Speak / TTS never works. Any ideas what's wrong?

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Hi all,

I have some automations that have, as their action, the instruction to speak something. Let’s say: “Your iphone battery is low”, when it detects that the iphone battery is below 30%

So, I set it up, and tested it the first time…it worked like a charm. Twice, at random times, after that, it worked again, but, out of roughly 5 events per day, that use tts, maybe one in a week “WORKS”.

I have Google Mini speakers throughout the house.

I have tried letting it announce on just one of them (different ones, to make sure the specific unit is not faulty). I’ve tried letting it announce on a group of them (I have a “whole house” group of Google Minis, for all in the house, then I have some for certain areas etc). Same story. Once, or twice, it might work, but 95% of the time, it only goes “bling-blong” as it does just before annouuncing something, and then stops.

HA reports that “the action was run successfully”.

I have tried using:

  1. Text-to-speech (TTS) with “Say a TTS message with cloud”
  2. Text-to-speech (TTS) with “Speak”
  3. Tried the “Google translate” entity as target, with whichever speaker as well as group of speakers
  4. Tried the “Home Assistant Cloud” entity as target, with whichever speaker as well as group of speakers

Randomly, once in 20 times, it does work, all other times it just makes the bling sound for announcements but never does that actual announcement.

Please let me know what additional info I can pass on here to find help.

Also, please note, I am not using YAML. I am using only the UI. Would prefer not to HAVE to use YAML.

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Not familiar with Google speakers, but you might have to insert a short delay after the speak instruction to make time for the announcement. Used to be the case with Sonos.

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I use google speakers (4) for TTS and they work well. 49 times out of 50.

No, that is not necessary

How many do you have? I’ve read somewhere that maximum recommended is restricted to 5. I have seen som strange behavior when I have more with some speakers becoming silent.
Are the speakers original google speakers? I have one from another brand (google compatible) but causes big problem with other google speakers when connected.

Do you have a good wifi-net?

I use:
"1. Text-to-speech (TTS) with “Say a TTS message with cloud”

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Hey there folks, thanks for the replies. Much appreciated.

I have 6 actual units in different areas. All original, as far as I am aware. WiFi is good, have a mesh network that covers all devices well (again, as far as I can tell/measure).

The odd thing here is: I also used “Say a TTS message with cloud”, and it worked, for a short while,. and then…stopped. So I switched to the “SAY” option, and, again, it worked for a while. I’ve been messing with it for weeks on end, and keep having pains.

Shortly after posting this, I switched all the TTS to Google Translate for an entity (Instead of Home Assistant Cloud) and suddenly, it’s all working again …not sure how long…will see.

I am somewhat concerned about the 5 limit, as I intend still getting several more as funds allow. By my calculation, I will need about 7 more to cover everything that I wish to have covered. So I REALLY hope that limit is not the issue.

I am aware that they can apparently be paired to work as a stereo set, and that is part of my intent for three of the rooms.

I will report back here again in a few days, maybe a week or so…let’s see if it keeps working with the Google Translate entity.