brucecampbell Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 I quite often ask Alexa to turn off my kitchen lights. Kitchen lights is an advanced lighting scene which ramps six dimmers to zero over five seconds. I often get a response ‘Sorry, kitchen lights is not responding’ just as the lights turn off. I don’t get this response asking for single lights to turn on or off. I’m wondering how Alexa handles scenes. And how she determines if her action was completed by control 4Anyone know?? Does she think the task was not executed because the lights are technically still on for a few seconds after she executes the task??Or does Alexa get a success: true /false response like a normal API works?And perhaps the request is simply timing out? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 South Africa C4 user Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 I have the same experience (regularly) although I am pretty sure that I experience this for single lights as well as ALS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Don Cohen Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 I run into this perhaps 5-10% of the time. I use Alexa to control Light Scenes, individual Lights, turning on my Theater, turning on my TV to a variety of sources, etc. I have read that it is due to the cloud based nature of the services involved with its execution, and there's nothing we can do about it. I don't know if using the 3rd party Driver (Epic?) would get rid of this entirely, but I haven't looked into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 brucecampbell Posted June 3, 2020 Author Share Posted June 3, 2020 1 hour ago, South Africa C4 user said: I have the same experience (regularly) although I am pretty sure that I experience this for single lights as well as ALS. Do you use C4's control or the Epic driver? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 brucecampbell Posted June 3, 2020 Author Share Posted June 3, 2020 52 minutes ago, Don Cohen said: I run into this perhaps 5-10% of the time. I use Alexa to control Light Scenes, individual Lights, turning on my Theater, turning on my TV to a variety of sources, etc. I have read that it is due to the cloud based nature of the services involved with its execution, and there's nothing we can do about it. I don't know if using the 3rd party Driver (Epic?) would get rid of this entirely, but I haven't looked into it. I'm using C4 control. I do have the Epic driver, I stopped using it when it became unsupported with V2.9. Now that I'm on OS3, I believe I can use it again - so I might give it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 zaphod Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 I got a Gen1 Echo (not Echo Dot) on ebay for a good price that allowed V2 of the driver to work. I am in Canada and they did ship from the US to Canada and the shipping was shockingly fast - perhaps they will shop to NZ as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 brucecampbell Posted June 3, 2020 Author Share Posted June 3, 2020 18 minutes ago, zaphod said: I got a Gen1 Echo (not Echo Dot) on ebay for a good price that allowed V2 of the driver to work. I am in Canada and they did ship from the US to Canada and the shipping was shockingly fast - perhaps they will shop to NZ as well. I've got two Gen 2 dots. (i'm assuming they are gen 2 because their software version matches what Amazon states as Gen 2 latest) I got them shipped to NZ several years ago using a NZ Postal Service 'you shop' account, which is basically a PO BOX locally in USA. Freight to NZ was generally pretty fast and cheap for small items. Not sure if prices have shot up in the current environment?? They are now freely available in NZ from retail shops. What driver are you referring to with 'V2' ? From memory the Voice Scene driver in C4 is V75 And I think the epic driver I have might be V110? Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 zaphod Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 There is a V200 of the Epic Systems driver that works with OS3 but I believe you need this Gen 1 Echo for it to work. In case you haven't seen it look through this thread. brucecampbell 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 brucecampbell Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 Cool, thanks for the info. The Epic driver is next on my list to get up and running again, although no hurry for me, as the Voice Scene driver seems ok for the limited use I have for it currently. It's been a while since I did some research on Alexa and the options, as the Epic driver stopped working with OS2.9 and I was hesitant to upgrade given my reliance on my HC300. I only recently swapped it out for the 2nd HC800 you pointed me to on eBay. I bought a power supply for it from China and it took almost four months to get here due to the virus conditions.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 South Africa C4 user Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 6 hours ago, brucecampbell said: Do you use C4's control or the Epic driver? C4 control (I moved off the Epic Driver a year or so back). brucecampbell 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 zaphod Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Now that I am able to use the Epic driver again I do think that it is faster and more consistent. But the C4 control takes less programming work and the phrasing can be less awkward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 jfh Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Just now, zaphod said: Now that I am able to use the Epic driver again I do think that it is faster and more consistent. But the C4 control takes less programming work and the phrasing can be less awkward. Use Alexa routines to invoke a Epic System driver trigger and then you can use whatever phrasing you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 brucecampbell Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 23 hours ago, South Africa C4 user said: C4 control (I moved off the Epic Driver a year or so back). Any particular reason to move away from the Epic Driver? I've seen a few threads with opinions both for and against using the Epic driver over the C4 voice scene driver. I've just done a big clean up of all my programming and managed to simplify a huge amount of code - mainly due to my programming pre-dating Advanced lighting scenes and using a bunch of variables as change triggers. Currently apart from lights and scenes, I only have two programmed voice triggers (a water fall and a patio heater) Once I figure out what else I need, I'll be looking to program them in, but still unsure if I use Epic or C4's driver options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Amr Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 5 hours ago, brucecampbell said: Any particular reason to move away from the Epic Driver? I've seen a few threads with opinions both for and against using the Epic driver over the C4 voice scene driver. I've just done a big clean up of all my programming and managed to simplify a huge amount of code - mainly due to my programming pre-dating Advanced lighting scenes and using a bunch of variables as change triggers. Currently apart from lights and scenes, I only have two programmed voice triggers (a water fall and a patio heater) Once I figure out what else I need, I'll be looking to program them in, but still unsure if I use Epic or C4's driver options. Epic driver is much better and faster than the native C4 driver and it’s the only solution for me as C4 including 4Sight doesn’t work in my country for blocking some protocols! Only caveat is lot of programming, but that’s once and works after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Amr Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 On 6/4/2020 at 5:36 AM, jfh said: Use Alexa routines to invoke a Epic System driver trigger and then you can use whatever phrasing you want. I need some guidance around this, can you point me out to where I can get some examples and I will take it from there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 South Africa C4 user Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 18 hours ago, brucecampbell said: Any particular reason to move away from the Epic Driver? I've seen a few threads with opinions both for and against using the Epic driver over the C4 voice scene driver. I've just done a big clean up of all my programming and managed to simplify a huge amount of code - mainly due to my programming pre-dating Advanced lighting scenes and using a bunch of variables as change triggers. Currently apart from lights and scenes, I only have two programmed voice triggers (a water fall and a patio heater) Once I figure out what else I need, I'll be looking to program them in, but still unsure if I use Epic or C4's driver options. Epic driver is faster. Epic driver allows more flexibility. Multiple accounts can allow different commands connected to different devices (essentially each Echo can be made location specific). Epic driver had some issues but I think most are resolved now. Epic driver needs a version 1 Dot (now) - I have read - to set up. C4 driver is an official skill and less likely to break. C4 driver can automatically set up all lights and lighting scenes on Alexa. C4 driver sometimes gives the wrong response (device not responding even though it does respond). I used the Epic driver for years and lived it but ultimately moved to C4 for the light set up and as it seems the C4 one will be developed further. brucecampbell 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 South Africa C4 user Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 9 hours ago, South Africa C4 user said: Epic driver is faster. Epic driver allows more flexibility. Multiple accounts can allow different commands connected to different devices (essentially each Echo can be made location specific). Epic driver had some issues but I think most are resolved now. Epic driver needs a version 1 Dot (now) - I have read - to set up. C4 driver is an official skill and less likely to break. C4 driver can automatically set up all lights and lighting scenes on Alexa. C4 driver sometimes gives the wrong response (device not responding even though it does respond). I used the Epic driver for years and loved it but ultimately moved to C4 for the light set up and as it seems the C4 one will be developed further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bk Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 On 6/4/2020 at 1:36 PM, jfh said: Use Alexa routines to invoke a Epic System driver trigger and then you can use whatever phrasing you want. Great idea except there doesn't appear to be an option to link raise and lower so you can then adopt close and open instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 jfh Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 47 minutes ago, bk said: Great idea except there doesn't appear to be an option to link raise and lower so you can then adopt close and open instead. If you use an Alexa routine, easiest way is to trigger off a SET level. I don’t use on or off for anything that isn’t on a switch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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Question
brucecampbell
I quite often ask Alexa to turn off my kitchen lights.
Kitchen lights is an advanced lighting scene which ramps six dimmers to zero over five seconds.
I often get a response ‘Sorry, kitchen lights is not responding’ just as the lights turn off.
I don’t get this response asking for single lights to turn on or off.
I’m wondering how Alexa handles scenes. And how she determines if her action was completed by control 4
Anyone know??
Does she think the task was not executed because the lights are technically still on for a few seconds after she executes the task??
Or does Alexa get a success: true /false response like a normal API works?
And perhaps the request is simply timing out?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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