Smart Switches - Constantly Going Offline

[zeroDegree]

Hi Everyone,

I recently switched from a setup of Asus AC3100 (primary) and a wired Tplink AC2600 (access point) to a setup of Asus AC2900 (primary) and Asus AC3100 (AiMesh Node) setup. I re-added all my Decora Smart Switches in the app but they constantly goes offline. They will work for a day and again they will go offline.

I have noticed this behaviour will my tp-link kasa plugs, my tasmota switches, and my wyze cameras.

Anyone have any tips on what I can do? The are on the 2G network and this is the setup I have for the 2G.

What can I change? is AiMesh reliable or switch back to AP mode?

 

[zeroDegree]

Restarting the primary router AC2900 does bring these devices back online. But this is not the ideal solution at all...

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hi Everyone,

I recently switched from a setup of Asus AC3100 (primary) and a wired Tplink AC2600 (access point) to a setup of Asus AC2900 (primary) and Asus AC3100 (AiMesh Node) setup. I re-added all my Decora Smart Switches in the app but they constantly goes offline. They will work for a day and again they will go offline.

I have noticed this behaviour will my tp-link kasa plugs, my tasmota switches, and my wyze cameras.

Anyone have any tips on what I can do? The are on the 2G network and this is the setup I have for the 2G.

View attachment 27317

What can I change? is AiMesh reliable or switch back to AP mode?

20 MHz bandwidth is advisable to not step on neighboring 2.4 WiFi and vice-versa.

I would set a fixed, least-congested channel like 1,6,11 (US) or 1,4,9,13 to stop auto channel changes and to avoid neighboring 2.4 WiFi interference.

I would also disable Wireless\Professional\ Airtime Fairness and Universal Beamforming per band. And, if running latest AC2900 (AC86U) firmware with new SDK that seems to have stronger WiFi signals, try raising the Roaming Assistant 2.4 RSSI threshold to about -62.

OE

 

[zeroDegree]

20 MHz bandwidth is advisable to not step on neighboring 2.4 WiFi and vice-versa.

I would set a fixed, least-congested channel like 1,6,11 (US) or 1,4,9,13 to stop auto channel changes and to avoid neighboring 2.4 WiFi interference.

I would also disable Wireless\Professional\ Airtime Fairness and Universal Beamforming per band. And, if running latest AC2900 (AC86U) firmware with new SDK that seems to have stronger WiFi signals, try raising the Roaming Assistant 2.4 RSSI threshold to about -62.

OE

Just reporting back. It has been stable and no lost connection since I applied these settings. Thank you very much for this help!

 

[OzarkEdge]

Just reporting back. It has been stable and no lost connection since I applied these settings. Thank you very much for this help!

Cool! Keep your fingers crossed... WiFi is hard! And IoT can be problematic... easier to sell than to secure and maintain, imo.

OE

 

[zeroDegree]

I wanted to respond after I had tested this more. So looks like this issue is not gone. Basically any IoT devices that connect to the AiMesh Node is losing the connection and going offline. Making the changes has made the connection stay on 2-3 days but afterwards it gets dropped. All 3 in the AiMesh Node are offline. But the IoT devices on the Main router is not disconnected.

 

[zeroDegree]

I also just turned off firewall on the router to see if that helps.

 

[ecantona9]

Hi Everyone,

I recently switched from a setup of Asus AC3100 (primary) and a wired Tplink AC2600 (access point) to a setup of Asus AC2900 (primary) and Asus AC3100 (AiMesh Node) setup. I re-added all my Decora Smart Switches in the app but they constantly goes offline. They will work for a day and again they will go offline.

I have noticed this behaviour will my tp-link kasa plugs, my tasmota switches, and my wyze cameras.

Anyone have any tips on what I can do? The are on the 2G network and this is the setup I have for the 2G.

View attachment 27317

What can I change? is AiMesh reliable or switch back to AP mode?

How does your Aimesh system work overall disregarding the switches? Does your AC3100 node go offline? I have had the AC3100 as the main and an AC68u as the node, and the node goes offline about 3 to 4 times a day. Thinking about getting a used 86u and making the AC3100 the node like your setup.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I also just turned off firewall on the router to see if that helps.

It might help people to hack into your network.

OE

 

[zeroDegree]

How does your Aimesh system work overall disregarding the switches? Does your AC3100 node go offline? I have had the AC3100 as the main and an AC68u as the node, and the node goes offline about 3 to 4 times a day. Thinking about getting a used 86u and making the AC3100 the node like your setup.

So far I have not had the node go offline. I am using the ethernet backhauld however. However, this device going offline is a pain. I use Home Assistant for automation and random drops are annoying.

 

[zeroDegree]

It might help people to hack into your network.

OE

for sure. but this is just for testing. not sure how to isolate the offline issue.

 

[OzarkEdge]

for sure. but this is just for testing. not sure how to isolate the offline issue.

Toss that IoT thang!

OE

 

[zeroDegree]

Toss that IoT thang!

OE

lol....at time I feel the same. but then again when i have to get up to turn off the light, I fall in love again.

 

[zeroDegree]

Hi Everyone, I might have come across the actual issue finally. So what I did since my above configuration changes, is that I assigned these switches to the DHCP reservation list. However, when I go to the AiMesh and the Node, the switches that are offline have been assigned different IP than that we assigned in the reservation list. I do not know why this is happening. if I click the link icon, I also get this msg:

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hi Everyone, I might have come across the actual issue finally. So what I did since my above configuration changes, is that I assigned these switches to the DHCP reservation list. However, when I go to the AiMesh and the Node, the switches that are offline have been assigned different IP than that we assigned in the reservation list. I do not know why this is happening. if I click the link icon, I also get this msg: View attachment 27722

Since you know best what all is going on there, what is your conclusion/finding exactly?

OE

 

[zeroDegree]

Since you know best what all is going on there, what is your conclusion/finding exactly?

OE

I don't know how to fix it. But going to try and remove the node for a few days to see if it fixes it. Could be a defective unit. If that fixes it, the node is the problem. I can add it back as a AP only.

 

[Smokindog]

Switch to AP mode if you've got wires for backhaul. AiMess offers no benefits with a wired backhaul and introduces issues. Plus you can use whatever "old routers" you want as AP nodes. Another benefit, it's a LOT easier to drop in a replacement for the main router should you have issues.

If the router has no "built in" AP mode, most work just fine by disabling DHCP and use a LAN port for the backhaul link. Easy Peasy! My neighbor needed a connection out in his garage for a "G" device and I found an ancient Airlink101 in the box of old stuff I gave him to use as described. Even it works fine as an AP!!! His garage devices r are thankful

 

[bbunge]

recommend you upgrade the AC86U to current 386-40451 firmware and the AC3100 to the Beta 9.0.0.4.386.40947 (See: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-386-rc2-public-beta-with-full-functions-aimesh-2-0.65235/)
This firmware contains AiMesh 2.0 which works much better than AiMesh 1.0. Use Dual Band SmartConnect on the AC86U with 2.4 GHZ set to channel 1, 6, or 11 at 20 MHZ, the 5 GHZ set to channel 36 or 148 at 80 MHZ. Do not change any other WIFI settings. Use an SSID of letters and a passphrase of letters and numbers only. It may be best to do a factory reset on both routers if things do not work right. You could also install the Merlin 386.1 Alpha 3 builds but a factory reset of both routers would be needed.

 

[zeroDegree]

recommend you upgrade the AC86U to current 386-40451 firmware and the AC3100 to the Beta 9.0.0.4.386.40947 (See: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-386-rc2-public-beta-with-full-functions-aimesh-2-0.65235/)
This firmware contains AiMesh 2.0 which works much better than AiMesh 1.0. Use Dual Band SmartConnect on the AC86U with 2.4 GHZ set to channel 1, 6, or 11 at 20 MHZ, the 5 GHZ set to channel 36 or 148 at 80 MHZ. Do not change any other WIFI settings. Use an SSID of letters and a passphrase of letters and numbers only. It may be best to do a factory reset on both routers if things do not work right. You could also install the Merlin 386.1 Alpha 3 builds but a factory reset of both routers would be needed.

Thank you for the reply. I did this and all the node functions are now available for me. Previously I got the unsupported message. Hopefully this will be better. Going to report back in a few days.

One quick question, in the node I get the following warning. Connections are fine however as I have internet in the node. Is this something to worry about? I have ethernet backhaul and set that as the default for the connection.