Google Home FAQ

Sheep Shagger

jogdish wrote: »

Generally people don't post unless there are issues, also people here I'm guessing are more likely to push the device in the hopes it will do something - basically playing with tech. It may be a biased sample.

Would agree with this - the Alexia thread shows people have problems too (probably for similar reasons).

EagererBeaver

droidman123 wrote: »

Does anyone have one of these that actually works? I was going to get either the google home or the alexa but reading the 2 threads here,all there seems to be is problem after problem

Nah, it doesn't work at all but was pushed out to market in the hope that a load of daft spanners would pay for it even though it's a heap of ****e.

Of course it works ffs.

eusap

I use my google minis every day

Hue Lights = Works fine no issues
Questions = Works fine no Issues
Spotify = You really need a premium account otherwise you take a gamble to what will play
Tunein = This can be very Random, Newstalk worked fine for 5 weeks, stopped again for 2 days then worked again. RTE never seems to work correctly, but I do wonder sometimes if this is the Pronunciation. Radio Kerry works every time

matrim

As with eusap my usage is similar

Hue - Works fine
Netflix - Works fine
Spotify - Works fine (with premium)
Tunein - I don't use often but seems to work fine
Shopping list - works fine
reminders / alarms - works fine
Morning news / schedule - Works fine (Basically gives weather forecast, daily schedule from calendar, and then some news snippets)
Random search / questions - Mostly works fine. Depends on what you ask for


These kinds of interfaces are still early days so people and manufactures are still getting used to what you can do. And your usage will depend on what gear you have. If you don't have much smart home gear you will probably just use it for music and alarms.

For example, using home assistant I added an ifttt trigger that knows what type of bin is due next. So I can ask "Hey Google, what is the next bin" and be told if it's recycling or normal. Similarly I can ask (and also update) on if I have clean dishes in the dishwasher.

bk

Same as the two above, I find all the above works fine, plus:

- Netatmo Theromstat Control - Works well
- Harmony Elite (TV) Control - Works well
- Various routines and commands, tied to Yonomi, IFTTT, SmartThings, all work well. These include "good night" routine that turns off lights, TV, heating and turns on security cameras and security system.
- What is the weather / commute like - works well
- Various kids games, what does a cow sound like, etc. - works well
- Mutli-room audio including chromecasts, work well.

Really the only issues I've seen are:
- One Mini seemed to lose connection one day, needed to be rebooted, but fine since.
- The odd time it doesn't seem to understand the missus, she has a foreign accent.
- Certain radio stations don't work from time to time. Doesn't bother me, I don't listen to radio, but I test it from time to time based on people here having issues. This seems to be more an issue with Tunein, Amazon Echos seem to have the same issue or worse!

Over all, I think it works very well and is very reliable, which is pretty amazing when you consider how cheap it is and how cutting edge the technology is.

nephster

Hi guys,
Would appreciate if someone could test this who has a sub to Google play Music, should only take a second!
My GHMs appear unwilling to play some albums or particular songs. Let's say you are a Queen fan - asking it to play Queen's Greatest Hits gives the "playing the album" response but then the "sorry, something's gone wrong" error. If I ask it to play the song Flash's Theme, it plays Queen, but the wrong song!
Happens with other albums and artists too, but it *really* doesn't want me to listen to Queen

moonboy52

nephster wrote: »

Hi guys,
Would appreciate if someone could test this who has a sub to Google play Music, should only take a second!

Just tried both Flash and the album from GPM and it casted / played to my CCA which is it's default output device.

Don't know what to recommend apart from a reboot.

jogdish

Currently don't have smart lights in the house, but would like to explore them. The phillips hue seems to be the king - but kitting out the house would be a small fortune.


Is there a cheap way (alibaba ) where I can explore the world of smart led lights.


Had a good experience with Sonoff S20's bought from alibaba, was a bargin compared to belkin etc...

moonboy52

jogdish wrote: »

Is there a cheap way (alibaba ) where I can explore the world of smart led lights.

I have 4 Xiaomi Yeelights i bought from Gearbest and Aliexpress.

They were around 14e each and work well

BionicRasher

bk wrote: »

Same as the two above, I find all the above works fine, plus:

- Netatmo Theromstat Control - Works well
- Harmony Elite (TV) Control - Works well
- Various routines and commands, tied to Yonomi, IFTTT, SmartThings, all work well. These include "good night" routine that turns off lights, TV, heating and turns on security cameras and security system.
- What is the weather / commute like - works well
- Various kids games, what does a cow sound like, etc. - works well
- Mutli-room audio including chromecasts, work well.

Really the only issues I've seen are:
- One Mini seemed to lose connection one day, needed to be rebooted, but fine since.
- The odd time it doesn't seem to understand the missus, she has a foreign accent.
- Certain radio stations don't work from time to time. Doesn't bother me, I don't listen to radio, but I test it from time to time based on people here having issues. This seems to be more an issue with Tunein, Amazon Echos seem to have the same issue or worse!

Over all, I think it works very well and is very reliable, which is pretty amazing when you consider how cheap it is and how cutting edge the technology is.

If you don't mind me asking.... what security system and cameras do you use that can be controlled by GH?

bk

BionicRasher wrote: »

If you don't mind me asking.... what security system and cameras do you use that can be controlled by GH?

Not at all, unfortunately it is a bit of a complicated answer.

So the camera in question is a Logitech Circle 2. It overlooks my living room so I only want it on when we aren't in the room, so I have it on a smart plug. It is this smart plug I actually control, not the camera itself.

It is a bit of a hack, but works well. Only downside is that 5 minutes after turning it off I get a notification on my phone saying the camera is offline. But not too bother some.

BTW You can actually officially control this camera with Google Home. But you can only turn it on, you can't turn it off by voice. This is true of any camera and security system (the new Nest one) that works directly with Google Home, it is an understandable security feature. Seemingly they are supposed to be working on a solution for this.

You can ask the Google Home to stream the Circle 2 to a Chromecast which is pretty cool.

The security system is the Yale Smart Home Alarm system. I wouldn't say it is the perfect alarm system, not by far, but I'm using it as a stop gap. There is some code that allows you to partly integrate it into SmartThings (part arm/ full arm/disarm/status) which in turn allows it to be integrated into Google Home and routines.

As you can see, this is all a bit cobbled together, I think the security side of HA is still immature compared to Philips Hue, Nest thermostats, etc. Which is why I'm not really heavily recommending any of this stuff, I feel it will all mature in the next year or two hopefully.

nephster

moonboy52 wrote: »

Just tried both Flash and the album from GPM and it casted / played to my CCA which is it's default output device.

Don't know what to recommend apart from a reboot.

Thanks a mill. I can't use voice to play that album, or several others, via Home/Assistant on any of my devices including my phone. As to why it plays the wrong (and often different) songs by Queen whenever I ask for Flash... I'm stumped!

Slevster

matrim wrote: »

As with eusap my usage is similar



For example, using home assistant I added an ifttt trigger that knows what type of bin is due next. So I can ask "Hey Google, what is the next bin" and be told if it's recycling or normal.... .

This is a really good idea. How did you configure the trigger to know which type of bin?

matrim

Slevster wrote: »

This is a really good idea. How did you configure the trigger to know which type of bin?

I'm with citybin, so I downloaded the PDF with the schedule for my road and parsed it to extract the dates. Once I had the dates I loaded them into an appdaemon script which runs once a day to update an input select in home-assistant.

For the IFTTT voice support I set it up like this, but am thinking of trying dialogflow instead as the IFTTT way is a bit limited because you can only respond to one pre-set speaker

jones

jogdish wrote: »

Woke up this morning, my Google Home ( regular, not the mini ) refused to do anything.

I asked questions, no lights no reply. I moved my finger around the top to change volume, no lights. I looked at the back, the white light was on, I tapped the button to mute, no audio queue, the light flashed amber and back to white again.

Anyway, unplugged re plugged, works fine now.

Weird i was away last week and when i came home i noticed the same with two of mini's. it's like they were in some deep sleep. I pulled the plug and all good again

Slevster

Matrim-- Clever. (and a bit above my pay grade).

Slevster

matrim wrote: »

I'm with citybin, so I downloaded the PDF with the schedule for my road and parsed it to extract the dates. Once I had the dates I loaded them into an appdaemon script which runs once a day to update an input select in home-assistant.

For the IFTTT voice support I set it up like this, but am thinking of trying dialogflow instead as the IFTTT way is a bit limited because you can only respond to one pre-set speaker

I had hoped that I could set up ifttt with a phase ' what's the bin this week', with a trigger which would search my Google calendar over the next 7 days for any events with the key word 'bin' and read it out (having prepopulated the calendar with 'recycling bin' or 'household bin' as a recurring event).... If only it was so simple. (so now I will settle for setting up the recurring event on my calendar, and asking Google ' whats in my calendar this Thursday' - not nearly as classy)

Or is there a way of doing a search for key words through Google home?

McMurphy

Anyone figured out how to turn on hot water/boost it on a nest via Google home?

I can turn heat (radiators) on and off, up/down via my voice but the hot water commands still elude me.

Atomic Pineapple

Slevster wrote: »

Or is there a way of doing a search for key words through Google home?

A custom "routine" within the home app should work.

Slevster

Atomic Pineapple wrote: »

A custom "routine" within the home app should work.

Tried this, but it's a bit restrictive. and actually, it won't response as expected - when I say the trigger word ( "bins"
For ease of testing), the lights flash 2 or 3 times, and then nothing

jones

Any word on when continuous conversation will actually be enabled? Seems odd they haven't done it yet

BobbyT28

Slevster wrote: »

Tried this, but it's a bit restrictive. and actually, it won't response as expected - when I say the trigger word ( "bins"
For ease of testing), the lights flash 2 or 3 times, and then nothing

The way I have a done is:

I've set up :
In Google calendar i have:

Recycling Bin Event that repeats every two weeks
Household Bin Event that repeats every two weeks

In Stringify I have a custom flow

Google Calander (Any Event starts with Keyword bin) this triggers my hue lights to blink for 15secs and sends a notification to my phone at 18:00 the night before the bins are due out.


Hope this helps

BobbyT28

BobbyT28

Forgot to mention that you can also receive aStringify also and you could also send one to your partner or housemate if you're not home.

I have this setup to send a Stringifyto myself and the wife saying put Recycling bin out or Put Household bin out whichever one it is.

AngelaRI

BobbyT28 wrote: »

The way I have a done is:

I've set up :
In Google calendar i have:

Recycling Bin Event that repeats every two weeks
Household Bin Event that repeats every two weeks

In Stringify I have a custom flow

Google Calander (Any Event starts with Keyword bin) this triggers my hue lights to blink for 15secs and sends a notification to my phone at 18:00 the night before the bins are due out.


Hope this helps

BobbyT28

I've just set this up, thanks!
If bin companies (and other services) would just start publishing their schedules as calendar integrations (google, outlook, etc), that would mean no manual entries needed and no service exceptions missed (e.g bin collections changed if they fall on Christmas or New Year's Day etc), but this is definitely a step in the right direction

Nforce

My bin company, AES, text me the evening before collection to remind me which bin should be left out. Surprised that others don't provide this service.

matrim

Nforce wrote: »

My bin company, AES, text me the evening before collection to remind me which bin should be left out. Surprised that others don't provide this service.

Citybin do too but I don't get the text until about 9pm.

thecivvie

BobbyT28 wrote: »

The way I have a done is:

I've set up :
In Google calendar i have:

Recycling Bin Event that repeats every two weeks
Household Bin Event that repeats every two weeks

In Stringify I have a custom flow

Google Calander (Any Event starts with Keyword bin) this triggers my hue lights to blink for 15secs and sends a notification to my phone at 18:00 the night before the bins are due out.


Hope this helps

BobbyT28

How do you do the evening before alert. I can only see 45 minutes. I am always forgetting to leave my bins out

BobbyT28

thecivvie wrote: »

How do you do the evening before alert. I can only see 45 minutes. I am always forgetting to leave my bins out

Just make the calendar entry the day before the bin is to go out.

Example:

My bins are collected on a Thursday. So I set up a bin collection calendar reminder for Wednesday and it repeats every two weeks. Simple.

So every two weeks on a Wednesday at 18:00 I get a reminder sent to my phone and Hue lights blink for 15secs. So I go out and put the bins out that evening (Wednesday) and they are collected the next morning.

keane2097

Is it possible to get RTE as the source for my morning news flash? I can only see Newstalk as an Irish provider on mine and that only seems to be updated every few days...

THE ALM

keane2097 wrote: »

Is it possible to get RTE as the source for my morning news flash? I can only see Newstalk as an Irish provider on mine and that only seems to be updated every few days...

Have RTE selected on mine, appears when I have English(Ireland) chosen as a source.