Australian Vera skill

Other Devices & Integrations Voice Assistants
41

[quote=“HSD99, post:40, topic:198394”][quote=“dJOS, post:39, topic:198394”]Ok so the new Vera skill works great!!! It definitely has slightly lower latency than my previous solution (HA-Bridge) and now I ca control my Nest’s using Alexa via Vera too!

However I’ve found an issue, my Vera and Echo’s are all configured to use Metric (you know the base 10 system that actually makes sense) … but my Nest Temps show as Fahrenheit in the Alexa App. I can still issue temp changes in metric, without specifying Celsius, but it’d be nice if the set-point was in the correct format.

oh and I have a question, I excluded a couple of devices during initial Vera Control skill setup, how do I add them back in later on if I want to? NVM, I found the Manage Alexa options.[/quote]
Actually, for humans, Fahrenheit makes more sense. Here’s why:

Faherenheit

0 - pretty cold 100 - pretty hot

Celsius

0 - kinda cold 100 - dead

Kelvin

0 - dead 100 - dead

;)[/quote]

I was referring more to the length, distance etc measurements, they make no sense at all compared to Metric in which everything is multiples of 10. 8)

However in Temperature, 0 Celsius = equals water freezing (aka known as bl@@dy cold) so that makes sense, and 100 Celsius = water boiling, so that also makes a lot of sense. 100F is just silly because here in Straya’ we spend huge chunks of our Summer, here in the southern States, well over 110F or 44c - using Fahrenheit just seems a bit melodramatic! ;D

42

[quote=“dJOS, post:41, topic:198394”][quote=“HSD99, post:40, topic:198394”][quote=“dJOS, post:39, topic:198394”]Ok so the new Vera skill works great!!! It definitely has slightly lower latency than my previous solution (HA-Bridge) and now I ca control my Nest’s using Alexa via Vera too!

However I’ve found an issue, my Vera and Echo’s are all configured to use Metric (you know the base 10 system that actually makes sense) … but my Nest Temps show as Fahrenheit in the Alexa App. I can still issue temp changes in metric, without specifying Celsius, but it’d be nice if the set-point was in the correct format.

oh and I have a question, I excluded a couple of devices during initial Vera Control skill setup, how do I add them back in later on if I want to? NVM, I found the Manage Alexa options.[/quote]
Actually, for humans, Fahrenheit makes more sense. Here’s why:

Faherenheit

0 - pretty cold 100 - pretty hot

Celsius

0 - kinda cold 100 - dead

Kelvin

0 - dead 100 - dead

;)[/quote]

I was referring more to the length, distance etc measurements, they make no sense at all compared to Metric in which everything is multiples of 10. 8)

However in Temperature, 0 Celsius = equals water freezing (aka known as bl@@dy cold) so that makes sense, and 100 Celsius = water boiling, so that also makes a lot of sense. 100F is just silly because here in Straya’ we spend huge chunks of our Summer, here in the southern States, well over 110F or 44c - using Fahrenheit just seems a bit melodramatic! ;D[/quote]

I’m a physicist so I agree 100% with the ease of use of metric units of measure, and C for scientific temperature measurement. I live in the Pacific Northwestern US, and winter temperatures in some areas are far below Fahrenheit zero in winter and well above 100F in summer. The scale of Fahrenheit is more human friendly as you have to get really cold before you have negative temperatures, and a temperature over 100 conveys the message that it’s really hot. It’s totally about the drama! ;D

43

I’ve got a wife and daughter so I already have all the drama I need in my life. ;D

44

The Alexa app has settings of its own regarding Fahrenheit or Celsius, under This Device.

Please check to see if it’s set to Celsius.

Thanks.

45

[quote=“mios.toddbt, post:44, topic:198394”]The Alexa app has settings of its own regarding Fahrenheit or Celsius, under This Device.

Please check to see if it’s set to Celsius.

Thanks.[/quote]

I hate to be snarky, but If you read my post you’d know this is the case for every echo. It was the first thing I checked.

46

I’m just trying to help, i don’t mind.

What i’m saying is that Alexa has the list of all the physical devices ( Echo’s ), but the Alexa App itself is considered as a separate Alexa Device and has its own settings.

If not, i am mistaken and i will get to fix it ASAP.

47

[quote=“mios.toddbt, post:46, topic:198394”]I’m just trying to help, i don’t mind.

What i’m saying is that Alexa has the list of all the physical devices ( Echo’s ), but the Alexa App itself is considered as a separate Alexa Device and has its own settings.

If not, i am mistaken and i will get to fix it ASAP.[/quote]

All good, I try to be as precise as possible to avoid obvious questions as I’m quite technically competent (ex server admin).

We are behind on the app version etc here in Straya’ so the app doesn’t have the voice functionality and isn’t counted as a “Device” in the physical device list.

48

Why did I change to the Australian skill, knowing that it could all fall over…and it has with devices not responding.
Changing back to US doesn’t work either so now I have no VC at all while CS tries to find out why I have no local log in.
In the space of a few clicks I’ve gone from a system that worked but wasn’t accessible, to a system that doesn’t respond.
Change with caution is all I can add…

49

[quote=“zedrally, post:48, topic:198394”]Why did I change to the Australian skill, knowing that it could all fall over…and it has with devices not responding.
Changing back to US doesn’t work either so now I have no VC at all while CS tries to find out why I have no local log in.
In the space of a few clicks I’ve gone from a system that worked but wasn’t accessible, to a system that doesn’t respond.
Change with caution is all I can add…[/quote]

My Vera Plus system is working perfectly today using the Aussie Vera skill - perhaps something else is causing your issues?

50

Yay! WooHoo, Alexa just turned on the kitchen light.

51

That prompted me to try my Kitchen Lights.
Image my surprise that it now works.

52

[quote=“zedrally, post:51, topic:198394”]That prompted me to try my Kitchen Lights.
Image my surprise that it now works.[/quote]

Awesome, maybe it just needed time to sync up?

53

Ive read somewhere lots of people were having issues with scenes not working?

It seems when i add ‘Groups’ in Alexa, it stops the scenes from working, Alexa always says “Sorry, that command does not work for that device”, I delete everything rediscover the devices, all works again… Until i re-add a group…

Does anybody know anything about this?

Cheers,
Mr Joshua.

54

[quote=“MrJoshua, post:53, topic:198394”]Ive read somewhere lots of people were having issues with scenes not working?

It seems when i add ‘Groups’ in Alexa, it stops the scenes from working, Alexa always says “Sorry, that command does not work for that device”, I delete everything rediscover the devices, all works again… Until i re-add a group…

Does anybody know anything about this?

Cheers,
Mr Joshua.[/quote]

Today the Alexa integration is flaky as hell!

Im getting devices randomly “refusing to respond” according to my echo’s but they work perfectly thru both the Alexa and Vera mobile apps.

e.g. last night my nests wouldn’t “respond” at all to voice commands and the vera scene I use to set them to overnight temps was failing - but then they were fine after rebooting my Vera Plus.

This morning however I had a couple of Z-wave devices not responding to Alexa voice commands, but once again working perfectly in both the Alexa and Vera mobile apps. ???

EDIT: but now everything seems fine again after a Vera Plus reboot.

55

unusually, I don’t have a problem, the demon appears to be exorcised?
Not sure if I like the Aussie accent but I had better be careful just in case Alexa gets testy !

56

[quote=“zedrally, post:55, topic:198394”]unusually, I don’t have a problem, the demon appears to be exorcised?
Not sure if I like the Aussie accent but I had better be careful just in case Alexa gets testy ![/quote]

Yeah seems to be fine now … very odd!

I’ve gotten used to the “Aussie” accent now and so has the family - maybe they’ve toned it down since launch as it was pretty rubbish to start with.

57

HI Vera , I am trying to enable the Alexa skill but when linking my account in the app, it says that I don’t have an account, I am using my login that I have had for ages.
regards Dene

58

I live in New Zealand so my “local” region is Australia now Amazon/Alexa is there I guess.

I’ve got 2 Echo Dots, 1 Ecobee4 Smarth Therostat (with Alexa built in) and a VeraPlus.

Currently I have my Amazon account still set to US but both Echos are set to Australian Voice. The Ecobee4, since not officially released outside the US, can not be changed from the default US voice (which is pretty annoying as it’s no where near as good at interpreting me as the Dots due to the Australian voice recognition!).

Anyway, real question is, what’s the benefit of switching my Amazon account to AU now that the AU Vera Skill is available? Anything? I already have skills from Stuff.co.nz and somewhat accurate weather reporting that must have been released to the US Alexa store. Is there a way to get a list of skills in each regions store?

Also not 100% sure what the Ecobee4 would think of the change of region either but that’s another issue for another day =/