Hi,
Having an issue with Alexa and ST turning things on and off.
I created a Scene in ST to turn on my TV a light and a fan. Alexa turns it on just fine, but will not turn it off says an error it can’t do that.
Thanks
Hmmm, I do not believe that Alexa can actually activate ST Scenes so you must have something else that Alexa is recognizing some other device in ST…
Even more, if Alexa could recognize Scenes in ST, it would be treated as a button. There is no Turn Off “Routine” in ST as of yet.
You could create a Virtual Switch and use a rule engine such as webCoRE to turn on the Scene…Again, there is no “Turn Off” so you would have to create another scene or routine to turn off.
Scenes are not practical as of yet, I still prefer using Virtual Switches and webCoRE. YMMV
An ST ‘scene’ is not a toggle switch… it cannot be turned on and off.
It is setting a ‘state’
If you want this functionality for Alexa you could create two scenes one with the devices on and one with the devices off
You could then create two routines, one for each and call the routines from a virtual switch.
Then get Alexa to turn tha switch on/off
1 Like
You may not need a virtual switch. As of a recent update, Alexa can now initiate smartthings routines as long as they only include lights and switches and thermostats.
But I haven’t tested it to see if it works with a routine that includes a scene or not.
https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/210204906-Amazon-Alexa-SmartThings-Routines
As of yesterday’s Alexa update I am now able to discover and control ST Scenes directly from Alexa without using a Routine to trigger it. For some dumb reason you cannot “forget” devices/scenes/routines directly in the mobile Alexa app so I went to alexa.amazon.com to forget all my routines replaced by scenes so that I could give my scenes the same name. Then just run a discovery and they will show up in Alexa’s app.
As others have stated, you can only launch the Scene to set things a particular way and not toggle devices in a scene on or off. If you think about it… a scene can have a mix of things being turned on and off so turning a scene on and then off would make no sense. As an example, I have a scene that is called “Getting Up” which turns off the humidifier and white noise machine, and turns on a hue light. I believe the proper way to launch this scene is “Alexa, Getting Up!” (sounds weird…) rather than “Alexa, Turn On Getting Up”. I am still in the habit of using “turn on” but I believe it is not necessary.
4 Likes
Yay… It works! 
(I sure hope ActionTiles and other SmartApps are granted access to direct Scene enumeration (discovery) and activation, @slagle 
?)
2 Likes
I second that! Will add it to HousePanel if possible.
1 Like
I created 2 Scenes in ST
TV Living Room On - Turns TV, AMP on
TV Living Room Off - Turns TV, AMP off
Had Alexa discover and found both, I tell Alexa Turn on TV Living Room On and it works. But Alexa turn off TV Living Room Off doesn’t work she responds “TV Living Room Off doesn’t support that”
In ST Scenes on the TV Living Room Off Scene under Setup Devices I have TV and AMP set to Off.
Not sure where to go from here.
Scenes can only be turned on, not off. So you would have to say
“echo, turn on TV living room off.”
Most people don’t like doing that, though, so it’s better to name the off scene something completely different that seems more natural.
For example, call your off scene “shutdown TV living room.”
Then you could say “echo, turn on shutdown TV living room” which might feel more natural.
Or you could just use a different word out together, like “echo, turn on midnight“ or “echo, turn on blackout“ or “ echo, turn on quiet time“ or whatever you find easy to say and remember. 
Edited to update now that echo has routines, you have more naming options. You can name the routine pretty much anything you want other than “turn on…” And then include in it a virtual switch that will trigger a SmartThings routine. So now you have a lot more options.
2 Likes
This is better but still the whole Scene creation process is cumbersome.
1 Like
Agree - this is why I prefer virtual momentary buttons. I made a momentary off button device that is normally on so I can tell Alexa to Turn off Television and it works. I can’t say turn on Television but I can say turn on Apple TV or turn on Stereo. The master off is Television. All is done through the Harmony device.