Same issue here. Sometimes Alexa does not recognized contact sensor / switch changes in smartthings. it stops working and later it does. I was going to switch the @TAustin driver to see whether the behavior is the same, but it looks like it is based on @sdbg post. Just out of curiosity are these drivers also supported by @TAustin ? I saw him post a response above but have not seen @ygerlovin post in many months
I’ve tried multiple different edge drivers from various sources including @TAustin and Yacov. At one time I thought maybe Yacov was slightly more reliable, but at this point I’m comfortable in saying that both are equally inconsistant in terms of triggering Alexa on the regular. Wondering if it might be related to the Alexa skill itself? Sometimes I notice that physical contact sensors also do not trigger Alexa despite changing in smartthings. Especially when there are multiple triggers in a short period of time. Could Alexa have an ignore period to avoid getting repeated switch updates within a short period of time?
It’s not related to a short period of time as I’ve had it happen when a switch is turned on in the morning to activate morning routines, after no activity on switches overnight. I opened a ticket with Smartthings as well, hoping that enough people opening tickets makes them have a look. This has happened occassionally / intermittently where Alexa is not triggered. Then it works for days. Then one gets ignored
You raised an interesting point that I hadn’t noticed. The virtual switch status is being updated correctly in Alexa, but for some reason the routine is not triggering. Since the Alexa routine is triggered (presumably) by the Alexa cloud, I wonder if we shouldn’t be opening tickets there as well?
1 Like
In my case, i hadn’t noticed as after a while the switch gets reset in smartthings. It’s history in smartthings does show it turn on and subsequently off. Unless there is someplace in Alexa where i can see device history, i can’t tell that Alexa ever saw the change as it turns on and a few minutes later off and the routine history shows no execution. I could alter my automation to allow me to observe in Alexa but haven’t gone there yet.
Remember that it’s not the “switch“ part of the virtual device that triggers an Alexa routine – – it’s the sensor. (at the time of this writing, Alexa Routines cannot be triggered from a switch.)
So the first thing I would check is to see whether the virtual sensor part of the device is showing as opening and closing. Maybe see if that will trigger a smartthings routine. Could be there’s been some kind of a platform change in that regard so that Alexa isn’t receiving a state trigger. 
1 Like
@JDRoberts and @sdbg - It happened again this morning. A contact sensor/switch to turn off my camera in the morning triggered but the Alexa routine did not. I appreciate the switch vs contact sensor issue which is why I implement the contact sensors, which include a switch. I don’t know how to chec the “virtual sensor part” mentioned. After this morning’s failure, I did manually open the sensor in ST and it did open in Alexa but the routine didn’t trigger. As I mentioned, it is intermittent, and after playing for a while, I got it to work again … rebooting the ST Hub almost always resolves the issue … until it happens again. I did notice that there was ST issue today causing degardation that is apparently resolved. I suppose I can cross my fingers and hope this is the root cause, as I don’t know what else to do for now … I did open a ticket with ST. Have not with Alexa as I did not know much about what I could provide them that they would investigate
1 Like
If the state of the device in ST is being reflected in Alexa, it would seem that the event and state is at least being propagated to the Alexa cloud. So, the question is why isn’t the Alexa routine being triggered? Logic says it is an Alexa issue, however, perhaps there is a problem with the event that Alexa received from the ST cloud. I’d say you could open a ticket with Alexa support and tell them you have a routine that is supposed to be triggered by the state change of a contact sensor and that it has been failing to fire when that state does change.
The other question I would have is whether the routine fires if you change the sensor state in the Alexa app vs in the ST app.
Good idea, but I don’t believe that’s possible. Alexa just treats these the same as any physical sensor, they are not actionable.
You could try changing the switch part in the Alexa app and see if the sensor state changes also.
I don’t know exactly how it works with this edge driver. In the old groovy Alexa switch DTH, you would actually see two separate devices in the Alexa app, one switch and one sensor. But I don’t know if that’s how it works in the new architecture.
For vEdge Creator, my virtual presence sensor in ST shows that it is a presence sensor with presenceSensor, switch, and contactSensor capabilities. In Alexa, it shows as just a switch and is actionable.
My other vEdge virtual devices such as contact sensor and momentary button all show as switches only in the Alexa app and are all actionable.
1 Like
All of my devices are created as contact sensors in the controller, which includes switches. they show up in Alexa as switches, but clearly contact sensor capability is there as they can be used as conditions in routines. I just tried to turn switches on and off in Alexa. The switches that have been behaving intermittently from ST changes similarly behave intermittently if the switch is turned on or off in Alexa. That is, sometimes the routine triggers and sometimes not. I can’t be sure but it seems that it is only affecting certain contact sensor/switches. on the phone now with amazon to try and open a ticket which is proving difficult. getting the “delete all your routines” and re-enter them response, which of course is ridiculous and not feasible
I posted earlier on another thread that I have no problems with 25 or so virtual switches with Alexa, but none are contact sensors, all are switches, momentary buttons, Alexa switches, locks etc…all vEdge Creator.
The 2 Third Reality contact sensors that I have are linked directly to my Echoflex have been running a bit slowly sometimes.
@Johnnybegoode mine are contact sensors. can the virtual switches be used as condition triggers in Alexa? If so, @ygerlovin is creating them with contact sensors as well, because switches cannot be used as conditions in Alexa. I just spent 1.5 hour with a customer service manager @ Amazon to demonstrate that I the routines intermittently trigger when the switch is opened and closed from within Alexa. Had to go through the whole delete the routine and re-add for them, but the same behavior occurred after the re-add.
1 Like
Just checked and yes, the contact sensor and switch both create contact sensors & switches. I have 37 of these and am only seeing the behavior on some, so I’m assuming this is luck of the draw that yours are reliably working @Johnnybegoode, unless someone else has information indicating that all contact switches need to be changed to switches …??? Anyone else have any luck with ST or Alexa with answers to problem reports
Had used @ygerlovin 's switches but no news for a long time and when @TAustin brought out his Alexa switch, with optional use of contact sensor I changed them, although have other types. I use them both ways,ie actioning in Alexa, and perfect.
Locks also work well, there are whole load of types, @TAustin is the king of the virtual switch.
4 Likes
This feels like an Alexa issue to me more so than a smartthings then. Do you have a ticket # for Alexa? It might help to identify multiple users with the same issue.
no, they didn’t give me a number, though I asked. It was not easy to get the ticket opened. I escalated to a manager. Had to delete, re-add the routine to follow their “troubleshooting”. Luckily, the issue was still intermittent after that and hoping their engineers actually pay attention
Just received this email …
Hello,
I need to look into the problem with one of your Alexa Routines (Cams-Eufy Disarm), and it’ll take a bit more time than usual.
I just wanted to let you know I’ll call back in 1-2 business days or once we have a response from the ticket I filed with more information.
Thanks for giving me time to find the best solution.
Thank you for your inquiry. Did I solve your problem?
If yes, please click here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/survey?p=A1VNQQ1WQDYGGD&k=hy
If no, please click here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/survey?p=A1VNQQ1WQDYGGD&k=hn
Best regards,
Kevin L.
http://www.amazon.com
1 Like
Any chance you can ask for the ticket? If I call likely it will be the same process… Hours just to get someone to agree to look at it. Side note, I’m also using Alexa routines to middle man Eufy. Likely feeling the same pain right now!