Devices goes back in AP mode

[CheapB]

I am struggling to get this to work. After I have spent 3 hours on this I am hoping someone here can help...

Setting up the device
I select the device WIFI AP and go to 1921.168.10.1. I pick my 2.4 network on my Orbi and enter credentials. If goes off AP mode for a bit and then shutoffs and goes back in AP mode. I have tried to turn off the additional Orbi nodes to see if it gets confused by that and even tested another router. On the other router I could see the DHCP server issued an IP but the same behavior by the device. I suspect it does connect to the network but for some reason it doesn’t see the bridge and then goes back to AP mode.

DNS
I have configured DNSMASQ and energysmartwaterheater.com and devices.irissmarthome.com resolves to 10.0.1.10 which is the IP of the RPI with the Homeassistant and the Energy Smart Bridge add-on

MQTT
Mosquito sees the bridge client: 2024-09-10 12:20:04: New client connected from 172.30.32.1:40134 as 509e6d38e91e423e8c641bd2e46c0470 (p2, c1, k15, u'HA').

Energy Smart Bridge
The log reports :
Listing Versions!
nginx version: nginx/1.24.0
EnergySmartBridge.Modules.WebServerModule: 2024-09-10 12:20:04,110 INFO : Listening on http://*:8001/

Any ideas?

[Boohooligan]

Feels like a network issue and not related to the plugin. I don't think anything in this plugin could possibly do that.

The connection you're seeing in MQTT is just from the plugin.

I'd suggest, if it's not already, changing your 2.4G network to 20Mhz channel width. A lot of people have it at 40 but it can cause issues with some older devices. The only reason it would go back into AP mode though is it's losing the network settings or maybe they don't work at all. Mine has never reset back to AP mode even when my WAP has been offline for extended periods.

[CheapB]

Feels like a network issue and not related to the plugin. I don't think anything in this plugin could possibly do that.

The connection you're seeing in MQTT is just from the plugin.

I'd suggest, if it's not already, changing your 2.4G network to 20Mhz channel width. A lot of people have it at 40 but it can cause issues with some older devices. The only reason it would go back into AP mode though is it's losing the network settings or maybe they don't work at all. Mine has never reset back to AP mode even when my WAP has been offline for extended periods.

Thanks for your reply i am travelling atm, but will try to adjust channel width. The other router I tried is 10 years old so i suspect it would be fine and it did get an IP before it restarted and went back to AP mode. the behavior of Returning to AP mode is actually what the documentation says it should do in case it doesn't connect to the cloud service in the initial attempt. Can I use postman to validate the service responds as expected?

[CheapB]

I have changed to 20mhz and the behavior is the same. Is there a way I can test the service bridge with Postman to make sure I have done the setup correctly?

[lkroeker]

Having done a lot of Beta testing for Orbi products, I would guess that that is the main source of your issues. I've had nothing but issues with Netgear networking devices. If you have another router/AP you can set up to test, it would help to narrow down the source of the problem.
I haven't set up my device yet (I'm away from home at the moment, but I just got one to hook up my HW heater), but given the age of the device it may require older WiFi protocols to connect. (a/b/g/n) rather than AC/AX. Often there's a "legacy" checkbox you'll need to select on the WiFi settings.

[Boohooligan]

I'm not sure how you'd troubleshoot this aside from trying another device. My router (UniFi UDM) shows the controller is using Wifi 4. I'm using channel 6 and a 20 Mhz channel width.

My router has been changed out (previously had a Netgear Nighthawk) since originally setting this up and it has never reverted to AP mode even when the network has been out for the better part of a day.

I still think either the device is getting kicked off the network by the router for some reason (incompatible network settings or something) or it's a faulty device and it's resetting itself.

Things to try: Another router if you have one. Get another controller and see if the behavior is the same.

[CheapB]

Having done a lot of Beta testing for Orbi products, I would guess that that is the main source of your issues. I've had nothing but issues with Netgear networking devices. If you have another router/AP you can set up to test, it would help to narrow down the source of the problem. I haven't set up my device yet (I'm away from home at the moment, but I just got one to hook up my HW heater), but given the age of the device it may require older WiFi protocols to connect. (a/b/g/n) rather than AC/AX. Often there's a "legacy" checkbox you'll need to select on the WiFi settings.

Thanks for your response. I have tested with an old router setup in AP mode so it still sees the HA instance with the same result. on Orbi they now have a 2.4 only "IOT network" which works much better for devices that gets confused by 2.4/5 sharing the same SSID. I

[CheapB]

I'm not sure how you'd troubleshoot this aside from trying another device. My router (UniFi UDM) shows the controller is using Wifi 4. I'm using channel 6 and a 20 Mhz channel width.

My router has been changed out (previously had a Netgear Nighthawk) since originally setting this up and it has never reverted to AP mode even when the network has been out for the better part of a day.

I still think either the device is getting kicked off the network by the router for some reason (incompatible network settings or something) or it's a faulty device and it's resetting itself.

Things to try: Another router if you have one. Get another controller and see if the behavior is the same.

Thanks. I have tried an older router with the same result. If I understand the documentation correct, the FIRST time it is connecting it will look for the URLs and if it doesnt find it (or get a proper response) it will revert back. If it has been connected once, I will have the behavior you describe. Thats why I am trying to use Postman to call the service to see if I get the expected response, but I am struggling to find documentation of the API to mimic the call. Anyway - these devices are on $10 or so, so I will get another device from ebay just to rule that out

[Boohooligan]

I'm not sure how you'd troubleshoot this aside from trying another device. My router (UniFi UDM) shows the controller is using Wifi 4. I'm using channel 6 and a 20 Mhz channel width.
My router has been changed out (previously had a Netgear Nighthawk) since originally setting this up and it has never reverted to AP mode even when the network has been out for the better part of a day.
I still think either the device is getting kicked off the network by the router for some reason (incompatible network settings or something) or it's a faulty device and it's resetting itself.
Things to try: Another router if you have one. Get another controller and see if the behavior is the same.

Thanks. I have tried an older router with the same result. If I understand the documentation correct, the FIRST time it is connecting it will look for the URLs and if it doesnt find it (or get a proper response) it will revert back. If it has been connected once, I will have the behavior you describe. Thats why I am trying to use Postman to call the service to see if I get the expected response, but I am struggling to find documentation of the API to mimic the call. Anyway - these devices are on $10 or so, so I will get another device from ebay just to rule that out

Hmm, well, if that's the case I would suggest that the DNS redirection isn't working for the device or the energy smart bridge isn't able to use 443 on home assistant for some reason like another service is using it. Unfortunately I don't know if that can be remapped and still work but my guess would be not.

That said, I connected mine to my network before any of this ever worked and didn't have problems with it reverting. Your mileage may vary but I wouldn't rule out a bad device as a potential.

Wireshark might be what you need to listen in on the network to see what's happening.

[CheapB]

I'm not sure how you'd troubleshoot this aside from trying another device. My router (UniFi UDM) shows the controller is using Wifi 4. I'm using channel 6 and a 20 Mhz channel width.
My router has been changed out (previously had a Netgear Nighthawk) since originally setting this up and it has never reverted to AP mode even when the network has been out for the better part of a day.
I still think either the device is getting kicked off the network by the router for some reason (incompatible network settings or something) or it's a faulty device and it's resetting itself.
Things to try: Another router if you have one. Get another controller and see if the behavior is the same.

Thanks. I have tried an older router with the same result. If I understand the documentation correct, the FIRST time it is connecting it will look for the URLs and if it doesnt find it (or get a proper response) it will revert back. If it has been connected once, I will have the behavior you describe. Thats why I am trying to use Postman to call the service to see if I get the expected response, but I am struggling to find documentation of the API to mimic the call. Anyway - these devices are on $10 or so, so I will get another device from ebay just to rule that out

Hmm, well, if that's the case I would suggest that the DNS redirection isn't working for the device or the energy smart bridge isn't able to use 443 on home assistant for some reason like another service is using it. Unfortunately I don't know if that can be remapped and still work but my guess would be not.

That said, I connected mine to my network before any of this ever worked and didn't have problems with it reverting. Your mileage may vary but I wouldn't rule out a bad device as a potential.

Wireshark might be what you need to listen in on the network to see what's happening.

[CheapB]

Got a new device. This time it is Kenmore branded. It connects to the network and show up at in the Kenmore app with mode and temp setting correct. changing temp in the kenmore app fails, but not really concerned about that atm. suspect Kenmore uses a different url will try trace with WS

[CheapB]

I turned off the DNS rerouting to the local energy Smart bridge to test how it worked OOB and the app shows status of temperature and mode, but any update fails.. It is on the network and I can log into the webserver of the device to check the wifi settings, but I see very little traffic in wireshark as per below, so in essence it seems like this is setup for local control only. I checked by taking my iphone off the wifi and in fact the kenmore app could not see the waterheater.