v10.6 is out, with Alexa Integration. How?

[wkearney99]

apologies - i read too quick and/or misunderstood. thanks for the clarification.

No worries. Things are likely to get more complicated when voice comes online. How you ask for things is likely different than how you might set them up in a project.

As in, a lot of projects are going to be started with names best suited for the installation of the hardware. Calling them "Family Room Recessed Lights" works great when you're an electrician in a house that's in the bare framing stages of new construction. Especially if there's other circuits in the room stuffed into the same wall box. Especially if there's device/lighting pairing involved (LEDs and the right dimmers, etc).

But those same names might not 'roll off the tongue'. Asking "Alexa, turn on the Master Bedroom Recessed Lights" just doesn't quite work. Calling them "Master Bedroom Ceiling" makes more sense, but then you're up against what to call the light on the ceiling fan. You don't want to call it just "Master Bedroom" because that's pose conflicts with setting up a group for the room as a whole.

So, yeah, it's going to get "interesting" for a lot of larger projects...

[Lukeetal]

Can't wait to try this!

[totalcontrol]

We are very close to the release of new Amazon Alexa integration; we are in the process of completing the final steps of testing and approval. Once the skill is published through the Amazon Alexa app, we will update the forum to communicate that it is available. Please check back for updates.

As for how it needs to be set up:

1. Add at least one Amazon Alexa device to the network
2. Open the Lutron Connect App and go to the settings menu
3. Tap on Voice Integration
4. Import favorites, if desired, otherwise select continue (if you haven’t set up already)
5. If favorites are imported, verify the (default) Voice Command/Alias (change it, if necessary)
   
   1. If scenes from keypads are being selected, navigate to the desired area where the scene is located and verify that Voice Control is desired
   
   
6. Tap +Add/remove Scenes
7. Save voice integration settings
8. Using the Alexa app, enable the Lutron Connect skill
9. Ask Alexa device to “Discover smart home devices”

Ryan, we are of course, waiting for a new version of Lutron Connect app, right? I don't see Voice Recognition presently in the settings menu.

Thanks.

[Ryan Bo.]

Ryan, we are of course, waiting for a new version of Lutron Connect app, right? I don't see Voice Recognition presently in the settings menu.

Thanks.

Yes, once the Alexa skill is available the Connect App will update as well. The new version of the Connect App with Alexa integration will be version 3.0.

[Lukeetal]

Yeah! It works! I have to say Lutron's integration with Alexa is everything you would expect from Lutron and more!

The setup is super easy.
Responce time is fairly quick, seems as fast if not faster then most other IoT integration with Alexa.
Easily edited, I rushed through the setup and didn't notice some scene names were automatically changed. Such as "1 rst off " changed to just "rst". "All off" became "All". No worries though I adjusted all the voice commands and re-discovered them in Alexa in less than a minute.

Three Cheers for Lutron!!!!

[gt3mike]

A couple of things are counter-intuitive. Maybe I'm missing something?

It's only finding keypads/hybrids. It isn't finding individual dimmers. Is this by design?

On the keypads, the toggle buttons are listed as supporting "On/Off Commands" in the Lutron Connect app under Voice Integration. But the scene buttons are listed as supporting "On Command Only". So if I have an "All Off" scene, "Off" will be removed leaving "All" as the scene name. Put this together, and the command to turn OFF all of the lights is "Alexa turn ON All".

What am I missing? Is there a best practices doc of some sort that makes this more intuitive?

[Ryan Bo.]

A couple of things are counter-intuitive. Maybe I'm missing something?

It's only finding keypads/hybrids. It isn't finding individual dimmers. Is this by design?

On the keypads, the toggle buttons are listed as supporting "On/Off Commands" in the Lutron Connect app under Voice Integration. But the scene buttons are listed as supporting "On Command Only". So if I have an "All Off" scene, "Off" will be removed leaving "All" as the scene name. Put this together, and the command to turn OFF all of the lights is "Alexa turn ON All".

What am I missing? Is there a best practices doc of some sort that makes this more intuitive?

The integration with Alexa is keypad only. If you want to control a single device/load you will need to add it to a keypad button. Homeowner keypads are good for things like that.

Words like "On" and "Off" are action commands for Alexa. So if you say "Alexa turn on all on" she hears two action commands and doens't know how to handle the request.

Lutron has an app note that can help with these type of things located: http://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocum...2_and_HWQS.pdf

[gt3mike]

Words like "On" and "Off" are action commands for Alexa. So if you say "Alexa turn on all on" she hears two action commands and doens't know how to handle the request.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. My concern isn't that scenes with the words "on" and "off" are being renamed. That's easy enough to understand. My concern is that "TURN ON" is the only action available for scenes. So if the purpose of the scene is to turn OFF the lights, the action "TURN ON SCENENAME" is not intuitive at all.

I guess I need to come up with new scene names like "Goodnight" or "Dark Kitchen" for turning off the lights.

Thanks for the best practices doc.

[Ryan Bo.]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. My concern isn't that scenes with the words "on" and "off" are being renamed. That's easy enough to understand. My concern is that "TURN ON" is the only action available for scenes. So if the purpose of the scene is to turn OFF the lights, the action "TURN ON SCENENAME" is not intuitive at all.

I guess I need to come up with new scene names like "Goodnight" or "Dark Kitchen" for turning off the lights.

Thanks for the best practices doc.

I see what you are saying now sorry I misunderstood. The reason for the "on " command is even though you are turning off the lights it's still a scene you are turning on. It's just the scene happens to be turning lights off. There will be a learning curve with some of the voice commands. I noticed after a few days it starts to feel more natural. Like you said "Goodnight" is a great option for turning the lights out.

[ISaunders]

Hi Guys,

Just a couple of points on the new Alexa integration with RadioRa2. So once you have version 10.6 of the software and your RadioRa2 connect bridge working and the Lutron connect app installed, you need to install one of the Amazon Alexa products (Echo, Dot, etc). In the Alexa App, you enable the Lutron Connect skill.

Now you can begin programming. Keep in mind that the RadioRa2 -- > Alexa integration is new and very cumbersome.
You CANNOT address dimmers or switches directly. You address ONLY keypad buttons! You do this via "SCENES". This is very cumbersome and lacking and the work around right now is to create virtual or homeowner keypads and create virtual buttons (for SCENES) to control single dimmers, etc. Very messy.

Also, every single SCENE must have a unique name. So in a big house you would need "RYAN'S LIGHTS" and "RACHELS LIGHTS", rather than just LIGHTS.
I have 6 Echo Dots and even though each dot is individual and is "aware" of itself, Lutron is not. So you can't just walk into a room and say "Alex, turn on LIGHTS" you must say "Alexa, turn on Ryans Lights". If some day, Lutron could be aware of each Alexa location, that would be awesome and enable more generic commands.

Okay, so here is another issue. If your SCENE button is a TOGGLE, you can say "Alexa, turn on RYANS LIGHT", "Alexa, turn off RYANS LIGHT", but if you have a separate button for each (ON/OFF) you have to say/code something like "Alexa, turn on Ryans Light Bright", "Alexa, turn on Ryans Light Dark", the off command won't work here and each SCENE (action) must be unique. Again, very messy.

Also, there is no way to control temperature directly. It must be part of a Button Press that you've turned into a scene.

When you want to raise/lower a shade, you must say Alexa, turn on patio shade" you say it again to stop it and you say it again to go down. Unless you have 2 buttons and then you can create different SCENES.

So while this is only the beginning and I'm excited about the future, in a house with 100+ devices it becomes a nightmare trying to remember all the goofy ways things have been setup.

Almost unusable right now.

Lutron Programmers, please tell me this is only software issues and not limitations of the hardware itself.