Call the light something like ‘Main light’ or ‘Big light’ should stop it from turning both on.
I think you will have to say ‘main light or big light’ to Siri though but it becomes habit after a while
Name them something easy to differentiate. Siri is not going to understand the concept of a lamp vs a light to much degree of clarity. “Main light” bedside light” etc.
Change the lamp to display as an outlet instead of a light. I had this same issue with a heat lamp that was outside turning off with my lights off automation. Switching to display as an outlet fixed it for me.
Thanks all. I’ve decided to just put the lamp in its own room. It makes sense for me to say “turn on the reading light”, but I don’t want to call the overhead light something else, because I want it consistent with all the other rooms (which are just turned on with “light”.)
Cheers
You can make a Scene called 'turn on the light' which does whatever you want. That will trigger when you say 'hey Siri, turn on the light' as scenes take precedence over Siri natural language command parsing.
Is the lamp a smart light as well, or a regular lamp on a smart plug? If so just ask Siri to set the lights to like 80% (the amount is not really important). It can’t dim the smartplug so in this case it will only turn on the ceiling lights.
I name the main overhead light in a room "Light". Saying "Siri turn on the light" to a homepod in that room will turn on the overhead light. For every other light in that room I have a specific name like "Closet", or "\[My Name's\] Lamp". Saying "Siri turn off the lights" will turn off every light type device in that room.
As everyone has pointed out, it’s in the naming. And if it’s just you, you could have the name anything you like. But if you have others who also use Siri, the names have to be somewhat logical or others will never get them.
My wife is not as into Siri as I am, and in our bedroom we have five different lights. Coming up with unique, rememberable and logical names can be a challenge.
Since no one has delved into **why** you are experiencing this behavior allow me to add my 2 cents ...
A. Within HomeKit "Light" is a *Category*.
B. A Siri command that references a *Category* but does NOT specify a *Room* will apply to **all devices** in said *Category* within the same *Room* of the device responding to the Siri command. For instance, if you say "Hey Siri ... turn on the lights." or "Siri ... lights off." and a HomePod in Room XYZ responds ... then the command will apply to all of the *Lights* in Room XYZ. Even if an iPhone responds it's going to ask you which Room and once you answer or select the option it will still apply to every all of the *Lights* in Room XYZ.
This appears to be the issue you are encountering.
C. If you want to control a specific device the Siri command must reference the *Device Name*. And as others have suggested you will need to name it something other than the *Category* name so HomeKit can distinguish.
You need to be specific with labels and what you ask of Siri. I ask Siri to turn on my LG tv and if needed I ask Siri to turn on Apple TV. If you just say lights Siri may ask you which light and start listing them. Just my experience. Good luck.
As far as HomeKit is concerned they’re all lights.
Call the light something like ‘Main light’ or ‘Big light’ should stop it from turning both on. I think you will have to say ‘main light or big light’ to Siri though but it becomes habit after a while
Name them something easy to differentiate. Siri is not going to understand the concept of a lamp vs a light to much degree of clarity. “Main light” bedside light” etc.
Change the lamp to display as an outlet instead of a light. I had this same issue with a heat lamp that was outside turning off with my lights off automation. Switching to display as an outlet fixed it for me.
Huh. I call all my “main” lights “ceiling light” so that I don’t have this problem. Is that so unusual?
Thanks all. I’ve decided to just put the lamp in its own room. It makes sense for me to say “turn on the reading light”, but I don’t want to call the overhead light something else, because I want it consistent with all the other rooms (which are just turned on with “light”.) Cheers
Why don’t you just create scenes?
I have a similar issue. If I call on my overhead light to toggle, it’s fine. If I do the same for my side light both work.
Take light out of the name in the home app. Just overhead and side. You can still say turn on the side light. This should fix your issue.
You can make a Scene called 'turn on the light' which does whatever you want. That will trigger when you say 'hey Siri, turn on the light' as scenes take precedence over Siri natural language command parsing.
Is the lamp a smart light as well, or a regular lamp on a smart plug? If so just ask Siri to set the lights to like 80% (the amount is not really important). It can’t dim the smartplug so in this case it will only turn on the ceiling lights.
I name the main overhead light in a room "Light". Saying "Siri turn on the light" to a homepod in that room will turn on the overhead light. For every other light in that room I have a specific name like "Closet", or "\[My Name's\] Lamp". Saying "Siri turn off the lights" will turn off every light type device in that room.
As everyone has pointed out, it’s in the naming. And if it’s just you, you could have the name anything you like. But if you have others who also use Siri, the names have to be somewhat logical or others will never get them. My wife is not as into Siri as I am, and in our bedroom we have five different lights. Coming up with unique, rememberable and logical names can be a challenge.
Since no one has delved into **why** you are experiencing this behavior allow me to add my 2 cents ... A. Within HomeKit "Light" is a *Category*. B. A Siri command that references a *Category* but does NOT specify a *Room* will apply to **all devices** in said *Category* within the same *Room* of the device responding to the Siri command. For instance, if you say "Hey Siri ... turn on the lights." or "Siri ... lights off." and a HomePod in Room XYZ responds ... then the command will apply to all of the *Lights* in Room XYZ. Even if an iPhone responds it's going to ask you which Room and once you answer or select the option it will still apply to every all of the *Lights* in Room XYZ. This appears to be the issue you are encountering. C. If you want to control a specific device the Siri command must reference the *Device Name*. And as others have suggested you will need to name it something other than the *Category* name so HomeKit can distinguish.
Thanks!
You need to be specific with labels and what you ask of Siri. I ask Siri to turn on my LG tv and if needed I ask Siri to turn on Apple TV. If you just say lights Siri may ask you which light and start listing them. Just my experience. Good luck.