Smart plugs going offline - DHCP Discover / Offer loop

[heyrobscott]

I have four Etekcity/VeSync smart wall plugs that I use for various lights in the house, and for the most part they work as intended, but they go offline randomly and I either have to reboot the router, or sometimes just wait it out.

I just noticed today that when the outlets go offline, they go into a DHCP Discover / Offer loop, but never show a Request or Ack. The Discover/Offer repeats every 30 seconds. Below is a log of three of the outlets that were showing offline in VeSync (the fourth was online, they individually or sometimes all go down at random):

Dec  4 10:27:12 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) dc:4f:22:d9:66:f5 
Dec  4 10:27:12 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.236 dc:4f:22:d9:66:f5 
Dec  4 10:27:37 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) dc:4f:22:d8:dc:a8 
Dec  4 10:27:37 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.135 dc:4f:22:d8:dc:a8 
Dec  4 10:27:59 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 2c:3a:e8:40:69:11 
Dec  4 10:27:59 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.115 2c:3a:e8:40:69:11 
Dec  4 10:28:12 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) dc:4f:22:d9:66:f5 
Dec  4 10:28:12 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.236 dc:4f:22:d9:66:f5 
Dec  4 10:28:37 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) dc:4f:22:d8:dc:a8 
Dec  4 10:28:37 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.135 dc:4f:22:d8:dc:a8 
Dec  4 10:28:59 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 2c:3a:e8:40:69:11 
Dec  4 10:28:59 dnsmasq-dhcp[25191]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.115 2c:3a:e8:40:69:11

It repeated every 30 seconds all night long, and the log did not go back far enough to see what happened before the loop. Sometimes it comes back on its on, and sometimes it takes a router reboot, and sometimes even that doesn’t work.

Any ideas as to what could be causing them to go offline, and does the loop have anything to do with it, or is it just a symptom of an issue on the outlets/client side? Would assigning static IPs have any impact?

Thanks!

 

[CaptnDanLKW]

I've had issues with different vendor's IoT devices as well. However, you dont mention anything about your configuration or devices? What Model, what firmware?

That said, assuming these are 2.4GHz devices, make sure you have a fixed channel and ONLY use 20MHz width... not 40 and not 20/40. YMMV

 

[heyrobscott]

I have two (2) Etekcity ESW01-USA on firmware 2.125 and two (2) Etekcity ESW15-USA on firmware 1.1.22.

Router is RT-AC86u on latest Merlin firmware. Wireless and router settings are almost all default with 2.4 is on channel 11 at 20mhz only. The only tweaks are changing Preamble to Short and disabling beam forming (although I’ve done these two recently and still had the same problems before).

I’ve done factory resets on the outlets, and had a hard time getting them to connect to the WiFi network. Once they were all connected though, they’ve worked pretty well except for these random drops. At this point I’m assuming it’s just an issue with the devices, but I want to ensure it’s not a network configuration issue before I give up on them.

 

[ringlord]

I had something similar with my Tradfri hub.
I have a modem router from my ISP where I had switched off DHCP.
With wireshark I saw this device sending a NACK and I concluded that probably this caused my Tradfri to not use the DHCPOFFER.
So I turned DHCP on in my modem and that fixed the issue (and off in my AP).

TL;DR Are there any other devices on same (V)LAN that maybe send a NACK?

 

[heyrobscott]

TL;DR Are there any other devices on same (V)LAN that maybe send a NACK?

Not that I’m aware of, other than the Etekcity outlets, I have mostly basic and common consumer gear. Roku, Alexa, Sonos. The modem is my personally owned SB6141, which I don’t think even has any customization options. (Provider is Comcast)

I assume that would show up in the logs? I guess I could track it for a few days and do a text search?

 

[heyrobscott]

As a follow up, I changed my 2.4ghz from 20mhz only to 20/40, and this appears to have fixed the problem with the smart plugs. I haven’t noticed any of them showing up as offline over the past few days since I made the change.

I’ll update if it returns, but just wanted to leave this note in case anyone else discovers this thread with the same problem.

 

[brummygit]

I've had similar with a variety of device types. I decided it's a bug and will wait for it to be fixed.

 

[heyrobscott]

One of the plugs was out today, making me think the problem is not fixed.

also, does anyone know why a simple smart plug would need to upload 8gb of data over the course of a month?

I’ve decided to order a pair of Wyze plugs to replace the two regular lights I use. Hopefully it will have less stability issues and strange data usage.

 

[francovilar]

well I have this problem... I also have guest network 1 enabled and thought that was the problem. When this occurs (iot disconnecting) I also have micro sututters playing video games on my wired connection (and sometimes internet is down for a few seconds). Also with two AC86u (one is a Aimesh node).

edit: my iot are shelly devices.

 

[Huib]

I've got a bunch of plugs and run default settings, except for Roaming Assistant and Beamforming (now set to disabled). Tried to change Preamble to short but that was a no-go. Manually set the channel and bandwidth to 20 MHz.

 

[juched]

One of the plugs was out today, making me think the problem is not fixed.

also, does anyone know why a simple smart plug would need to upload 8gb of data over the course of a month?

I’ve decided to order a pair of Wyze plugs to replace the two regular lights I use. Hopefully it will have less stability issues and strange data usage.

View attachment 28713

uhhmmm... no. That is crazy. Perhaps sending all your data back to a malware service???

 

[heyrobscott]

uhhmmm... no. That is crazy. Perhaps sending all your data back to a malware service???

That’s a concern. That’s why I’ve decided to ditch them and move to Wyze plugs.

 

[asmopul]

I had lots of smart devices disconnects with the ac68 fw384.19.
and because I have 2 WAN ip, I rescue my old D-LINK Dir-825 (dd-wrt) and connected all
the smart devices to it. No more disconnects for 4 months , so far. Rock solid.
I use the dir-825 just for that and a couple of old linux boxes, old and slow anyway, but good for playing chess.

 

[aicragleon]

I have 2 Etekcity plugs as well (ESO15-TB and ESW15-USA) and mine would also disconnect from the VeSync app even though they appeared to be connected to the router, an ASUS GT-AX11000 (non pro). I seemed to fix my issue by changing the 2.4ghz signal from N only to auto. We shall see if it stays connected to the app. I also have it on 20/40 MHz width.

 

[Morris]

Try Asus recommendations. They work great for me.

[Wireless Router] How to improve compatibility of IoT device with ASUS WiFi 6(802.11 ax) router? | Official Support | ASUS Global

If no go, try a different brand.