Siri incorrectly controlling multiple devices in same room

Posted on
Mon Jan 07, 2019 7:55 pm
towsled offline
Posts: 32
Joined: Jul 19, 2014

Siri incorrectly controlling multiple devices in same room

I installed the HomeKit Bridge and overall love it. At first everything was working perfectly. My issue began when I added 2 lights to the same room. For instance I have an entry with a chandelier and a floor lamp. I added both and defined both as lights but named them one lamp and the other chandelier. When I ask Siri to turn on the entry room lamp it turns on the lamp and the chandelier. If I ask it to turn off the entry chandelier it works correctly. It seems to interpret the use of ‘lamp’’ as all lights is a given room. Has anyone run into this and have any guidance on how to resolve? Dan..

Posted on
Wed Jan 09, 2019 11:42 am
emmayche offline
Posts: 2
Joined: Sep 21, 2017

Re: Siri incorrectly controlling multiple devices in same ro

I suppose I'd have to ask if Siri properly interprets commands given to "entry chandelier." If so, then you might consider changing "entry lamp" to "entry torchiere" or something, re-syncing with HomeKit, and trying again.

Posted on
Wed Jan 09, 2019 5:59 pm
towsled offline
Posts: 32
Joined: Jul 19, 2014

Re: Siri incorrectly controlling multiple devices in same ro

Thanks for the reply emmayche - After quite a bit of playing around I was able to resolve the issue based on your suggestion. It seems that Siri has an issue interpreting the word 'lamp' or 'light' in the context of multiple devices in a single room despite what you name them in HomeKit. In the case of the 'entry chandelier' Siri would turn on only the chandelier when asked but when then asked to turn out the light in the same space it would turn off the light and the chandelier. In two other cases in separate rooms usage of the word 'light' or 'lamp' turned off/on all lights in the room. Adding the word 'table' or 'floor' in front of lamp seemed to do the trick.

Posted on
Sat Jan 26, 2019 11:38 am
Espressomatic offline
Posts: 73
Joined: Dec 30, 2018

Re: Siri incorrectly controlling multiple devices in same ro

Found this out last month. "Light" and "Lamp" are generic terms and if you want to distinguish you have to use a non-generic term (your chandelier) or add modifiers.

IMO, what you've found s the correct way to handle it - I haven't seen official documentation from Apple on the subject, but this goes against the recommendations of some others I've found with Homekit write-ups. So if you want to see the problem at the extreme, I've seen recommended specifically not to use modifiers and instead to rely on the room name to differentiate lights and devices. I tested this and had the (not surprising) result of Siri turning off every single light in the house with a single command "turn off the light." Not necessarily an issue for the person doing the setup as they'll know to specify the room name, but a potential issue for anyone else. Awkward even if it happens irregularly.

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