Questions on Rachio, gate, Google Assistant

Hello all, I have three questions today.

First, I had to replace my Rachio controller. ADC is still linked to the old one and is showing a malfunction. I want to remove the old and connect the new. How can I do this?

Second, I have a MyQ operated garage door and driveway gate. Both of them used to show on the IQ Panel 2, but I’ve noticed that only the garage door shows now. How can I get the gate back on there also?

Third, is there a document explaining which Google Assistant commands play nice with with ADC? I’m having trouble with commands for my garage door/gate and lights. It says something like “I found multiple matching lights” or “I found multiple matching garage doors” even though I have distinct names for everything.

Thank you.

First, I had to replace my Rachio controller. ADC is still linked to the old one and is showing a malfunction. I want to remove the old and connect the new. How can I do this?

I’ve cleared the old Rachio device for you from the account. You can sync up your new one via the same process in the Irrigation card on the app home page.

Second, I have a MyQ operated garage door and driveway gate. Both of them used to show on the IQ Panel 2, but I’ve noticed that only the garage door shows now. How can I get the gate back on there also?

Can you try updating to the latest firmware per instruction here? Any change?

Third, is there a document explaining which Google Assistant commands play nice with with ADC?

Looking at the names in your device list I think this may be a likely issue you are having. From ADC:

  • Avoid using plurals of the reserved words to prevent accidental grouping (e.g., lights, switches, dimmers, shades, bulbs, doors, locks, deadbolts, knobs, garage doors, or gates). Doing so will automatically recognize the device as a group.

I see a lot of lighting devices with “Lights” as the last word in the name. That will likely cause an issue per the ADC notes.

If you give a command for the Garage, it looks like the name is just “Garage” not “Garage Door” which is also a possible point of confusion. If you just give a command for “garage” and do not specify door, does it work?

I’ve cleared the old Rachio device for you from the account. You can sync up your new one via the same process in the Irrigation card on the app home page.

My new Rachio is set up but the old one is still listed. Can you delete the one numbered 295…?

Can you try updating to the latest firmware per instruction here? Any change?

I updated the firmware as directed but the gate still does not show on the panel. Also, giving commands using “Garage” is typically how I talk to Google Assistant. I have one named “Garage” and the other named “Gate” so not sure how to better distinguish them. Any ideas?

I see a lot of lighting devices with “Lights” as the last word in the name. That will likely cause an issue per the ADC notes.

Ok, I renamed all of the lighting devices so that “lights” is no longer in the name. Still having the same problem.

So for your lights, does “Living Room Sconce” or “Kitchen Nook” work when trying to activate by voice?

Do not say Light at the end. Just the full device name. Any luck on those two specifically?

My new Rachio is set up but the old one is still listed. Can you delete the one numbered 295…?

Your Rachio account is synced to Alarm.com, I cannot delete specific controllers, I can remove the account sync, which will remove all devices.

To clear the old controller, you’ll need to delete it from your Rachio account.

I updated the firmware as directed but the gate still does not show on the panel. Also, giving commands using “Garage” is typically how I talk to Google Assistant. I have one named “Garage” and the other named “Gate” so not sure how to better distinguish them. Any ideas?

Try naming them something arbitrary as a test. I am curious if Google is not handling it as a specific device if you say “Close the Garage” if there are technically two MyQ devices, even with one being a Gate.

I am double checking with Qolsys to determine if the gate should be supported or if there is a reason it would be missing from the panel when the garage is there.

If the specific lights I mentioned and arbitrary name change for the Garage doesn’t work, check your recent commands in the account settings of your Google Home app. Did Google register the correct thing you said?

Qolsys indicated they do not support the Gate operators on the panel at this time. The rep I spoke to did not believe that Alarm.com had developed the ability to push those to the panel UI. If they were there before it was likely an accidental inclusion, or ADC found issues with it and pulled support. I’ll see i I can get more info from ADC on that.

So for your lights, does “Living Room Sconce” or “Kitchen Nook” work when trying to activate by voice? Do not say Light at the end. Just the full device name. Any luck on those two specifically?

So here’s a strange one. Kitchen Nook works. But when I tell Google to turn on Living Room Sconce, it asks me “What mode do you want to set the thermostat to?”

Did you have any thermostats with “Living Room” in the name at the time?

I would check in your voice assistant history on that one to see what it heard you say and what it checked for. I do not see any reason it would do that one. Can you send a screenshot of the myactivity page showing that command?

How many times did you try it? Same result every time?

No thermostats with Living Room in the name. And I’ve tried it multiple times over multiple days. Same result each time. The part about ADC not responding was just an incidental time out, not related to the thermostat response. I have tried this at least 20 times with the same result.

Thank you, that is a pretty definitive and odd response between the Google Assistant and Alarm.com.

I would try disabling the link between Google and Alarm.com. Unlink the Alarm.com skill in your Google Home settings. Wait about 30 minutes, then try enabling the skill again.

Do you use your primary account login or do you use a secondary login with custom access for the Google link?

I use my primary but I was unaware that I could have a secondary login just for Google. That sounds a lot more secure. How would I set that up?

Login to Alarm.com and go to Users > Logins to create a new login. Select the email address for it and the username. That email will receive instructions to login for the first time.

You can set custom access rights to the login, just giving access to the types of devices Google would control. This gets around 2 Factor issues with voice assistants too, letting you use 2FA on your primary login and not the Google one.

I have the same issues. I get ‘found multiple devices’ or ‘…thermostat…’. I can control a light I have FR North Light by asking for North. But I can’t find anything else it will recognize. Hot Water sounds nothing like Thermostat. And google translates it correct, it’s ADC that seems confused. I set up another sign in and unlinked and linked. But still no good

Was the integration working properly and recognizing the voice commands previously? Or has it always been acting this way for you? If it hasn’t been this way from the time you started using it, roughly when did you first notice issues?

I have never used Google much. I set it up a long time ago but the Alexa integration was easier back then so I use it. But now I have a need to use the google home that is in another room more often. It’s probably been two years since I used a google command for it before this work now.

I renamed the device i am. trying to use from “hot water” to “pump”. That did not help

I am pushing this to ADC to look into and see if we can recreate what you are describing. I will follow up asap.

Thanks for trying to help me. I’ve concluded that the linkage between ADC and Google isn’t ready for prime time. There are too many integration issues (I can’t even find the ADC linkage in my Google Home app), and even if you get it to work properly, functionality is too limited for regular use. Hopefully this will be strengthened in the future and I’ll come back to it, but I’m looking for features that make my life easier, and this one seems to be doing the exact opposite.

The Alexa integration is definitely more fleshed out, and I believe this is mostly due to Google limitations, but in general you shouldn’t have this type of issue with device control. Still looking into this and will follow up here.