Big Talker TTS Intermittent

General Discussion
1

I’ve been trying to get my sound notifications setup using VLC thing but so far TTS is hit or miss…with a lot more miss than hit. I’m using Big talker smartapp to announce motion in my hallway. More times than not I get a notification that “Bigtalker couldn’t announce…etc”. On the odd occasion it works. My smartapp logs show the following:

Bunch of letters and numbers… BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || ERROR: ST Platform issue (textToSpeech)? I tried textToSpeech() twice, SmartThings wouldn’t convert/process. I give up, Sorry… _

Bunch of letters and numbers… ‎7‎:‎50‎:‎06‎ ‎PM: trace BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || Trying textToSpeech function again… _

Bunch of letters and numbers… ‎7‎:‎50‎:‎06‎ ‎PM: error BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || ERROR: ST Platform issue (textToSpeech)? com.amazonaws.AmazonServiceException: Account is not active (Service: tts; Status Code: 403; Error Code: null; Request ID: Bunch of letters and numbers…_

Bunch of letters and numbers… BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || TALK(motion) |mP| >> Hallway Clear_

.

I noticed that others were having issues with TTS back in May but that thread is listed as resolved and gone quiet.
Please help :frowning:

2

TTS is currently partially broken. Anything that other uses have used before will work. New TTS like weather or if you made a notification that other users just haven’t happened to have used won’t work. ST is aware.

just wait it out or try re wording your notifications to something others have likely used.

2 Likes
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http://status.smartthings.com

image.png2048×1536 241 KB

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4

If you have an Android device running at least OS 5.1 then you can use LANnouncer with it’s own TTS. It’s been rock solid for me.

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Thank you sir.
A wealth of information you are. About this I did not know.

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I considered using this but I already have a small NUC pc located pretty much in the center of the house. If this isn’t fixed soon I might have to try this route.

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Do you have any special settings enabled on the phone? I set this up a week ago and the phone always drops the wifi connection during sleep. I’ve tried keep alive apps and a bunch of different settings. If u click the home button on the phone that’s enough to get things going agsin. It’s a Samsung galaxy s5. It’s a shame really as it works perfectly when the phone keeps the wifi connection.

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I never let it sleep and I leave the phone plugged in all the time. I think there’s a setting to keep it awake all the time although I think you might have to turn on “developer” mode or something like that. I also run a small little clock app continuously. The clock app also allows to dim the screen to keep power requirement low and not to have a bright screen during the night. Running SmartTiles might be another option or even IP Cam.

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In your Wifi settings there should be an “advanced” section. In this section there should be an option to “Keep wifi on during sleep”. Make sure this is set to always.

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@Jimxenus I’ll see if leaving it plugged in makes a difference.

@stephack Thats the first setting I changed a week ago. After a couple hours you can’t even ping the phone.

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I just removed and reinstalled the app. All of my TTS operations stopped working.

92f704ab... 8:50:53 PM: error BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || ERROR: ST Platform issue (textToSpeech)? I tried textToSpeech() twice, SmartThings wouldn't convert/process. I give up, Sorry..
92f704ab... 8:50:53 PM: trace BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || Trying textToSpeech function again...
92f704ab... 8:50:53 PM: error BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || ERROR: ST Platform issue (textToSpeech)? com.amazonaws.AmazonServiceException: Account is not active (Service: tts; Status Code: 403; Error Code: null; Request ID: 4ba6d875-755e-11e6-808f-975692d1ee55)
92f704ab... 8:50:53 PM: trace BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || TALK(button) |mP| >> switch on 2nd floor main is off

…

92f704ab...  8:47:41 PM: error BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || ERROR: ST Platform issue (textToSpeech)? I tried textToSpeech() twice, SmartThings wouldn't convert/process. I give up, Sorry..
92f704ab...  8:47:41 PM: trace BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || Trying textToSpeech function again...
92f704ab...  8:47:41 PM: error BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || ERROR: ST Platform issue (textToSpeech)? com.amazonaws.AmazonServiceException: Account is not active (Service: tts; Status Code: 403; Error Code: null; Request ID: d9329d64-755d-11e6-b252-b19c7ae5a3d3)
92f704ab...  8:47:41 PM: trace BIGTALKER(1.1.7) || TALK(button) |mP| >> test switch is now on

All voice operations are causing errors on all smartphones in the house. Every time I press a button the phones are notifying me of the problem.

Note the status code 403. In HTTP standards, 403 is forbidden! Looks like it’s only working if YOU have previously had a voice notification and your big talker has access to it.

holy cow! I’m dead in the water without a working OAUTH.