Smart Home
When using Amazon Alexa to control your Sensi Thermostat, you may encounter a situation where Alexa does not perform the expected or desired action. There are several reasons why this may occur.
Contradictory Commands
When issuing commands to Alexa, ensure that your statements do not include contradictions. Alexa may not respond as expected if you request multiple differing operations (“lower and set temperature”) in the same statement.
If the name of your Sensi thermostat includes words like “lower,” “set,” or “raise,” Alexa may misinterpret the name of your device as your desired action for that device. To avoid this issue, rename your thermostat by using the Sensi app and then ask Amazon Alexa to discover your devices again.
Amazon Alexa misheard your request
If Alexa is having trouble understanding the name of your Sensi thermostat, you may want to rename your thermostat to a less complex name in your Sensi app and then ask Alexa to discover your devices again.
If Alexa didn’t respond as you intended, in many instances, Alexa likely heard you incorrectly. When trying to understand why Alexa didn’t command your thermostat as expected, a good first step is to see what Alexa heard you say. To do this, in the Amazon Alexa app, select Settings on the main menu. Then select History. This will bring up a screen where you will be able to see what Alexa heard you say. If what was heard is incorrect, Alexa will not carry out your demand.
Thermostat Naming Note: When naming your Sensi thermostat, simple and literal words work best. Also, avoid using numbers (i.e., 1, 2, 3) in your thermostat name. If you must use a number in the name of your thermostat, Amazon recommends to spell it out instead-enter “one” as opposed to “1”, and so on. It is also recommended that you avoid acronyms (i.e. XYX).
If you feel your thermostat name is simple and fits the above parameters, or Alexa has understood you in the past but now is not, you could be experiencing a connectivity issue. Connectivity troubleshooting may need to happen with either your Amazon Echo or Sensi thermostat.
If you change the name of your Sensi thermostat in your Sensi app, you will need to have Alexa re-discover the thermostat in your Alexa app.
To ensure Alexa can find your thermostat and carry out all the latest Alexa commands, confirm you are using the latest Sensi iOS (Apple) or Android mobile app. The latest Sensi mobile app can be downloaded for free from the Apple App store or Google Play store. Once you have downloaded the latest Sensi app, log in to your Sensi app to confirm your thermostat appears in the app.
After confirming you are using the latest Sensi mobile app and the Sensi skill has been enabled in the Alexa app, if you are still having issues, you can ask Alexa to discover devices by saying, “Alexa, discover new devices.” This should refresh the connection between your Alexa and Sensi accounts.
To troubleshoot this issue, you can first check the Wi-Fi connection to your Amazon device by following these steps.
If your Alexa-enabled device is online, but your Sensi thermostat is offline, when you attempt to command your thermostat, Alexa will say, “I’m sorry, your device isn’t responding right now.” If this is the case, and everything seems okay with your Amazon-enabled device’s connection, you can troubleshoot your Sensi thermostat connection using our Sensi connectivity support articles.
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