I’ve been having problems lately with Alexa not finding my devices. To both simplify my setup, and to eliminate calls to the cloud, I’ve set up all of my Z-Wave (through Vera), Wemo, and TP-Link devices as Philips ‘lights’ in the Hue emulation. Most of the time, this works very well, because I have almost no dimmers in my home (a weak point of the emulation). The setup has been in place for about six months now.
Lately, I’ve been encountering a strange, and frustrating, situation. Let’s say I want to turn on a light. I say, “Alexa, turn on the couch light.” Most of the time, she turns it on; but sometimes, she replies, “Hmm, I can’t find a device called ‘couch light’ in your profile. Please check the name and try again.”
If I immediately say the command again, there is a ~95% chance that Alexa will obey my command, without further complications or backtalk. If the second time fails, a third request almost always goes through.
The problem isn’t communication, because Alexa always parrots back the exact name I called: If I say “shop light,” she never replies about a missing “top light” or “cop light.” And the verbiage I use for the second try is exactly the same.
The problem doesn’t favor any particular devices in the Hue emulation. The next failure might be the kitchen light, or the shop light – or the couch light again. Completely random. It also doesn’t occur anywhere near continuously: I may not see a failure for days, followed by 2-3 episodes in an afternoon. It kind of seems like Alexa is attempting to execute the command, not receiving some response through HA on the first attempt, and then not waiting long enough (or retrying?) before proceeding. Once I get a favorable response, I can turn the light on and off several times, with 100% accuracy.
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Is anyone else seeing this problem using the Hue emulation?
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If so, have you found any way to improve the response?
Regards,
-BW