Alexa Devices Integration

Configuration
42

@steffenxx cool down :wink:
Remember that all work that have been done by developers, is been done in there free time and it is free to use for you.

1 Like
43

@steffenxx have you tried disabling polling?
It fixed all the problems for me.
(I have a feeling that it takes a little time before it is effective.)

I moved to Alexa Devices because AMP suddenly stopped working and I spent many hours trying to fix it (and failed), so it’s not entirely without problems IMO.

2 Likes
44

Thanks! It worked also for me.
To disable polling:

  1. Navigate to Settings > Devices & Services in your Home Assistant instance.
  2. Find the integration for which you want to disable polling and click on its entry.
  3. Click the three-dot menu icon (…) in the top-right corner.
  4. Select System options from the dropdown menu.
  5. Toggle the “Enable polling for updates” option to the off position

Note: on my instance it takes some time to work (couple of minutes).

2 Likes
45

I realize that, and I am extremely grateful that the developers are sacrificing their free time for us. Really.

But I’m sure you all know that when everything works, it’s just normal for the family. Unfortunately, this integration causes more stress than all the other integrations. And basically, after all these months, I don’t see any added value in this integration. It worked great with AMP before, and it works great with AMP again now, and in my case, it’s very stable.

After much deliberation and patience, I have come to the conclusion that I don’t need two integrations for voice output. AMP can do that and much more.

I may take another look at the module next year if it really is “platinum.”

1 Like
46

Thanks for the tip. I tried that, but unfortunately it didn’t help in my case.

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While troubleshooting, I checked my Amazon account under Devices → Alexa. HA - Alexa Device Integration had created countless entries there. imo, that can’t be normal either. AMP has exactly one entry there.

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From my experience through the years using AMP, AMP also creates multiple entries. I think it is creating a new one if you remove and re-install one of the integrations in HA.

49

Alexa Devices worked for a few days - now I added a dot - thanks Black friday and all the troubles are here again. I have:

  • 2FA set to Authenticator first
  • logged in via browser
  • devices are online in alexa app and working properly (outside HA)
  • HA restarted, reloaded AD, reconfigured several times - with ok message

and now, while typing this message, after ±1 hour troubleshooting it works without any action from my side.

thanks for all the great work !

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hello. since Amazon keeps doing things to break access to echo sensors like temperature, has anyone figured out an alternative way to get the data? like is there a way to have an Alexa routine that periodically reads the temperature sensor and reports it somewhere that HA can access?

setting up a routine should be straightforward, but i haven’t tried it yet. what I can’t think of is where Alexa could put the data that HA could then read into the state of a locally created HA sensor.

what do smarter, more savvy folks think about that approach?

side question: how can you access the illumination sensor from within the Alexa app?

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actually, i think i already have the step with this skill . it should be trivial to just create a new temp sensor entity in HA, expose it to the Alexa skill, and have a routine in Alexa write the temp data to it.

but that still leaves me with the question of how to access the illumination sensor from Alexa. the only place I’ve ever seen that value was from the Alexa devices integration. does anyone know?

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Have you enabled the illuminance sensor in the HA device?

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it’s gone now so that’s not an option until an update fixes the issue (if possible). but it turns out that it’s not easy to get the sensor values from within the Alexa app’s capabilities. you can only trigger a routine based on a change over a certain threshold for the temperature sensor, so without making a custom skill or something you would have to have one routine for every degree value.