Me no like either, and I’m glad I didn’t move to the new skill. I’m at 271 devices, with maybe half in Alexa.
Between this skill being rolled out without much in terms of release notes, and the issues and concerns people have, and the multichannel zwave issues (with Fibro devices for now) plaguing the latest hub firmware release, I can’t imagine what virtual meetings must be like for the ST guys right now.
I’ll be honest, it doesn’t seem to be any different than most of the previous rollouts. Going all the way back to the V2 hub. Things change, things break. 
Nothing new there.
I’ve been screaming for years that SmartThings desperately needs closed beta testing. With such a strong community, they would have plenty of volunteers and could easily catch problems like this. Other large IoT companies (Ring, ecobee, wyze, etc.) have functional beta programs that catch stuff. Anyway, off my soapboax…
Yes, unfortunate. I believe I was a victim of a bad release not too long ago, which helped springboard my move to zigbee, BUT, a few years ago when ST changed their zigbee implementation I got burnt there too.
Completely agree!
Not sure if anyone else has noticed.reported this already but…
While troubleshooting the 30.03 firmware (endpoint) issues I did an exclude and re-include for a couple of Fibaro Double Switch 2 devices. These were devices that were ‘lost’ by Alexa during the switch to the new skill. As they were included again, they were picked up by Alexa, announced and can now be controlled. They are using the exact same DTH as before.
I have a number of these devices that have the same issue and I would like to control. I really don’t want to have to exclude and re-include them all as it causes extra work with Webcore, Actiontiles and other things.
@Lars Does this make sense and is there a way for you to trigger Alexa to pick up my lost devices?
No that does not make sense in any way. Makes me curious though. If you PM me your Samsung account and the name of the device you re paired I would love to take a look.
@Lars was support for media players recently added? All my echo speaks devices showed up in Alexa.
Yes, we did add support for Samsung Soundbars. Echo speaks was not intended to show up so we will correct that, thanks for pointing it out.
Great catch! Didn’t notice that one.
@Lars, let me start by commending you for responding to as many people as you have. Thanks.
Now my issue: I (like others) deleted my old, and added the new not realizing there was a difference. Not relevant since the old isn’t available any more. Now I just need to fix things in the new. I think everything is working ok-ish, except I have one persistent problem.
I have a device that is both a light and a lock. It is a custom DTH for my Total Connect alarm. Basically, there are four uses:
Light On = Arm Stay
Light Off = Disarm
Lock = Arm Away
Unlock = Disarm
There are two Disarms and they are the same thing. I will never use Arm Away from Alexa, so the lock function is not necessary. All I need to do, is be able to turn it on and turn it off as a light switch (preferably with the Alexa security code feature). The old skill recognized this DTH as a Light (I don’t even remember if it recognized it as a lock too - I didn’t use it that way). The new skill only sees it as a lock.
The Metadata in the DTH read:
metadata {
definition (name: “TotalConnect Device (async)”, namespace: “Oendaril”, author: “Oendaril”) {
capability “Lock”
capability “Refresh”
capability “Switch”
attribute “status”, “string”
}
I tried moving capability “Switch”, above “Lock” thinking that would help but it did not. Alexa still only sees this device as a Lock.
Can you help me out?
Thanks,
Josh
If you never need any other SmartApp to see this device as a Lock, then you can simply try commenting out the Lock Capability.
metadata {
definition (name: “TotalConnect Device (async)”, namespace: “Oendaril”, author: “Oendaril”) {
//capability "Lock"
capability "Refresh"
capability "Switch"
attribute "status", "string"
}
Sorry, to clarify, I never need Alexa to Arm Away. There are routines I would like in SmartThings to use Arm Away. So I can’t just comment out the Lock function in the ST DTH.
For now, you could try setting up a separate virtual switch to stand as proxy for the lock. So have SmartThings lock the lock when the switch is turned off, etc. Then use Alexa to control the switch. You’ll have to have additional automations to keep the switch in sync with the lock, but it should work. Not as elegant as what you had, obviously.
I have not seen this combination before. But even if Alexa sees it as a lock and shows it as a lock in Alexa UI, cant you still say “Turn on/turn off” or does that give you an error?
If not, JDRoberts idea of using virtual switches will work.
Honestly, didn’t occur to me to try. I will try to “turn on security system” when I get home, and report back findings.
@Lars, so odd behavior. It works like you said. Despite showing as a lock, I can ask Alexa to Lock or Unlock it which Arms Away and Disarms. If I “unlock” it, it asks for a code. I can also ask Alexa to turn it on and off (like a light), which Arms Stay and Disarms it, however, it does not ask for a code to turn it off. The old version did. Is there a way to make her ask for a code to turn it off?
If this is confusing let me know and I will try to clarify.
Hi @Lars do you have any information on whether the ability to select devices you use with Alexa is going to be reinstated? Many thanks.
Hi guys,
Does anyone know how we can use the “ INTERIOR_BLIND” display category to show Blinds using the SmartThings Alexa Skill. I’m guessing it would need something to be configured in the DTH so that the Skill knows it’s a blind.
At the moment my blinds are showing as either switches or dimmers, therefore I can’t say “open the blinds” instead I say “turn off the blinds” - but it looks like with the Interior Blind category in the Alexa Discovery Interface this should now be possible:
https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/device-apis/alexa-discovery.html#display-categories
Cheers,
Guy
@Guy1992… If the only thing you are trying to accomplish is using more natural language to control your blinds via alexa, create an alexa routine with a custom phrase activating the dimmer/switch. You can even have some fun by adding additional phrase / response. I have one where I say “I’m naked” and Alexa responds with “Eeeek, to save the neighbors I am closing your blinds”.
Thanks for the tip - I think with several blinds creating routines for each blind can become a bit too much, would be great to know if the Interior Blind category can be used with the ST Skill
Edit: looks like this is something that ST need to work on for the Alexa Skill, as my device has the window shade capability in the DTH - however this doesn’t translate using the Alexa Skill.