5 weeks.
So what's been happening since our update last week ?.
Well actually nothing!. OK, I appreciate that does not make for very exciting reading but it's certainly what anyone would want from a heating system so from that perspective I've got no complaints.
Evohome has just been quietly doing it's thing, happy days. It's working a little harder in the mornings now its' a lot colder outside but that's about all there is to report.
Alexa is getting quite a lot of use to nudge the lounge temperature up a few degrees in the evenings but the process remains simple and reliable, in fact so reliable it puts some other Alexa commands to shame (as some are less reliable). We introduced a new Echo to test out the latest amazon hardware this week, we were not that impressed but that's a different story and too far off topic for this blog. I will just say the new shorter Echo is more an up sell for the dot rather than a cheaper option for the original echo especially for anyone that wants to use it for music.
One of the new Alexa features introduced this week is contextual awareness so Alexa devices know which room they are in. This is done via the Alexa app by simply placing the Echo / Dot into the room group.
For lights this means you can simply say "Alexa turn on the lights" and they will come on in the room you're in (removing the need for the slightly longer "Alexa turn on the lounge lights" (or whatever room you wanted)). This also works for dimming the lights or changing their colour (depending what automation system you're running). It's not that different in terms of syntax but does feel a lot more natural.
So how does this relate to Evohome?, well we were keen to see if this feature would work with the temperature reporting / changing commands. At this point in time even with the related Evohome zone dropped into the correct Alexa group you can't use this short cut. If you say "Alexa set the temperature to 20 degrees" she will response with "I found more than one thermostat in your account, please try again and let me know which thermostat to check". Hence you'll still need to use the room name.
Maybe it's going to be a future tweak to the system, I can feel a tweet coming on......
We've had no more connectivity issues with the app this week so if I had to guess I'm assuming the issues were something to do with things at the Honeywell end, not that I'll ever find out as keeping with the theme of nothing happening Honeywell have made zero progress answering my question.
They have also been consistent at doing precisely nothing to progress the question of Alexa being able to report the hot water temperature, again I've chased it up and again I've been told someone will get back to me, and then nothing. Perhaps they are hoping that having spent a not insignificant amount of money on one of their products I'll get bored and vanish into the distance and stop asking the question. Who know's I might, but for now I'm enjoying seeing how many times I'll get thanked for "reaching out" and be assured someone will get back to me. For such a simple question about a standard feature to take so long to answer really quite poor, I would have expected better.
I have to say the technical installation help (used by our installer due to a complexity with our system) was excellent but the consumer side really does seem to be lacking, that's a shame as it takes the polish off the user experience and becomes a caveat for anyone thinking about recommending Evohome to anyone over the miriad of other choices in the market place which seem to be growing on a daily basis.
We do also still have the hot water actuator issue but that's partly my fault as I've not had time to chase it up.
Our over all experience is still very positive and we've already recommended the system to a few people and will continue to do so. Our wish list is now just to resolve the niggles.
blog done it's time to relax "Alexa, set the temperature to 22 degrees".............................." I found more than one.......", BUGGER!!!!, having two ways to control the devices in a room is going to take a bit of getting used to!.
If you have any questions about the system or anything you'd like covering please leave a note in the comments.
So what's been happening since our update last week ?.
Well actually nothing!. OK, I appreciate that does not make for very exciting reading but it's certainly what anyone would want from a heating system so from that perspective I've got no complaints.
Evohome has just been quietly doing it's thing, happy days. It's working a little harder in the mornings now its' a lot colder outside but that's about all there is to report.
Alexa is getting quite a lot of use to nudge the lounge temperature up a few degrees in the evenings but the process remains simple and reliable, in fact so reliable it puts some other Alexa commands to shame (as some are less reliable). We introduced a new Echo to test out the latest amazon hardware this week, we were not that impressed but that's a different story and too far off topic for this blog. I will just say the new shorter Echo is more an up sell for the dot rather than a cheaper option for the original echo especially for anyone that wants to use it for music.
One of the new Alexa features introduced this week is contextual awareness so Alexa devices know which room they are in. This is done via the Alexa app by simply placing the Echo / Dot into the room group.
For lights this means you can simply say "Alexa turn on the lights" and they will come on in the room you're in (removing the need for the slightly longer "Alexa turn on the lounge lights" (or whatever room you wanted)). This also works for dimming the lights or changing their colour (depending what automation system you're running). It's not that different in terms of syntax but does feel a lot more natural.
So how does this relate to Evohome?, well we were keen to see if this feature would work with the temperature reporting / changing commands. At this point in time even with the related Evohome zone dropped into the correct Alexa group you can't use this short cut. If you say "Alexa set the temperature to 20 degrees" she will response with "I found more than one thermostat in your account, please try again and let me know which thermostat to check". Hence you'll still need to use the room name.
Maybe it's going to be a future tweak to the system, I can feel a tweet coming on......
We've had no more connectivity issues with the app this week so if I had to guess I'm assuming the issues were something to do with things at the Honeywell end, not that I'll ever find out as keeping with the theme of nothing happening Honeywell have made zero progress answering my question.
They have also been consistent at doing precisely nothing to progress the question of Alexa being able to report the hot water temperature, again I've chased it up and again I've been told someone will get back to me, and then nothing. Perhaps they are hoping that having spent a not insignificant amount of money on one of their products I'll get bored and vanish into the distance and stop asking the question. Who know's I might, but for now I'm enjoying seeing how many times I'll get thanked for "reaching out" and be assured someone will get back to me. For such a simple question about a standard feature to take so long to answer really quite poor, I would have expected better.
I have to say the technical installation help (used by our installer due to a complexity with our system) was excellent but the consumer side really does seem to be lacking, that's a shame as it takes the polish off the user experience and becomes a caveat for anyone thinking about recommending Evohome to anyone over the miriad of other choices in the market place which seem to be growing on a daily basis.
We do also still have the hot water actuator issue but that's partly my fault as I've not had time to chase it up.
Our over all experience is still very positive and we've already recommended the system to a few people and will continue to do so. Our wish list is now just to resolve the niggles.
blog done it's time to relax "Alexa, set the temperature to 22 degrees".............................." I found more than one.......", BUGGER!!!!, having two ways to control the devices in a room is going to take a bit of getting used to!.
If you have any questions about the system or anything you'd like covering please leave a note in the comments.
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