The ecobee smart thermostats set the standard that all other smart thermostats aspire to. One of the key features of ecobee thermostats are their LED lights that will pulse and flash certain colors as a notification center.
Ever see your ecobee flashing green lights? Blue or red lights? When these flash there is always an underlying reason for it.
In this guide, I set out to discuss what the different colors of flashing lights mean, and what to do when you see a flashing light notification.
ecobee Flashing Green Light – What Does It Mean?
One of the great benefits of ecobee Smart Thermostats is their easy integration with Amazon’s Alexa. In fact, the ecobee 4 and the ecobee SmartThermostat have built-in Alexa.
Once Alexa is activated, the ecobee thermostat can be used to show Alexa alerts. When you get an alert notification from Alexa, the ecobee will flash its green light.
In these instances, your ecobee thermostat is acting in the same way as any Alexa smart home hub command center giving you smart home notifications.
There are several types of Alexa announcements, depending on what services you subscribe to and what Alexa skills you have set up. Among the most common Amazon Alexa alerts are:
- An Amazon Parcel is due to be delivered
- An Amazon Parcel has been delivered
- Weather Alerts
- Amazon Order Updates
- Answers to your product questions on Amazon
How to Set Alexa Notifications on Your ecobee Smart Thermostat
What notifications you receive can be changed within the Alexa app. In the next section, I will walk you through how to change what notifications you receive through your thermostat.
These steps can be performed either through the Alexa app or the Alexa web portal.
- Open the Alexa app or log on to the Alexa Web Portal
- Click the More icon (this is the “hamburger” icon with three horizontal lines)
- Select the Settings option
- Select Notifications
- In this menu, you will find categories including Amazon Shopping, Reminders. Announcements etc. In each category, you can pick the notifications you wish to receive.
Your ecobee thermostat will now only show the notifications you wish to receive. You can even turn off all notifications if you wish.
How to Check Alexa Notifications
Once you have set the notification levels to suit your requirements, then the Green flashing light will only come on when there is a relevant, unread notification.
Finding out what the notification means and turning the light off is simple to do by using Alexa voice control.
- When the light on your ecobee is flashing green, say “Alexa, what is the notification for?” Alexa will then report what it is and turn off the notification light.
- You can also just say “Alexa, cancel notification” if you want to turn off the notification. However, this won’t tell you what the notification was for.
Do Not Disturb Mode
You can also schedule a “Do Not Disturb” period so that notifications will only happen within designated times. Setting the scheduled times can be done from within the Alexa app or Alexa Web Portal.
- Navigate to the Settings option
- Select the Device you want to set up a Do Not Disturb period on. Note you will need to do this for each Alexa device individually.
- Select the Do Not Disturb option
- In this menu, you can elect to switch the Do Not Disturb option on permanently, or select the Scheduled option.
- Set the daily times that you wish the option to be active.
How to Stop Alexa From Saying What Your Order Contains
Ever buy surprise gifts for your husband, wife, kids, and other loved ones? Don’t want Alexa to spoil the surprise by announcing that your Amazon order has arrived?
There is one more neat feature that is worth considering. It could be you don’t want the spouse or kids to know what you’ve ordered for that birthday or Christmas surprise.
In these instances, you can disable what details Alexa gives out, this means that Alexa won’t announce that “Your My Little Pony gift set arrives tomorrow.”
The steps required to activate this option are detailed below:
- Open the Alexa app or log on to the Alexa Web Portal
- Navigate to the Settings menu
- Select Notifications, then Amazon Shopping
- In the Say or Show section, you have two options. You can either turn it off for all items to be delivered, or just those that were marked as gifts or due to be delivered over major holidays.
Those gifts and personal items will now arrive without Alexa announcing to the world what you purchased.
ecobee Flashing Blue Light – What Does It Mean?
Similar to Alexa’s flashing lights, if your ecobee thermostat is showing a flashing blue light, it means that Alexa is listening and waiting for a command.
At this point, you can issue any number of commands to Alexa. These can include:
- Thermostat commands – e.g. “Alexa turn the temperature down,” or, “Alexa switch the heating on.”
- Entertainment – e.g. “Alexa, play (Radio Station),” or, “Alexa, play music by (artist name)”.
- Information – e.g. “Alexa, what is the weather forecast?” or, “Alexa, what are the news headlines?”
- Fun – e.g. “Alexa, tell me a joke,” or, “Alexa, let’s have a quiz.” (more Alexa Easter Eggs)
To activate Alexa’s listening mode, simply say the wake word, in most instances, this is “Alexa.” You can also change Alexa’s wake word if you want.
If Alexa doesn’t activate when you say the wake word, you may have to move closer to your ecobee thermostat. It might’ve been the built-in microphone didn’t pick up your voice.
Alternatively, you can activate Alexa by trying the Push to Talk button on your ecobee thermostat’s home screen.
This is done by tapping the microphone icon located in the bottom-left corner of the screen and then tap on the Push to Talk button. Alexa should now be activated.
Can I Stop Alexa From Listening?
You can stop Alexa from listening by deactivating your smart thermostat’s microphone. You can activate Privacy Mode by tapping the microphone icon and toggling the On/Off switch to Off.
Performing this action will activate a red light at the top of the thermostat. This is the light I will cover next.
ecobee Flashing Red Light – What Does It Mean?
If you see a Red Light at the top of your thermostat, then this means that Alexa voice commands are turned off and Alexa isn’t listening for the wake word.
To turn Alexa back on, tap the Microphone icon on the bottom left of the home screen and toggle the On/Off button to the On position.
If you’re having problems with your ecobee, try these troubleshooting articles:
