Alexa no longer discovering Indigo installed/managed devices

Hi there -

My Alexa control stopped working as well.
So as suggested on this thread I bought an old Gen 1 Dot on eBay.

- Unplugged all other, newer, Alexa devices
- Deleted all my discovered Insteon devices via the Alexa iOS app
- Set up the Gen 1 Alexa and had it 'Discover Devices'

BOOM! Everything worked again. With a little trepidation I plugged my newer Alexas back in, they came online and I was pleasantly surprised that they now work as well.

Not the ideal fix, but relatively cheap and painless to live with in the meantime.

[jay (support)]

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?

Yes. Running both an Insteon hub and a PowerLinc, both of which believe themselves to be the single authority in terms of central control, will undoubtedly cause synchronization issues. Some people do it - but it's likely that one of the other is going to get out of sync with reality (show lights on when not, incorrect thermostat information, etc). Some Insteon devices, like the thermostat, "remember" the last controller that it's synced with and will only send status update information to that controller (for instance).

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?

Yes. Running both an Insteon hub and a PowerLinc, both of which believe themselves to be the single authority in terms of central control, will undoubtedly cause synchronization issues. Some people do it - but it's likely that one of the other is going to get out of sync with reality (show lights on when not, incorrect thermostat information, etc). Some Insteon devices, like the thermostat, "remember" the last controller that it's synced with and will only send status update information to that controller (for instance).

Thanks Jay, I’m not to worried about sync more than having my Alexa back up and running. I am going to try a couple other things first, but now that my wife has had Alexa running the house for 3 years she is upset that alexa is not working. Worst case I just need to keep it going until you guys have a skill built which I hear is high on the priority list but with a lot of backend work. Keep up the great work!


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[jay (support)]

Just note that the Insteon Alexa skill may not work if the Insteon Hub thinks a light is on when in reality it's off (you say turn on XXX light and nothing happens because the hub thinks it's already on).

I had a similar question. I was thinking about re-installing my ISY controller and then moving my PLM over to the ISY controller. Then enabling the Alexa interface on the ISY controller and enabling the ISY bridge plugin on indigodomo. I have a few of questions:

1) Is the ISY bridge bi-directional, i.e. if a light is turned on, does the ISY controller tell Indigo domo, via the bridge, that the device is on
2) Assuming yes, is the status update instantaneous
3) Has anyone already done this and are they willing to share any battle scares

I see 2 advantages to this approach:

1) I would get alexa support back
2) It would put a layer of abstraction between the hardware and the automation engine, so that, if i chose to, i could more easily switch automation engines or even run two automation engines side by side and point both of them at the same ISY controller

As this thread has now grown to 14 pages forgive me if I'm asking a repeat question.

Current Alexa support is only through the Hue plugin, correct? However, This is non-functional with Alexa firmware updates. I had this working with lights and obviously, I'm down now. But, even when it was working, it was only for lights, correct? I've added a z-wave thermostat and the HomeBridge plugin works great to see it in Apple's Home app but I don't think the current Alexa plugin supported thermostats, correct?

If so, I assume the work Matt and Jay are doing to bring Alexa support online will add more than just lights?


(as a side note, I had all iDevices thermostats that supported Homekit and Alexa directly but I'm changing them to z-wave. I have found wifi devices simply suck for home automation. I have a strong wifi mesh network in my house, but I would have regular problems with any of the wifi devices. thermostats, plugs. Any of them. I've moved back to Indigo with Insteon, z-wave and plugins for Lutron and other devices. So far, it's been far better.)

Mark

As this thread has now grown to 14 pages forgive me if I'm asking a repeat question. ...

No problem with asking for an update.

The Alexa-Hue Bridge plugin (to give it its full name) emulates a Philips Hue Hub for Lamp devices. Therefore, you are correct in that Alexa thinks it is turning on / turning off / dimming a light.

However, the plugin doesn't limit you to lights, it supports any device that can be switched on or off. Defining Actions to the plugin for on / off / dimming means that you can expand the number of things you can do with the plugin.

The recent firmware updates to Amazon Echos and Echo Dots have resulted in the plugin being unable to communicate with Alexa. This is primarily due to the fact that the plugin Alexa-Hue Bridge devices are setup with individual ports e.g. 8178, 8179 etc. Whilst the older working firmware responded back to the appropriate port, the newer firmware always responds on port 80. So far efforts to try and reroute this port 80 response have failed and a solution doesn't look close.

The current work-around which seems to work for most users is to have a Gen 1 Echo (not plus) or Gen 1 Echo Dot (rotating volume control on top - not four buttons) on the network. I think the legacy and discontinued Amazon tap might work? Users have been sourcing these from ebay and other well known sites.

The medium to longer term solution is to write an Amazon Alexa Skill to support Indigo and I would anticipate this being able to support the majority (if not all) Indigo devices. Jay has already advised that this is a high priority once Indigo 7.4 is bedded down. However, more work is required on the Indigo back-end to support this and the Skill has to be written.

Hopefully this will give you enough of an update.

I have exciting news. I was able to get the gen 1 echo to work. After creating a second amazon account to start over from scratch, the gen 1 found still not discover any devices. I decided to dig into the plugin settings. Originally I had the “override host up address” checked and the address of my indigo server entered. I also had “non echo filter” selected. I unchecked both of these, reloaded the plugin, asked the gen 1 to do a discovery and voila, all my devices are back.


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Once the Catalina OS upgrade was done, Indigo seems to be fine, but since all my commands to Echo devices result in "xdevice is not responding", I can only assume that something has happened to the connection between the Indigo Server 7.4 and the Alexa-Hue Bridge v3. This plugin may longer be supported, and if so, my apologies, but I'm not sure what, if anything has replaced it. I'm pretty dependent on Echo devices for home control via Indigo.

I have read through this thread and there are so many thoughts, ideas, and procedures to possibly restore functionality of the Alexa-Hue Bridge, if that is what this thread is about. I have a 1st generation Echo, but this thread speaks of unplugging all other echo devices (I have about 15) and trying to use the Echo V1 to restore functionality, via discovery. Is that what it takes, unplugging all Echo devices and then using a solo Echo Gen 1 to discover my Indigo devices?

Before I take to ripping out power adapters from all of my devices, can someone offer me the minimalist process that will actually get my Alexa-Hue Bridge back in communication with my Indigo devices?

Thanks!

I noticed that in the Alexa-Hue Bridge configuration that the "Discovery Permanently On" seems to turn discovery off and that "on for 10 minutes" seems to turn it on. Is the problem that people are having, that Echo speaks "Devicename is not responding. Please check its power supply..."? Is that the manifestation that this thread title is about?

I tried enabling discovery for 10 minutes and then tried to do discovery from my Echo Gen 1, but it "No new devices were discovered" and commands to Indigo devices still result in Devicename is not responding. Please check its power supply..."

I have exciting news. I was able to get the gen 1 echo to work. After creating a second amazon account to start over from scratch, the gen 1 found still not discover any devices. I decided to dig into the plugin settings. Originally I had the “override host up address” checked and the address of my indigo server entered. I also had “non echo filter” selected. I unchecked both of these, reloaded the plugin, asked the gen 1 to do a discovery and voila, all my devices are back.

Thanks for the update and good to hear you are back up and running.

You make an interesting point about the Non-Echo filter setting.

From the setting notes, it says:

Enable the non-Echo Filter to filter out network traffic that doesn't come from an Echo. If you enable this, YOU MUST DEFINE INDIGO ECHO DEVICES to refect the Echos you have in use, otherwise the plugin won't receive any messages from the Echos as it won't know about them. Using the filter will reduce the network load on the plugin and may help to make it run more effectively.

So if a user is using this setting and acquires a new Gen 1 Echo then they must add in an Indigo Echo device so that the plugin knows about it otherwise it will ignore it. Probably the safest thing is not to have this setting enabled while trying to sort out discovery and use problems.

Thanks for the heads-up on this.

Hi Sarah,

.. Before I take to ripping out power adapters from all of my devices, can someone offer me the minimalist process that will actually get my Alexa-Hue Bridge back in communication with my Indigo devices?

The plugin is supported but as it is based on reverse engineered code, it is and has been at the mercy of changes being made on the Alexa side. This is what has happened with the newer Echo / Echo Dots. If you look at this post (only back a few posts), it gives the current state of play: https://forums.indigodomo.com/viewtopic.php?p=182776#p182776

I am running the latest version of the Alexa-Hue Bridge plugin on Catalina using a mixture of Echo devices (including a Gen 1 Echo) and it is working fine. So, we should hopefully be able to get you working again.

Given that you have a Gen 1 Echo, my first suspicion would be that there might be some sort of network related issue - something changed when compared to your previous OS version?

It would be useful to know what type of Echos and what their firmware levels are.

Check the point I just responded to in my previous post in this thread on the Non-Echo filter setting.

If any network investigation doesn't bear fruit, you could try deleting all your Alexa devices via the Amazon web interface (by forgetting them).
Reload the plugin and then run a discovery.

I have also found that you may have to kick-start Alexa i.e. you ask her to turn on a device and she responds that device is not responding etc. Ask her again and it now works. I have found this only happens once.

Thank you for the update. I will see if I can dig up a gen 1 echo for now. Will probably be the easy part. Explaining to my wife why we need an 8th echo in the house will be more of a challenge.......

Mark

As this thread has now grown to 14 pages forgive me if I'm asking a repeat question. ...

No problem with asking for an update.

setting.

If any network investigation doesn't bear fruit, you could try deleting all your Alexa devices via the Amazon web interface (by forgetting them).
Reload the plugin and then run a discovery.

Jon,

I’m not aware of any network change and I definitely did nothing other than the Catalina OS upgrade.

With regard to your ‘reload the plugin’, are you speaking of removing and reinstalling the Alexa-Hue Bridge? Some of the things discussed in this thread refer to creating another Amazon account and unplugging all the Echo devices, except the Echo Gen 1. That makes zero sense to me. I did delete all of the devices at the Amazon Echo site, and ran discovery from the Echo Gen 1 and it found all my Echo and Ring devices, but none of the emulated Hue devices. I just use Indigo Touch to do manual control of my Indigo devices (mostly Insteon and a couple of Z-wave).

I have found nothing that works so far and I do not have any context for the “non echo filtering’, nor have I found any reference to that in the plugin configuration. After using the Alexa Hue Bridge to integrate Echo into Indigo for several years, I appear to have undone that integration with a MacOS upgrade.

I think that using an Insteon Hub, integrating my Z-Wave door locks into my Ring alarm, and abandoning Indigo might be a way to have a stable home control system. I really don’t want to dump Indigo, since it has so much flexibility, connectivity (through Reflector) and expand ability, but I also have a significant Amazon Echo infrastructure. I have a few devices that have native Alexa support and they are immune to the problem of the Alexa-Indigo integration .

I have really enjoyed using the Alexa-Hue Bridge plugin and I thank you for your efforts in developing it. It has been a reliable cog in my home control system.

setting.

If any network investigation doesn't bear fruit, you could try deleting all your Alexa devices via the Amazon web interface (by forgetting them).
Reload the plugin and then run a discovery.

Jon,

I’m not aware of any network change and I definitely did nothing other than the Catalina OS upgrade.

With regard to your ‘reload the plugin’, are you speaking of removing and reinstalling the Alexa-Hue Bridge? Some of the things discussed in this thread refer to creating another Amazon account and unplugging all the Echo devices, except the Echo Gen 1. That makes zero sense to me. I did delete all of the devices at the Amazon Echo site, and ran discovery from the Echo Gen 1 and it found all my Echo and Ring devices, but none of the emulated Hue devices. I just use Indigo Touch to do manual control of my Indigo devices (mostly Insteon and a couple of Z-wave).

I have found nothing that works so far and I do not have any context for the “non echo filtering’, nor have I found any reference to that in the plugin configuration. After using the Alexa Hue Bridge to integrate Echo into Indigo for several years, I appear to have undone that integration with a MacOS upgrade.

I think that using an Insteon Hub, integrating my Z-Wave door locks into my Ring alarm, and abandoning Indigo might be a way to have a stable home control system. I really don’t want to dump Indigo, since it has so much flexibility, connectivity (through Reflector) and expand ability, but I also have a significant Amazon Echo infrastructure. I have a few devices that have native Alexa support and they are immune to the problem of the Alexa-Indigo integration .

I have really enjoyed using the Alexa-Hue Bridge plugin and I thank you for your efforts in developing it. It has been a reliable cog in my home control system.

I felt the same way and I tried creating a second alazon account and starting from scratch. When that didn’t work, I bought an Insteon hub and was about to do the same thing your talking about but as a last ditch effort, I went in to the the Alexa hue bridge plugin configuration (plugins tab-> click on the Alexa hue bridge plugin-> click configuration) and unchecked all the boxes. Once I did that then reloaded the plugin (plugins tab-> click on the Alexa hue bridge plugin-> click reload). After that with all 16 of my echo devices unplugged and just the gen 1 plugged in I had the gen 1 echo run the discover devices and they all showed up. I am now back up and running again. Good luck!


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