Google Assistant voice control FAQ

Q: How do I control my ceiling fan?

A: The fan speed controller uses speed names, not percentages. So say something like, "Set Family Room fan to Low" (or Medium, Medium-High, High, or Off). To slow down the fan, tell it to “turn down” or "decrease." To speed up the fan, tell it to "turn up" or "increase."

Q: Why does Google have a hard time understanding which device I want to control?
A: For Google to understand your choice, the devices must have unique names. Ask your Smart Home Pro to make sure devices have unique names, or change the device names yourself.

Q: How do you ask the status of a dimmer?
A: “What is the brightness level of my [name of dimmer]?”

Q: How do you ask the status of a light switch?
A: "Is the [name of switch] switch on?”

Q: How do I check my thermostat's temperature setting?
A: Say "What is my [thermostat name] set to?"

Q: How do I set the temperature?
A: Say "Set temperature on [thermostat name] to [temperature] degrees." (Thermostat name is not required if there's only one thermostat.)

Q: How do I set the temperature when I have multiple thermostats?
A: Be specific about the thermostat you want to change: "Set temperature on [thermostat name] to [temperature] degrees."

Q: What voice commands does Control4 currently support with the Google Assistant?
A: Google Assistant uses natural language recognition, which recognizes a wide variety of words and word sequences. Because of this ability, no comprehensive list is provided, but "Using Google Assistant" above provides some examples.

Q: In what countries and languages can I use my Google Assistant integration?
A: View the list of supported countries (and change your location, if you'd like) at store.google.com/countrypicker.

Q: What happens when I try a voice command and the device is offline?
A: Google Assistant replies with something similar to "It looks like [device name] is unavailable right now." Ask your Smart Home Pro for help, or visit help.control4.com.

Q: When I ask Google Assistant, "What is the temperature at my house?" why does it reply with the outdoor temperature for the area?
A: Google Assistant views that request as a general request and handles it with other Google services. To get the indoor temperature, make sure you ask for the temperature of one of your thermostats.

Q: What devices does the Google Assistant support?
A: Lighting (dimmers, switches), blinds, voice scenes, door locks (no unlock capability), thermostats, fans, and lighting scenes are supported.

Q: Can I configure Google Assistant voice scenes using When >> Then automation?
A: No, not at this time.

Q: When I ask Google Assistant to "increase Thermostat" or "decrease Thermostat" while the thermostat is off, why does the thermostat change its mode from off to heat or cool?
A: This is working as designed. For Google Assistant to follow an “increase” or “decrease” command, it must also tell the thermostat to turn to the appropriate heat/cool mode. If you ask the thermostat to turn to an exact temperature while the thermostat is off ("set thermostat to [x] degrees"), no increase or decrease was specified, so Google Assistant returns an error.

Q: Why do I get incorrect feedback when I try and control lighting at the room level from my Google Home application?
A: Google Assistant sees room lighting as a single group of lighting devices, so when you check the lighting level of a room's group, it shows you the average (mean) value of all lights in that single group. Because many types of devices can be controlled by Outlet Dimmers or Switches, Google Assistant does not compute the on/off/dim state as part of the room lighting.

Q: Can we use the voice recognition to lock people from using the voice commands (for example, adults can use it but children cannot)?
A: Google Assistant can recognize multiple accounts after you have completed voice training for each (in the Google Assistant app, look for "multi-user" features). To prevent unauthorized users from accessing the voice commands, restrict the multi-user setup (and voice training) to include only those accounts you want to authorize.

Q: Why does “Turn on living room lights” turn on all of the lights in the living room?
A: Google automatically groups any lights that you may have assigned to a room, so when you turn on lights by using the room name, all of the room’s lights turn on. If you want to control specific lighting fixtures, you need to make the light’s name unique. See “To rename devices yourself.”

Q: I have multiple homes that use Control4. How do I connect each with Google Assistant?
A: Multiple Google accounts will be needed if using multiple Control4 systems. You must use a unique Google account with each Control4 system.

Q: Although we can use voice control for simple AV (playlist, station, etc.), when will there be support for direct AV control (volume, etc.)?
A: Google doesn’t currently support audio and video devices in their smart home actions. To incorporate AV into the Control4-Google Assistant integration, Google must first add AV functionality to Google Home. In the meantime, you can use voice scenes in Google Assistant to provide some AV source selection and basic control functionality. Contact your Smart Home Pro to help associate your voice scenes with custom Control4 programming.

 

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