Google Home FAQ

bk

adox wrote: »

Ok here’s a question regarding Hue. I have two lights in the living room and a light strip in the kitchen. I want to be able to have the two lights in room “living room” to control together and the light strip that’s in the kitchen as “kitchen” so I can say “turn on kitchen” “turn off living room” etc but I’d also like an option to control all three as well in a “downstairs” option but it doesn’t seem to work.
It seems you can’t have the lights in more than one room. This may be a Hue thing rather than Google Home but I had this set up with Alexa(can’t remember exactly how now and may have involved third party apps perhaps) so was wondering had anyone any ideas? Maybe this would be better asked in the Hue thread?

Yes this is a limitation of the "room" concept, versus "groups". Lights can only be in one room or the other. The new Hue app has the same limitation.

One work around might be to use an IFTTT command to turn the three lights off. You could call it downstairs.

adox

Thanks bk. One more thing. I had shortcuts set up with a few changes Mandy’s for my hue lights but it’s stopped working and now when I go into the app it has disappeared from the menu!

thecivvie

bk wrote: »

Yes this is a limitation of the "room" concept, versus "groups". Lights can only be in one room or the other. The new Hue app has the same limitation.

One work around might be to use an IFTTT command to turn the three lights off. You could call it downstairs.

I tried with IFTTT and could only add one bulb or room. Must try again

setanta1984

Anyone with multiple Home devices have any luck with controlling casting audio on from different Home devices? Here's what I'm trying to do:

Ask Kitchen Google Home to play Spotify on Chromecast Audio group called 'All Speakers'

Music starts playing on 3 CC Audios in different rooms

Walk to bedroom and ask Bedroom Google Home to Pause/Skip/Change track/Ask what is playing etc.

Unfortunately it seems that only the Home that you originally initiated the casting from can subsequently control it - the second Home says nothing is playing when I try the above.

Anyone have a similar use case?

bk

thecivvie wrote: »

I tried with IFTTT and could only add one bulb or room. Must try again

Maybe try Stringify instead or GHome -> IFTTT -> Yonomi

wexfordman2

setanta1984 wrote: »

Anyone with multiple Home devices have any luck with controlling casting audio on from different Home devices? Here's what I'm trying to do:

Ask Kitchen Google Home to play Spotify on Chromecast Audio group called 'All Speakers'

Music starts playing on 3 CC Audios in different rooms

Walk to bedroom and ask Bedroom Google Home to Pause/Skip/Change track/Ask what is playing etc.

Unfortunately it seems that only the Home that you originally initiated the casting from can subsequently control it - the second Home says nothing is playing when I try the above.

Anyone have a similar use case?

Ake sure all the homes are setup with the same main account

ferrigan101

moonboy52 wrote: »

https://www.blog.google/products/home/google-home-app-keeps-getting-better/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMKuf+%28The+Keyword+%7C+Official+Google+Blog%29

"You can even adjust advanced sound settings like bass and treble on your Google Assistant supported speakers, like Google Home."

Maybe just for the Max, but would be cool if it was for the Home also

I was just having a look in the settings for the Google home and the equalizer is there now for me. Very handy as I always thought the home was a bit bass heavy.

OldMrBrennan83

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thecivvie

Patww79 wrote: »

Tried all those pocketcasts commands and "sorry, nothing's playing right now" is the reply every time. Inconsistent wench. The music was of no interest to me but the podcasts would have been so handy.

I believe from reading the Pocket Cast help, the commands only work on phones as such

"pocketcast&#8220 wrote:

Note: The Google Assistant is available on select devices running Android 7 or above. Most of the commands above should also work with the old Google Now search box that comes on phones before that time.

OldMrBrennan83

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matrim

Is anyone else finding the broadcast feature a bit finikey? I'll say "Broadcast to the kitchen 'make the tea'" and in the kitchen it will say "to the kitchen make the tea". I've tried variations (e.g. saying room after the message) but still about 3/4 of the time I get something similar.

Rowley Birkin QC

Got this set up yesterday, great piece of kit. May have ordered another this morning!

I have a Philips Android TV with Netflix baked in. Asked the assistant to play Netflix and it tried but advised that it couldn't play on the tv. Anyone else have this?

OldMrBrennan83

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adox

adox wrote: »

Thanks bk. One more thing. I had shortcuts set up with a few changes Mandy’s for my hue lights but it’s stopped working and now when I go into the app it has disappeared from the menu!

And it’s back again this morning. It’s a nice feature so glad to have it back.

T-b0n3

Patww79 wrote: »

Only works with an actual Chromecast device for some reason. I can't do the Netflix thing to cast to my Shield either.

Just got my home this morning and was disappointed to realise it didn't work on my shield.

I'm sure it'll be possible in the near future. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

OldMrBrennan83

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T-b0n3

Patww79 wrote: »

It's been available for a long time on Chromecast and not even word of it for other cast devices so I wouldn't hold out hope.

Oh that's annoying. Cheers for the heads up though.

OldMrBrennan83

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Rowley Birkin QC

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Weird as Google / Android is what's actually driving the TV itself rather than a device plugged into it. Anyway, still a great piece of kit.

setanta1984

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Ake sure all the homes are setup with the same main account

Yes, definitely. Does it work for you? (Or anyone else?)

BailMeOut

Does the mini have to work with a larger google home or is the mini just a smaller version that can work by itself?

donspeekinglesh

Patww79 wrote: »

You might be able to voice command it directly with the Shield (keeping the Home out of the loop altogether) as Assistant is on the device itself now. Never tried it.

The assistant on the Shield can control it by voice. Play, pause etc. It uses the most recently used profile, so it'll throw an error if the kids were using it last and I want something that's not available to them.

donspeekinglesh

matrim wrote: »

Is anyone else finding the broadcast feature a bit finikey? I'll say "Broadcast to the kitchen 'make the tea'" and in the kitchen it will say "to the kitchen make the tea". I've tried variations (e.g. saying room after the message) but still about 3/4 of the time I get something similar.

You don't specify the room when you broadcast, it broadcasts to all the Home devices you have.

wexfordman2

setanta1984 wrote: »

Yes, definitely. Does it work for you? (Or anyone else?)

I had a similar issue where one of the homes would bit control lights but it was because it was setup under a different main account, so was thinking something similar was your issue

privateBeavis

Has anyone got multi user working on google home? Seems like only available in US and UK.
There's no option to link second account. Such a pain in the rear when they limit features by country, get on with it Google!!
The find my phone is great but it's my wife that loses her phone every 5 minutes so would be great if she could use that feature too.

thecivvie

BailMeOut wrote: »

Does the mini have to work with a larger google home or is the mini just a smaller version that can work by itself?

Can work fine by itself. I don't have a larger one at the moment and my mini does all i need

wexfordman2

thecivvie wrote: »

Can work fine by itself. I don't have a larger one at the moment and my mini does all i need

:-)

jogdish

Ok goodle remind me to put on the dinner at ...

It says it sets the reminder, but all I get is once crappy ding on my phone at the time, the Home gives no signal whatsoever, is there a way to make Home be the device that gives the reminder?

niallb

privateBeavis wrote: »

Has anyone got multi user working on google home? Seems like only available in US and UK. ..

Yes. We have it working here. Make sure your phone's language is set to US English.

There isn't an option to add a second account.
What you do is install the Home app on a device logged in with the other account and then add the Home to that - it'll prompt you to set up your Google Assistant voice print.

If I ask the Home what's my name, it tells me mine, and if someone else in the family asks, they get their own name back. Should get my spotify "Made for You" mixes back on track!

BattlingCheese

jogdish wrote: »

Ok goodle remind me to put on the dinner at ...

It says it sets the reminder, but all I get is once crappy ding on my phone at the time, the Home gives no signal whatsoever, is there a way to make Home be the device that gives the reminder?

Try say "Hey Google" instead of "OK Google". The assistant closest to you is meant to respond which is usually your phone. The phone does not respond to the Hey wake word so I have got used to just using that phrase.

OldMrBrennan83

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BattlingCheese

Must be Oreo, thanks for the info

BailMeOut

thecivvie wrote: »

Can work fine by itself. I don't have a larger one at the moment and my mini does all i need

thank you.

OU812

Just picked up a mini for £32 in Dixon’s in gatwick. Didn’t intend to get one but felt it was worth the punt to test it out

flangemeistro

Hey guys can I change hue scenes settings with Google home and Google mini, I'm ready to throw my echo out the window since the last update because all it will do now if turn on and off my lights and dim them.

I'm wondering because I have Google Assistant on my pixel linked to my hue and it won't do scenes either just on off and dim.

Thanks.

setanta1984

flangemeistro wrote: »

Hey guys can I change hue scenes settings with Google home and Google mini, I'm ready to throw my echo out the window since the last update because all it will do now if turn on and off my lights and dim them.

I'm wondering because I have Google Assistant on my pixel linked to my hue and it won't do scenes either just on off and dim.

Thanks.

You need to use something like IFTTT for the scenes with Google Home. Takes a while to set it up if you have a lot of scenes but works fine once done.
It's handy to be able to set your own trigger words having to do it this way too - I hated having to say "turn on Relax in the Bedroom" when doing scenes with the Echo - felt very unnatural.

thecivvie

I am having issues with my Tp Link smart plug. 90% of the time Google Assistant returns unknown error. I am using a B315 4G modem

flangemeistro

setanta1984 wrote: »

You need to use something like IFTTT for the scenes with Google Home. Takes a while to set it up if you have a lot of scenes but works fine once done.
It's handy to be able to set your own trigger words having to do it this way too - I hated having to say "turn on Relax in the Bedroom" when doing scenes with the Echo - felt very unnatural.

Will IFTTT work with Google Assistant because I set up a load of triggers last night for my scenes and none of them work, if I say "ok Google turn on movie time" or "ok Google turn on movie time in sitting room" it just plays a YouTube video on my phone?

setanta1984

flangemeistro wrote: »

Will IFTTT work with Google Assistant because I set up a load of triggers last night for my scenes and none of them work, if I say "ok Google turn on movie time" or "ok Google turn on movie time in sitting room" it just plays a YouTube video on my phone?

They work fine for me on the Homes and Assistant on my phone/watch.

Maybe there is a conflict between your IFTTT trigger word and a built in Assistant command? Might be worth turning on notifications for the IFTTT applet to see if it is being triggered at all?

flangemeistro

setanta1984 wrote: »

They work fine for me on the Homes and Assistant on my phone/watch.

Maybe there is a conflict between your IFTTT trigger word and a built in Assistant command? Might be worth turning on notifications for the IFTTT applet to see if it is being triggered at all?

I have the notifications turned on and even when I activate them manually through the IFTTT app I get the notification as if it's happened but my lights don't change.

BattlingCheese

thecivvie wrote: »

I am having issues with my Tp Link smart plug. 90% of the time Google Assistant returns unknown error. I am using a B315 4G modem

Make sure the TP plug has the latest firmware. There should be an option to check and update in the Kasa app.

thecivvie

BattlingCheese wrote: »

Make sure the TP plug has the latest firmware. There should be an option to check and update in the Kasa app.

I did and I think it is. To be honest I have a feeling it is the 3G modem. I may try a Pi with a dongle and 4 way switch

bk

thecivvie wrote: »

I did and I think it is. To be honest I have a feeling it is the 3G modem. I may try a Pi with a dongle and 4 way switch

To be honest, I think you will have a tough time using some of this home automation tech on a 3g/4g modem. A lot of it requires a good solid wired broadband connection.

Now this might not be an issue, but 3g/4g isn't really designed for this sort of thing.

OU812

Does anyone use a market-upon email address for theirs or just your own? Google marketing obviously going to be going full steam through it

thecivvie

bk wrote: »

To be honest, I think you will have a tough time using some of this home automation tech on a 3g/4g modem. A lot of it requires a good solid wired broadband connection.

Now this might not be an issue, but 3g/4g isn't really designed for this sort of thing.

living in a remote area so no other choice. My Hues all work flawlessly. It is just TP Link plug which works fine with the app

Shlippery

@bk - do we still need to setup region to US on the home? Or has this changed since your original post? I set it up as Irish first - didnt notice anything different when I did the region change.

bk

thecivvie wrote: »

living in a remote area so no other choice. My Hues all work flawlessly. It is just TP Link plug which works fine with the app

Yes, the thing with Hue is everything is happening locally on the hub, the app on your phone is talking straight to the hub, it doesn't go out on the internet at all (unless you are out of course).

Wifi only devices like the TP Link plugs, etc. are likely less dependable as they have to go out over the internet. If I was you I'd try and stick to hub based devices, rather then wifi only ones.

BTW You should check about the National Broadband Scheme over on the Broadband forum, you might be in line to get Fiber to the Home broadband soon under the scheme. Worth checking.

Shlippery wrote: »

@bk - do we still need to setup region to US on the home? Or has this changed since your original post? I set it up as Irish first - didnt notice anything different when I did the region change.

It might have changed now, but I tried setting my phone back to Ireland a few weeks ago and the Google Home app kept crashing on me, so I set it back to US and it fixed the crashes. So I'm not sure, if it all works for you under Ireland, then great, stick with that.

Shlippery

bk wrote: »

Yes, the thing with Hue is everything is happening locally on the hub, the app on your phone is talking straight to the hub, it doesn't go out on the internet at all (unless you are out of course).

Wifi only devices like the TP Link plugs, etc. are likely less dependable as they have to go out over the internet. If I was you I'd try and stick to hub based devices, rather then wifi only ones.

BTW You should check about the National Broadband Scheme over on the Broadband forum, you might be in line to get Fiber to the Home broadband soon under the scheme. Worth checking.



It might have changed now, but I tried setting my phone back to Ireland a few weeks ago and the Google Home app kept crashing on me, so I set it back to US and it fixed the crashes. So I'm not sure, if it all works for you under Ireland, then great, stick with that.

Perfect - sounds good. Might move the mini to the bedroom as I've a Nvidia Shield on the way and don't want the two interrupting each other- would I be right in saying the Shield should function the same as the mini w/ google assistant built in? The Shield should also be classed as a "chromecast" device too right?

Wouldn't mind a full size Google Home, but unsure if I can justify it just yet..the mini sound filled the living room easily and my kitchen is fairly small!

thecivvie

bk wrote: »

Yes, the thing with Hue is everything is happening locally on the hub, the app on your phone is talking straight to the hub, it doesn't go out on the internet at all (unless you are out of course).

Wifi only devices like the TP Link plugs, etc. are likely less dependable as they have to go out over the internet. If I was you I'd try and stick to hub based devices, rather then wifi only ones.

BTW You should check about the National Broadband Scheme over on the Broadband forum, you might be in line to get Fiber to the Home broadband soon under the scheme. Worth checking.



It might have changed now, but I tried setting my phone back to Ireland a few weeks ago and the Google Home app kept crashing on me, so I set it back to US and it fixed the crashes. So I'm not sure, if it all works for you under Ireland, then great, stick with that.

Moving to Russia so trying to get all the gear I need. Will get Hub based sockets. But may keep the TP Link anyway

bk

Shlippery wrote: »

would I be right in saying the Shield should function the same as the mini w/ google assistant built in? The Shield should also be classed as a "chromecast" device too right?

To be honest, I haven't tried the assistant on my shield TV. I use a harmony remote with it, which doesn't have a mic. Plus I've already have GHome in the same room, so no need for it. To be honest, with the mini's being so cheap, I don't think I'd bother, the far field mics are just too handy.

But on your second question, yes the Shield is classed has Chromecast built in and get be set as the default place to play video like youtube or from security cameras.

thecivvie wrote: »

Moving to Russia so trying to get all the gear I need. Will get Hub based sockets. But may keep the TP Link anyway

One warning on hub based switches, I've MiHome switches that use a hub, but due to IMO bad programming, the hub needs an internet connection to work. I'm not impressed with them. The LightwaveRF gear might be better, it would want to be given the cost, but I haven't tried it.

Of course I've no idea what plug types, power, etc. they use in Russia, so watch out for that.

BTW Russia, very cool