate a Custom Button? I would like to provide a simple way of opening the garage door lock, and turning lights on, when we come back home and the house is dark and locked. I created a Custom Button that works just fine to do this, but being able to do it via Alexa, through our phones, would simplify it further. Thanks!

I agree with the benefit of added functionality with Alexa, but at least in 2.10.6, I've found it a bit quirky. For example, I have a Scene defined that turns off all the lights downstairs, with delays built in to a couple of lights so that I can see as I work my way upstairs. And since the last light isn't necessarily on at that time, I added Programming so that when that Scene is Invoked, there is a Conditional such that if that light is currently off, it will turn on. It will then turn off on the delayed basis I have programmed into the Scene. This works perfectly when I execute the scene from my Phone, the Control4 Tablet, etc., but if I activate it by Alexa, the Scene itself executes properly, but it seems that added Programmed step never kicks in, as that last light doesn't get turned on if it was off. Perhaps this is a quirk fixed in 3.0, or as I'm new to Control4, perhaps I have an error in logic or programming to make this happen. But as I said, it works right when executed from within Control4's user interface, but not when activated with the Alexa command. Any thoughts appreciated.

Well, I think I figured it out. At this early stage of my knowledge and experience, I haven't paid much attention to the 'Toggle' that seems to automatically get created when you create a scene. I looked at the configuration when Toggle was selected, and saw that it was different from what was in the one posted above. I made the same timing changes in that section, as there was for the 'main' scene settings, and now it works as it should. Guess I need to do a little reading on why the Toggle gets created, and how it impacts overall functionality. Don

Correct - I just tested again, and this is what happens. If I initiate it from my phone, the Tablet, PC App, etc., the 10 and 20 second delays are implemented. When I tell Alexa to do it, they all turn off immediately, as if there were no delays. Weird...

Many thanks, Neo1738! That's the ScreenCapture chopedogg88 was asking for, but which I couldn't post due to being new, and not having enough posts. And naturally, now it posts it, even when I wasn't trying to!

Good idea. Here is the capture for the "Off at Night" Scene. It turns off all lights, except for having a 10-second delay for the Kitchen Fan Light, and 20 second delay for the Hallway Light, both of which I pass as I head upstairs for the night. If it's relevant, neither of these are dimmable - just basic switches. I actually did previously visit your site, curious about the Epic Systems Echo driver. I saw how you debugged the commands there, and wondered if I could do the same with my current setup. I'm quite new to this, but am learning fast, and will definitely keep your driver in mind as I explore various options. Interesting, when I try to post with an attached screenshot, the site doesn't let me, saying: *** Forbidden. Browser seems to be spambot. *** The same thing happens when I try to post a simple link to the file in Dropbox. Is this because I've only got a few posts here? How else can I include the screen capture in my post? I even tried plain text for the link, but it wouldn't let me do that either. So how do I post a screenshot?? It's also making me wait many, many minutes between attempts - extremely frustrating. I waited 20 minutes once, and it still wouldn't let me post. I'm now trying from Edge, rather than Chrome, to see if it will let me post. Dang! Thanks.

Any ideas on what might be causing this odd behavior, or steps I can take to pinpoint or debug what is causing it?

Advanced Lighting Scenes, Composer Pro 2.10.6.

I appreciate the replies. What additional trouble-shooting steps can I take to try and pinpoint where the problem is originating? I've got a bunch of other devices and scenes that were set up the same straight-forward way, and function normally, and some of them involve delays via Programming. These delays are set up in the Light Scene screen, not scripting as with the other audio-visual programming. I'm sure I can program this as a 2 or 3 separate scenes, and use Programming delays to separate them in time, but I'd like to understand why doing it using the Light Scene delay is different.

I am fairly new to Control4, but quickly getting up to speed. I am posting both as an end-user, and also as a new employee of a company that installs Control4. I had them install light switches, thermostats, cameras, door locks, etc., along with a couple of Control4 controllers, to automate a lot of my home, so I can demo various functions to potential customers. Anyway, it's all working quite well, with the occasional quirk. I previously used a Harmony Hub/Remote, linked with Alexa, and used Voice Control to turn on my Theater Room, and really liked it. So I enabled the Control4 skill in my Alexa account, am able to customize names for various devices, lights, scenes, etc., and to me, it adds huge convenience over reaching for a phone, the Control4 Tablet, etc. But (there's always one but, isn't there!), one of the quirks is a bit annoying: I created a Lighting Scene that would turn all the downstairs lights off in my home, and I can activate it by Phone, Tablet, Voice by Alexa, etc. Then I thought it would be even better if I built in a few delays, to keep certain lights on so I could see while walking from the Family Room, where the Echo Dot is located, to the stairs to our bedroom. In Composer Pro, I added a 10 second delay for 1 light, and a 20 second delay for another light. When activated from either Composer Pro, the Control4 App on my phone, or the Control4 tablet, it works exactly as desired, giving me time to get upstairs before the final lights are turned off. But when I activate this same Scene with an Alexa voice command, all lights turn off Immediately, and the delays don't occur. I have disabled and re-enabled this Scene within the Alexa App. I deleted the Scene from Alexa, disabled it within the Alexa section of my personal Control4 log-in, re-enabled it there, rediscovered it within Alexa, etc. I renamed it from "All LIghts" to "Downstairs Lights" to avoid possible confusion. But no matter what I do, when I tell Alexa to activate this scene, all the lights go off immediately, without the delays that are actually programmed into the Scene. This may just be a quirk or limitation of the Alexa interface, but it just seems so strange, as theoretically, it's simply activating the same Scene in Control4, which works as it should when activated from the other sources. Am I missing a step here? Thanks.