MobiLincTake Control of Your Home

MobiLinc and Amazon Alexa


With MobiLinc, your ISY-994x series controller, and MobiLinc Connect cloud service, Alexa voice assistant is now supported!

Controlling your home has never been easier with your voice. Simply say "Alexa, turn on kitchen lights." or "Alexa, set the thermostat to 72 degrees."


Features:

The MobiLinc Smart Home skill supports the following voice features:
  • Turn on or off a device, scene, or program. "Alexa, turn on the kitchen lights."
  • Brighten or Dim a device. "Alexa, dim the living room."
  • Adjust the Thermostat. "Alexa, set the thermostat to 72 degrees."
  • Ask for status: "Alexa, what is the upstairs temperature?"
  • Lock the door: "Alexa, lock the front door"
  • Change fan speed: "Alexa, turn the living room fan to medium"
  • Door Sensors and Motion Sensors: Supports triggers for Alexa Routines including Alexa Voice Announcements.
  • Arm and Disarm ELK Security Areas.
  • Programs, State Variables, and Integer Variables as sensors for triggering Alexa Routines.
  • ELK Zones as sensors for triggering Alexa Routines.

Who can use this?

Anyone with an active MobiLinc X subscription or MobiLinc Connect account, Amazon Alexa device like the Echo and Echo Dot, and an ISY-994x controller in the US and Canada.

What do I need?

The following is needed:

1. MobiLinc X, MobiLinc HD, MobiLinc Pro, or Orchestrated MobiLinc for iOS or Android.
2. Active MobiLinc X subscription or MobiLinc Connect account and an ISY series controller running firmware 4.7.3 or later with the MobiLinc Connect portal installed and connected to your MobiLinc Connect account via the MobiLinc app.
3. Amazon Alexa device like the Echo or Echo Dot.

Setup Guide:

Please follow these steps to connect your ISY to Alexa through MobiLinc Connect:

Install MobiLinc Connect:
1. Install the MobiLinc Connect portal in your ISY-994x by opening the Admin Console from a PC/MAC and going to Help->Purchase Modules.
2. Once installed and the ISY reboots, open MobiLinc X, subscribe and log into your MboiLinc Connect account. For MobiLinc Pro, HD, or Orchestrated MobiLinc go to Settings->Lighting Controller->Host Type and select "MobiLinc Connect".
3. Select "Create a New Account" and follow the directions.

Prepare your vocal names of your devices, scenes, and programs:
Many device and scene names aren't written in a way that's easily spoken or written as simple English text. For example, a device may be named "office.1.upstairs". This name will not work with voice recognition. To get around this please follow these steps:
1. Use the ISY's Admin Console and right-click on your device or scene and select "Notes".
2. Under the "Spoken" field enter in simple English to describe your device/scene. For example: "Upstairs Office".
3. Programs: Programs saved in a folder named "Voice" will be pulled into Alexa. Programs saved in a folder named "Sensors" will be pulled into Alexa as Sensor devices. Make sure the name of the program is written in plain speakable English.
4. After making any changes to the Spoken Notes field or changing the name of your voice programs, click the "Save" button on the Programs tab. This applies even if you ONLY change the spoken names of a device or scene.
5. Wait at least 5 minutes after clicking "Save". During this time MobiLinc Connect is syncing the changes back to our servers. You can watch the front of the ISY for when the activity lights stop blinking.
6. After 5 minutes or until the activity lights have stopped blinking, say "Alexa, discover devices" to have Alexa pull in the changes.

With Alexa version 3 support, MobiLinc Connect supports Alexa status for your devices and programs in the Alexa app and asking for status. MobiLinc Connect also supports Alexa routines and groups as configured in the Alexa app for iOS and Android.

Groups:
Alexa supports grouping lights/devices with a specific Echo device in the Alexa app. This is useful to group lights together in the same room with the Echo so that you can say "Alexa, turn the lights off" and Alexa will turn all the lights off in that group with that spoken command. If you have programs in a group, in order to use this feature, use the Alexa app to change the type from Switch to Light. Only lights are supported by Alexa in this context.

Multiple Names per Item:
In some cases, it's helpful to name the same device multiple names for family members that might not remember the exact name to call a specific light. To give the same device multiple names, in the Spoken field of the Admin Console for the device, list all the names for the device separated by a comma. Spoken name example for a light in or near the kitchen: "kitchen, table, downstairs". MobiLinc Connect will use each name in the list and create a separate Alexa device for each one. This works for devices, scenes, and programs for programs in the "Voice" folder.

Motion and Contact Sensors (Currently US support only):
MobiLinc Connect supports the following items in your ISY as "sensor" type devices for Alexa and Alexa Routines:
  • INSTEON Motion Sensors.
  • INSTEON Door Sensors.
  • INSTEON Water Leak Sensors.
  • IO Linc Sensor and Relay.
  • Variables with "Sensor" in the name of the variable.
  • Programs in a folder named "Sensors".
  • All reported ELK Security Zones.

ISY Firmware 4.x Notes: Changes to spoken names for devices and scenes you will need to click "Save" on the Programs tab to start the sync process back to MobiLinc Connect. New/removed/changed spoken names are auto-sent to Alexa. When adding/removing "Sensor" from a variable, click "Save" on the Variable Page and then click "Save" on the Programs tab to start the sync process back to MobiLinc Connect. Wait 5 minutes or until the ISY lights stop blinking and then say "Alexa, discover devices."

Variable Notes:
  • A variable value of "0" is considered "closed" by Alexa.
  • A variable value of anything other than "0" is considered "opened" by Alexa.

MobiLinc Connect reports real-time status of these sensors to Alexa to enable routine triggers that can trigger Alexa to speak custom voice phrases, play music, announce weather, traffic, and much more. Configure Alexa Routines and triggers in the Alexa App. See this for more details: https://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/24964-multiple-new-alexa-features-voice-announcements-and-more/

ELK Security Areas (Currently US support only):
MobiLinc Connect supports arming and disarming your ELK security areas with Alexa. In the Alexa app, when a new security area is discovered, the Alexa app will prompt you to use a 4 digit PIN code of your choosing and known only to Alexa to disarm. Or, you can use an existing 4 digit pin code your ELK area recognizes to disarm. Or, you can disable disarm by voice for security.

Example: If your primary ELK area is named "My Home", once added to Alexa you can say:
  • "Alexa, arm my home" (Arms in Stay Mode by default)
  • "Alexa, arm my home in away mode"
  • "Alexa, disarm my home"
  • "Alexa, is my home armed?"

Alexa supports arming in stay and away modes currently, but is expanding to support night modes and alarm processing soon.

FanLinc Support (Currently US support only):
MobiLinc Connect supports changing the FanLinc speed with Alexa. Follow the above setup guide to set a spoken name on the Fan element of the FanLinc and save back to MobiLinc Connect. Say "Alexa, discover devices" to pull in your Fan. NOTE: If the Fan element previously had a spoken name assigned, in the Alexa app, delete the Fan device and rediscover with Alexa.

Example: If your fan is named "Living Room Fan", once added to Alexa you can say:
  • "Alexa, turn the Living Room Fan to Off, Low, Medium, or High"
  • "Alexa, make the Living Room Fan faster (or slower)"
  • "Alexa, increase (or decrease) the Living Room Fan speed"

Troubleshooting:

Please follow these steps to troubleshoot Alexa connection and syncing issues:

ISY and Admin Console:
1. Open the Admin Console from a PC/MAC and confirm that under the "Config" tab, the MobiLinc Portal is connected.
2. Go to Help->About and confirm that the UI and firmware versions both match the latest official firmware 4.6.2. If not, please update both the firmware and UI to the latest versions.
3. After updating your firmware and UI, set or reset the Spoken names to your devices and scenes under the Notes option for the device/scene. If you updated the UI to match the firmware, it's critical that the spoken names are re-entered again.
4. On the Programs tab, create a folder named "Voice" and create or drag in your programs you want to voice control here.
5. Click the "Save" button on the Programs tab even if you don't make any changes to the program list.
6. Wait 5 minutes to allow time for MobiLinc Connect to sync changes.

NOTE: If your ISY is using Firmware 4.x and you are making changes to VARIABLES, you will need to click "Save" on the variables tab and then reboot your ISY. After your ISY reboots, wait 5 minutes and then say "Alexa, discover devices." Firmware 4.x does not report new or deleted variables to MobiLinc Connect except on startup. Firmware 5.x does not need this workaround.

Alexa:
1. From a PC or MAC go to https://alexa.amazon.com and log into your Alexa/Amazon account.
2. Go to "Smart Home"->"Smart Home Skills".
3. Disable the ISY Skill from Universal Devices and the INSTEON HUB skill if these are still enabled.
4. Go back to "Smart Home" and click "Devices".
5. Scroll to the bottom and select "Forget All".
6. Click "Discover" to pull back in all current devices, scenes, and programs from the connected MobiLinc Connect skill.
7. Verify all devices, scenes, and programs pulled in do not have names that sound similar and are all able to be spoken in plain English.