diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index ba1f985..1cb1b1d 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 	<groupId>com.armzilla.ha</groupId>
 	<artifactId>amazon-echo-bridge</artifactId>
-	<version>0.1.2</version>
+	<version>0.1.3</version>
 	<packaging>jar</packaging>
 
 	<name>Amazon Echo Bridge</name>
@@ -48,6 +48,11 @@
 			<artifactId>httpclient</artifactId>
 			<version>4.3.6</version>
 		</dependency>
+		<!--<dependency>-->  <!-- was going to use this templating urls but that got bloated -->
+			<!--<groupId>org.freemarker</groupId>-->
+			<!--<artifactId>freemarker</artifactId>-->
+			<!--<version>2.3.22</version>-->
+		<!--</dependency>-->
 	</dependencies>
 	
 	<build>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/armzilla/ha/api/hue/DeviceState.java b/src/main/java/com/armzilla/ha/api/hue/DeviceState.java
index 52af575..38f90e2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/armzilla/ha/api/hue/DeviceState.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/armzilla/ha/api/hue/DeviceState.java
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  */
 public class DeviceState {
     private boolean on;
-    private int bri;
+    private int bri = 255;
     private int hue;
     private int sat;
     private String effect;
@@ -96,4 +96,12 @@ public List<Double> getXy() {
     public void setXy(List<Double> xy) {
         this.xy = xy;
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return "DeviceState{" +
+                "on=" + on +
+                ", bri=" + bri +
+                '}';
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/armzilla/ha/hue/HueMulator.java b/src/main/java/com/armzilla/ha/hue/HueMulator.java
index 3fa207d..e407ff7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/armzilla/ha/hue/HueMulator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/armzilla/ha/hue/HueMulator.java
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 package com.armzilla.ha.hue;
 
 import com.armzilla.ha.api.hue.DeviceResponse;
+import com.armzilla.ha.api.hue.DeviceState;
 import com.armzilla.ha.api.hue.HueApiResponse;
 import com.armzilla.ha.dao.*;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationFeature;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
 import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
 import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
@@ -25,7 +28,6 @@
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.HashMap;
-import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 /**
@@ -35,12 +37,18 @@
 @RequestMapping("/api")
 public class HueMulator {
     private static final Logger log = Logger.getLogger(HueMulator.class);
-    protected static RestTemplate restTemplate = new RestTemplate();
+    private static final String INTENSITY_PERCENT = "${intensity.percent}";
+    private static final String INTENSITY_BYTE = "${intensity.byte}";
     @Autowired
     private DeviceRepository repository;
     private HttpClient httpClient;
+    private ObjectMapper mapper;
+
+
     public HueMulator(){
         httpClient = HttpClients.createDefault(); //patched for now, moving away from HueMulator doing work
+        mapper = new ObjectMapper(); //work around Echo incorrect content type and breaking mapping. Map manually
+        mapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES, false);
     }
 
 
@@ -112,26 +120,53 @@ public ResponseEntity<DeviceResponse> getLigth(@PathVariable(value = "lightId")
     }
 
     @RequestMapping(value = "/{userId}/lights/{lightId}/state", method = RequestMethod.PUT)
-    public ResponseEntity<String> stateChange(@PathVariable(value = "lightId") String lightId, @PathVariable(value = "userId") String userId, HttpServletRequest request, @RequestBody String body) {
+    public ResponseEntity<String> stateChange(@PathVariable(value = "lightId") String lightId, @PathVariable(value = "userId") String userId, HttpServletRequest request, @RequestBody String requestString) {
+        /**
+         * strangely enough the Echo sends a content type of application/x-www-form-urlencoded even though
+         * it sends a json object
+         */
         log.info("hue state change requested: " + userId + " from " + request.getRemoteAddr());
-        log.info("hue stage change body: " + body);
-        String setting;
-        if (body.contains("true")) {
-            setting = "[{\"success\":{\"/lights/" + lightId + "/state/on\":true}}]";
-        } else {
-            setting = "[{\"success\":{\"/lights/" + lightId + "/state/on\":false}}]";
+        log.info("hue stage change body: " + requestString );
+
+        DeviceState state = null;
+        try {
+            state = mapper.readValue(requestString, DeviceState.class);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            log.info("object mapper barfed on input", e);
+            return new ResponseEntity<>(null, null, HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST);
         }
+
         DeviceDescriptor device = repository.findOne(lightId);
         if (device == null) {
             return new ResponseEntity<>(null, null, HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND);
         }
 
+        String responseString;
         String url;
-        if (body.contains("true")) {
+        if (state.isOn()) {
+            responseString = "[{\"success\":{\"/lights/" + lightId + "/state/on\":true}}]";
             url = device.getOnUrl();
         } else {
+            responseString = "[{\"success\":{\"/lights/" + lightId + "/state/on\":false}}]";
             url = device.getOffUrl();
         }
+
+        /* light weight templating here, was going to use free marker but it was a bit too
+        *  heavy for what we were trying to do.
+        *
+        *  currently provides only two variables:
+        *  intensity.byte : 0-255 brightness.  this is raw from the echo
+        *  intensity.percent : 0-100, adjusted for the vera
+        */
+        if(url.contains(INTENSITY_BYTE)){
+            String intensityByte = String.valueOf(state.getBri());
+            url = url.replace(INTENSITY_BYTE, intensityByte);
+        }else if(url.contains(INTENSITY_PERCENT)){
+            int percentBrightness = (int) Math.round(state.getBri()/255.0*100);
+            String intensityPercent = String.valueOf(percentBrightness);
+            url = url.replace(INTENSITY_PERCENT, intensityPercent);
+        }
+
         //make call
         if(!doHttpGETRequest(url)){
             return new ResponseEntity<>(null, null, HttpStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE);
@@ -151,15 +186,17 @@ public ResponseEntity<String> stateChange(@PathVariable(value = "lightId") Strin
         headerMap.set("Content-Type", "application/json");
 
 
-        ResponseEntity<String> entity = new ResponseEntity<>(setting, headerMap, HttpStatus.OK);
+        ResponseEntity<String> entity = new ResponseEntity<>(responseString, headerMap, HttpStatus.OK);
         return entity;
     }
 
-    protected boolean doHttpGETRequest(String url){
+    protected boolean doHttpGETRequest(String url) {
+        log.info("calling GET on URL: " + url);
         HttpGet httpGet = new HttpGet(url);
         try {
             HttpResponse response = httpClient.execute(httpGet);
             EntityUtils.consume(response.getEntity()); //close out inputstream ignore content
+            log.info("GET on URL responded: " + response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode());
             if(response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode() == 200){
                 return true;
             }