So Alexa went stupid on me this morning

[JDRoberts]

I find that all of these problems seem to have to do with the smart thing/echo integration, not echo itself, with one exception.

Occasionally, Amazon adds new words to the list of reserved names that echo uses for its own controls. Once it does, it will no longer recognize that as a device name even if it used to do so.

For example, for the first six weeks of the SmartThings/echo integration I had to switch named “power” and I could say “Alexa, turn off power” and echo would tell SmartThings to turn that switch off.

Then echo used that as its own word and if you said “Turn off power” the echo itself would turn off and it wouldn’t send anything to SmartThings.

Had to change the name to “shutdown” so I say “trigger shutdown” now.

Echo Naming Quirks

Please add more as you find them. echo does not do well with device names that include numbers, like "kitchen 1." If you have a device with a name like this, and you don’t want to change it because you like having that name for your smartthings dashboard, then just put the device into an echo group of one and give it a group name that echo does like. Echo does not like the group name “everything.” Some possible alternatives include “house” or “all devices” Echo will always accept “turn on” or “switch on.” Iris has a list of 20 “basic” command formats for switches and thermostats that echo should always accept (although using a rigid command format sort of defeats the purpose of having echo’s natural language skills). But at least you could use these to test a particular prob…

But other than that, everything has been fixed by reconnecting on the SmartThings side.