Alexa & BinaryLight Polling Shows Unresponsive But On/Off Actions Work

[polskikrol]

Anyone ever have issues with Alexa showing device as “unresponsive”? I am able to control the lights (tried both Category 2 and 3 w/ Subcategory 0) but they show up as being “unresponsive” when Alexa tries to poll. I also have dimmers from the same company (GE/Jasko) and these setup as type Dimmable instead of type BinaryLight work just fine. Any ideas?

[delbz]

I have the same problem with my kitchen lights switch but not outside lights - and they both use the same model in-wall smart switch. Annoying.

[polskikrol]

There was a pretty big Alexa update for the iPhone today, but alas no fix for our issue. I tried to also remove the 2 problematic binary switches for the light, and re-adding with both 2/0 and 3/0 combinations for the category and subcategory. No luck with either approach. Im going to guess the issue is with the Vera plugin for the Alexa iPhone or the method in which they perform the API integration.

[polskikrol]

So I tried to redefine the light as type “switch” and “dimmable” as per the category options. Have tried a few subcategories as well. Deleted and rediscovered via Amazon Alexa app using Vera plugin. Still same symptoms. Only thing I can fathom is the polling code for the defined device type. Even though the device is a binary light, still shows up to Amazon Alexa as a dimmable light. Using the Vera app, it shows up correctly as a “non dimmable” light. Anyone have any ideas?

[polskikrol]

@Sorin I have already discussed this issue with Amazon Alexa support. Given all of my testing, this appears to be an issue with the Vera plugin for Amazon Alexa. Essentially, dimmers work fine in both the Vera iPhone app and Amazon Alexa, however, binary lights to not work properly in Amazon Alexa. They do work fine on the Vera app. In Amazon Alexa, the devices are controllable, however, polling does not work. Device always shows as ‘unresponsive’, I deployed these devices using the official ‘Jasco In-Wall Smart Switch’ deployment template and wizard. Can some investigation be put into this on your end? Perhaps a fix for this, and the issue with device icons as mentioned by @rigpapa can be fixed in the next firmware version?

[casita24]

Hey there,

I found a almost similar post about your topic and the answer is:

@shady.hamilton

that is one of the problems of the plug in, a lot of people are facing the same problem. i spent a looooong time with the support, at the end they tell you its an internet connection problem.
the real problem is not the internet speed or quality, the problem is the way they designed the plug in, when you ask Alexa the order will go to alexa servers then to Vera servers then to your local vera and your Alexa, which is taking obviously very loooong time, the proper way is to communicate locally like Philips Hue.

Hope I could help!

Best wishes,
casita24

[polskikrol]

Issue could also be with the method in which some of the GE/Jasko devices communicate… some require regular polling while others use notifications (from what I have been able to gather). So there may be some code issue with this polling… its strange though, since my GE/Jasko dimmers update within 60s of a change (when it is eventually polled by Vera) but not the regular light switches. Those just keep showing as unresponsive in Alexa.