Alexa no longer discovering Indigo installed/managed devices

What is the likelihood that someone will develop an Alexa skill that would run Insteon devices and work with indigo?

[jay (support)]

What is the likelihood that someone will develop an Alexa skill that would run Insteon devices and work with indigo?

Look at the post directly above yours...

Jay, I understand the issue with HomeKit and Apple. I was thinking more like an Alexa skill for echo devices not Apple. I have used and do still use the HomeKit Bridge plugin, although not regularly. But my echo devices are more handy than using Siri. IS there not a way to develop a skill for Alexa that talks directly to Indigo?

Doesn't the Insteon hub do that?

[matt (support)]

An Alexa Skill is what Jay is referring to above. See this post.

Thanks Matt (and Jay), I see that now. It was further up the page than I first saw. Appreciate you guys.

sorry coming to this late - but my Alexa-Hue Bridge, which was working forever, recently stopped working and will not discovery any devices. I've tried everything I've read in this forum - is the bottom line that with the updated firmware on all of my second generation Echos - that there is no current fix to get things back up and running?

... is the bottom line that with the updated firmware on all of my second generation Echos - that there is no current fix to get things back up and running?

Correct.

The only known work-around at the moment is to have a`Generation 1 Echo or Generation 1 Echo Dot on your network. Note that the Generation 1 Echo Dot has a rotating volume control on the top and the Generation 1 Echo Plus doesn't work.

Users have been buying Generation 1 devices from eBay.

Thanks for the guidance on this. I bought a 1st Gen Echo (craigslist), and am back up and running. But with two anomalies.

My process:

Removed all Insteon lights from Alexa app on the iPad (not from the Alexa web interface).
Unplugged all Echos in the house.
Plugged in the 1st Gen Echo.
Discovered all (Insteon) devices.
1st Gen Echo will control all devices.
Plugged in 2nd & 3rd Gen Echo Dots.
Echo Dots will control all devices.

Whew.

But when I unplug the 1st Gen Echo, the 2nd & 3rd Gen Echo Dots stop controlling Insteon devices. When I plug the 1st Gen back in, all Echo Dots will control all devices. Thoughts?

This is weird - when I look at "Your Skills" on the Alexa iPad app / web interface, I no long see the Philips Hue skill enabled. I see it on the available skills listing, as available to Enable. Yet I am controlling my Insteon lights with the Echos using Indigo and the Alexa Hue Bridge. Thoughts?

... But when I unplug the 1st Gen Echo, the 2nd & 3rd Gen Echo Dots stop controlling Insteon devices. When I plug the 1st Gen back in, all Echo Dots will control all devices. Thoughts?

This is weird - when I look at "Your Skills" on the Alexa iPad app / web interface, I no long see the Philips Hue skill enabled. I see it on the available skills listing, as available to Enable. Yet I am controlling my Insteon lights with the Echos using Indigo and the Alexa Hue Bridge. Thoughts?

You have to leave the Gen1 plugged in because that is the device that is communicating with the plugin - that is regardless of which Echo Dot you speak the turn on /off command to.

The Philips Hue Skill has nothing to do with the Indigo plugin. Alexa thinks it is communicating directly with a Philips Hue Hub - it isn't, its communicating with the plugin which is pretending to be a Philips Hue Hub. Hope that clears it up?

Glad you are back up and running again.

Thanks Jon! I appreciate it.

So I have read through this thread a dozen times and I still cannot get my Amazon Echos to work with the hue bridge. Here are the things I have done without success. Any Suggestions?

1. Forget all 171 devices from the Amazon Alexa Web Portal
2. Install Gen 1 Echo in my Alexa App
3. Tell Gen 1 Echo to discover devices and it only discovers 99 of them
4. Tell Gen 1 Echo to discover devices again and it cannot find any devices
5. Forget all devices in the Amazon Alexa Web Portal again
6. Unplug all amazon devices except the Gen 1 Echo
7. Tell Gen 1 Echo to discover devices again and it cannot find any devices
8. De-register Gen 1 Echo and re-register in the Alexa app
9. Tell Gen 1 Echo to discover devices again and it cannot find any devices
10. Create a new Hue bridge device to test
11. Tell Gen 1 Echo to discover devices again and it cannot find any devices.
12. Mute the Gen 1 Echo and Plugin Gen 3 Echo dot
13. Tell Gen 3 Echo Dot to discover devices again and it cannot find any devices

Additional Notes.
I have a Hue Bridge from an earlier development project that I set back up and the Amazon Alexa app was able to discover it and control it.

I'm not quite sure where to go from here. Any suggestions?

Here are some specs of my install:
Indigo Ver 7.3.1
Alexa Hue Bridge Plugin Version 3.0.35
1x Gen 1 Amazon Echo firmware 635556820
6x Gen 2 Echo Dot firmware (5x)645584020, (1x)637566720,
2x Gen 3 Echo Dot firmware (2x)2785574276
2x Gen 1 Echo Show firmware (2x)645584220

Hue Bridge Gen 2.1 running SW 1934129020

I have scanned this thread and only one other person (@neilk) has reported using firmware version 635556820 (albeit successfully).

You seem to have covered all the bases in your efforts to get it to work.

Someone else reported that moving the echo closer to the Indigo Apple Mac helped (because it wasn't going through so many hops to get to Indigo).
You haven't described your network and so I don't know how simple or complicated it is.

I presume that you have 171 devices defined across multiple Indigo Alexa-Hue Bridge devices?

Also, it would be worth reloading the plugin between each of your attempts to discover devices.

Just a few suggestions for you.

I have scanned this thread and only one other person (@neilk) has reported using firmware version 635556820 (albeit successfully).

You seem to have covered all the bases in your efforts to get it to work.

Someone else reported that moving the echo closer to the Indigo Apple Mac helped (because it wasn't going through so many hops to get to Indigo).
You haven't described your network and so I don't know how simple or complicated it is.

I presume that you have 171 devices defined across multiple Indigo Alexa-Hue Bridge devices?

Also, it would be worth reloading the plugin between each of your attempts to discover devices.

Just a few suggestions for you.

Jon, thanks for the suggestions.

-My indigo server is in my house server rack with a hardwired connection to the network which is a Ubiquiti unifi switch. from there my access point is hard wired to the same switch so I do not think it is going to be any better than if it were sitting next to the server.
- yes with the 171 devices, I have them broken up over 10 Indigo Hue bridge devices. The reason there are so many is there are virtual devices to allow for control of fan speeds and volume and speaker control in each room.

I also went back and enabled the following in the Alexa hue bridge to help with troubleshooting:
Log Discovery (log Alexa Discovery Requests)
Debugging (enable debugging options)
Debug General PRocessing
Debug Server Communications
Debug Broadcast Processing

I then go to the Gen 1 Echo and tell it to start discovery and I do not see any information in the event log regarding any of the debug options or Alexa discovery. since I am able to control a real hue bridge, I am starting to wonder if it is an issue between the Alexa device and the plugin. In some of My research online it appears to be happening with all v1 hue hubs and all hue hub emulators that were based on the V1 hub. I do not have a v1 hue hub however to confirm that hypothesis, but it if is not even communicating with indigo (no evidence in the event log) I seem to think it is more of a plugin issue, of course, I would love it to be something simple. I miss having voice integration!

.... I seem to think it is more of a plugin issue, of course, I would love it to be something simple. I miss having voice integration!

The general issue is that the updated firmware is now replying to the plugin on port 80 as opposed to the originating port of individual Alexa-He Bridge devices (which is does on the older firmware). As the plugin doesn't know about port 80 it isn't receiving the response. Efforts so far to try and re-route returning responses on port 80 to the Alexa-hue Bridge port have proven to be problematic and unsuccessful.

That said, given others success, I don't know why your Gen 1 Echo isn't working as you seem to have followed all suggestions.

.... I seem to think it is more of a plugin issue, of course, I would love it to be something simple. I miss having voice integration!

The general issue is that the updated firmware is now replying to the plugin on port 80 as opposed to the originating port of individual Alexa-He Bridge devices (which is does on the older firmware). As the plugin doesn't know about port 80 it isn't receiving the response. Efforts so far to try and re-route returning responses on port 80 to the Alexa-hue Bridge port have proven to be problematic and unsuccessful.

That said, given others success, I don't know why your Gen 1 Echo isn't working as you seem to have followed all suggestions.

Can you see any issue with using an Insteon hub 2245 to allow the amazon devices to communicate with the Insteon devices while simultaneously having the Insteon devices also connected to my indigo server by usb?


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