EvoControl - custom Alexa skill for Evohome

[radar2016]

I'm afraid I have no control over what Honeywell shows you on this page as it's 'theirs' and not mine in any way. During the beta last year, people sent me screenshots with whole lists of thermostats on this page, while when I go there it only shows one. Who knows why there's such a difference.

You could just try and choose that one and see what happens (it may be just the wrong name but still point to your current system).

Otherwise, try to delete the location by logging into https://international.mytotalconnectcomfort.com, selecting your location to show it, and choosing 'delete location' in red at the bottom left. Then re-add your current location. The whole process takes a minute.

Thank you I got it removed now I have it working on my AMAZON FIRE HD10 tablet under Show simulation

[philchillbill]

Thank you I got it removed now I have it working on my AMAZON FIRE HD10 tablet under Show simulation

Good to hear. I think you may be the first user reporting using a Fire10 for EvoControl. If any of the screens have a bad layout please PM me screenshots so I can correct the visuals. They were created in a simulator but that may not be perfect.

As a matter of curiosity, does the tablet allow a skill to remain open indefinitely (like an 'appliance')?

[radar2016]

Good to hear. I think you may be the first user reporting using a Fire10 for EvoControl. If any of the screens have a bad layout please PM me screenshots so I can correct the visuals. They were created in a simulator but that may not be perfect.

As a matter of curiosity, does the tablet allow a skill to remain open indefinitely (like an 'appliance')?

I only have the initial screen at the moment and it needs re-awoken after a few minutes "ALEXA open SMART HEAT" and needs the power plugged in.
I have too many conflicting names at the moment with lights and sockets, I will have to watch your videos now to get all the functions and things working myECHO SHOW is one of the small ones

[radar2016]

Good to hear. I think you may be the first user reporting using a Fire10 for EvoControl. If any of the screens have a bad layout please PM me screenshots so I can correct the visuals. They were created in a simulator but that may not be perfect.

As a matter of curiosity, does the tablet allow a skill to remain open indefinitely (like an 'appliance')?

I may have missunderstood you ,while EVOCONTROL does not stay open indefinitely the tablet remains on SHOW simulation permanently

[philchillbill]

I may have missunderstood you ,while EVOCONTROL does not stay open indefinitely the tablet remains on SHOW simulation permanently

Exactly as I thought, the skill is forced to quit after a while so it does not hog the Alexa capability. Same as Echos. Thanks for reporting.

[philchillbill]

I saw in the logs that somebody generated several errors by entering an impossible AccuWeather ID for their location (looks like a UK postcode with a space in it). I've now added a check when you first type in the ID so that if AccuWeather rejects it, the ID is deleted and the whole Weather functionality is disabled for you until you sort out a correct ID.

[bruce_miranda]

This was bound to happen sooner rather than later. Getting someone to put in the AccuWeather ID is quite geeky. Most people will attempt to put in a location identifier. But then you land up having to replicate the entire AccuWeather location finder procedure. So I can see why you chose the simple technique for now.

[bruce_miranda]

Good to hear. I think you may be the first user reporting using a Fire10 for EvoControl. If any of the screens have a bad layout please PM me screenshots so I can correct the visuals. They were created in a simulator but that may not be perfect.

As a matter of curiosity, does the tablet allow a skill to remain open indefinitely (like an 'appliance')?

The skill doesn't stay displayed unfortunately. This was one of the first things I tried. If it did, I would have ripped out the iPad from the wall and replaced it with my Fire HD 10 Plus.

[jweaver]

I keep having a problem with the Echo (not Show).. I can't reproduce it, but it happens regularly..

When you launch Smart Heat it should say "Say an EvoControl Smart Heat Command"... But occasionally (after saying a command) when you launch Smart Heat she says "please say a valid zone name". And from here you can't really do much other than go with it (i.e say "Study" and then follow her instructions).

This doesn't happen every time.. But often enough for me to know it wasn't a one off.

Has anyone else seen this?

[Midland45]

I keep having a problem with the Echo (not Show).. I can't reproduce it, but it happens regularly..

When you launch Smart Heat it should say "Say an EvoControl Smart Heat Command"... But occasionally (after saying a command) when you launch Smart Heat she says "please say a valid zone name". And from here you can't really do much other than go with it (i.e say "Study" and then follow her instructions).

This doesn't happen every time.. But often enough for me to know it wasn't a one off.

Has anyone else seen this?

Yes, I think it’s when it’s failed to launch the Smart Heat skill and the standard Honeywell Evohome skill has been launched. Only happens for me very occasionally, probably due to mispronunciation, ambient noise, momentary processing glitches etc etc…..

[jweaver]

Yes, I think it’s when it’s failed to launch the Smart Heat skill and the standard Honeywell Evohome skill has been launched. Only happens for me very occasionally, probably due to mispronunciation, ambient noise, momentary processing glitches etc etc…..

I didn't know there was another App... That could explain it for sure..

[philchillbill]

Yes, I think it’s when it’s failed to launch the Smart Heat skill and the standard Honeywell Evohome skill has been launched. Only happens for me very occasionally, probably due to mispronunciation, ambient noise, momentary processing glitches etc etc…..

In that case the SH error message would be different and more like "I can't set Bathroom to that" or "You don't have a device called Bathroom".

A response of "please say a valid zone name" is definitely coming from EvoControl. It just means that when the skill parsed your utterance, the {Zone} slot as extracted did not fuzzy-match to one of your TCC zones. Can indeed happen due to environmental noise or poor elocution.

An easy fix is to just say "cancel" — then there's no need to "go" with the command.

[jweaver]

Whats the best thing to do with Evocontrol over the Summer? Can you send an 'off' command that will work for months? Or activate 'standby' perhaps?

Or is it better to activate "off" from the Quick Action on the Evohome itself?

[G4RHL]

Whats the best thing to do with Evocontrol over the Summer? Can you send an 'off' command that will work for months? Or activate 'standby' perhaps?

Or is it better to activate "off" from the Quick Action on the Evohome itself?

My schedule works fine most of the year so I don’t change it much or switch off. If it gets cold enough to want it on, we would want it on. Mostly it is off because of the ambient conditions.

[jweaver]

My schedule works fine most of the year so I don’t change it much or switch off. If it gets cold enough to want it on, we would want it on. Mostly it is off because of the ambient conditions.

Thats a good point... But I find in Summer that I want it cooler than I do in the Winter.. So where as 20 degrees in the winter would feel positively cold.. In the summer it would be welcome.. So I tend to like to turn the temperatures down in the summer as my tolerance towards heat seems to change.