Sonoff switch with Tasmota - Asus Aimesh - connection problem

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ilker Aktuna

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Oct 15, 2021, 1:34:21 AM10/15/21
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Hi,

I have an Asus Aimesh mesh system with 1 router and 3 mini ax nodes at home.
Basically AX88U and 3 Zenwifi mini ax 

My sonoff switch with Tasmota 9.5.0  is between 2 nodes and has a good cover of the 2.4Ghz wifi ssid.

After an electric cut in the house, the device could not reconnect.
Several hours later, I tried to manually connect and it did not work.
Then I made a factory reset and tried to re-associate. In the first 2 attempts it could see the ssid but could not connect.
I then made a configuration reset , restarted mesh nodes. Finally it could connect.

But now I'm anxious that it might fall into same state after another electric cut.
Is this a known configuration issue ?
How should I configure it so that it could connect.

Btw, none of my other 30+ wifi clients at home had such issue at the same electric cut.

Regards.

Philip Knowles

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Oct 15, 2021, 3:11:09 AM10/15/21
to ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers
I suspect (but can't prove) that the mesh and Tasmota are fighting each other.
Tasmota was connected to Hub1. The mesh wants Tasmota to connect to Hub 2  so it forcibly disconnects Tasmota from Hub1 but Tasmota can still see it and tries to reconnect. Eventually it sees Hub2 and the correct WiFi SSID but it has the wrong MAC address so sees this as a spoofing attempt and refuses to connect.
Tasmota could help if, when scanning for WiFi, it showed the MAC addresses so that you could select Hub 1 as AP1 and Hub2 as AP2.
I will emphasise (again) that I have experienced the same issues with Shelly, Broadlink and TP-Link devices on my mesh. Every other day or so I after a power outage I will lose 1 device which I need to restart to get it back online. The devices are all ones which are midway between mesh Hubs. After they've all been reconnected it's fine until the next power cut. One thing that definitely helped was putting the main Hub and the router on a UPS. I think devices were connecting to Hubs before the internet connection had been re-established and they couldn't find the NTP Server.
It's not just Tasmota.

From: sonof...@googlegroups.com <sonof...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of ilker Aktuna <ilker...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2021 6:34:21 AM
To: TasmotaUsers <sonof...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Sonoff switch with Tasmota - Asus Aimesh - connection problem
 
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ilker Aktuna

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Oct 15, 2021, 3:20:53 AM10/15/21
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This scenario is reasonable at some point. And Tasmota shows 2 mac addresses for wifi ssid when I scan on it. So I can configure it as you suggest (1st try 1st hub, then 2nd hub)
But I could not understand why " The mesh wants Tasmota to connect to Hub 2  so it forcibly disconnects Tasmota from Hub1 " 
The mesh should not force Tasmota to connect to any hub. It is not configured that way.

On the other hand, I agree that putting the devices (router and mesh) on UPS would help but I can only put the main router on UPS. For nodes, I can't do that.
And the main router is really away from the Tasmota device. So UPS won't help in my case.

What else can I try ?
Btw, it really is occuring only on Tasmota. I have a Alexa Echo device very close to the Tasmota device and it never has any such problem.

ilker Aktuna

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Oct 15, 2021, 3:22:44 AM10/15/21
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Btw, I just checked; Tasmota shows 1 ssid with 2 MAC addresses. But it does not allow me to choose them individually.

Philip Knowles

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Oct 15, 2021, 7:06:55 AM10/15/21
to ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers

All meshes ‘forcibly disconnect’ devices it’s what they are designed to do. Mobile devices tend to hang on to the original AP that they connect to despite the signal quality falling. They will only connect to a different AP when they are forced to so meshes disconnect devices to make them join onto another hub.

Many mesh hubs are limited to 16 devices if one hub has a lot and another a few and a device is in range of both the mesh will often disconnect a device to make it join the other hub to even the load.

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

From: ilker Aktuna
Sent: 15 October 2021 08:22
To: TasmotaUsers
Subject: Re: Sonoff switch with Tasmota - Asus Aimesh - connection problem

 

Btw, I just checked; Tasmota shows 1 ssid with 2 MAC addresses. But it does not allow me to choose them individually.

 

On Friday, 15 October 2021 at 10:20:53 UTC+3 ilker Aktuna wrote:

This scenario is reasonable at some point. And Tasmota shows 2 mac addresses for wifi ssid when I scan on it. So I can configure it as you suggest (1st try 1st hub, then 2nd hub)

But I could not understand why " The mesh wants Tasmota to connect to Hub 2  so it forcibly disconnects Tasmota from Hub1 " 

The mesh should not force Tasmota to connect to any hub. It is not configured that way.

 

On the other hand, I agree that putting the devices (router and mesh) on UPS would help but I can only put the main router on UPS. For nodes, I can't do that.

And the main router is really away from the Tasmota device. So UPS won't help in my case.

 

What else can I try ?

Btw, it really is occuring only on Tasmota. I have a Alexa Echo device very close to the Tasmota device and it never has any such problem.

 

On Friday, 15 October 2021 at 10:11:09 UTC+3 knowles...@gmail.com wrote:

I suspect (but can't prove) that the mesh and Tasmota are fighting each other.

Tasmota was connected to Hub1. The mesh wants Tasmota to connect to Hub 2  so it forcibly disconnects Tasmota from Hub1 but Tasmota can still see it and tries to reconnect. Eventually it sees Hub2 and the correct WiFi SSID but it has the wrong MAC address so sees this as a spoofing attempt and refuses to connect.

Tasmota could help if, when scanning for WiFi, it showed the MAC addresses so that you could select Hub 1 as AP1 and Hub2 as AP2.

I will emphasise (again) that I have experienced the same issues with Shelly, Broadlink and TP-Link devices on my mesh. Every other day or so I after a power outage I will lose 1 device which I need to restart to get it back online. The devices are all ones which are midway between mesh Hubs. After they've all been reconnected it's fine until the next power cut. One thing that definitely helped was putting the main Hub and the router on a UPS. I think devices were connecting to Hubs before the internet connection had been re-established and they couldn't find the NTP Server.

It's not just Tasmota.

 

From: sonof...@googlegroups.com <sonof...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of ilker Aktuna <ilker...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2021 6:34:21 AM
To: TasmotaUsers <sonof...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Sonoff switch with Tasmota - Asus Aimesh - connection problem

 

Hi,

 

I have an Asus Aimesh mesh system with 1 router and 3 mini ax nodes at home.

Basically AX88U and 3 Zenwifi mini ax 

 

My sonoff switch with Tasmota 9.5.0  is between 2 nodes and has a good cover of the 2.4Ghz wifi ssid.

 

After an electric cut in the house, the device could not reconnect.

Several hours later, I tried to manually connect and it did not work.

Then I made a factory reset and tried to re-associate. In the first 2 attempts it could see the ssid but could not connect.

I then made a configuration reset , restarted mesh nodes. Finally it could connect.

 

But now I'm anxious that it might fall into same state after another electric cut.

Is this a known configuration issue ?

How should I configure it so that it could connect.

 

Btw, none of my other 30+ wifi clients at home had such issue at the same electric cut.

 

Regards.

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ilker Aktuna

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Oct 15, 2021, 3:50:54 PM10/15/21
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Ok. So what can I do as a solution ? Other than using a UPS on the mesh nodes ...

Philip Knowles

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Oct 15, 2021, 5:37:36 PM10/15/21
to ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers

You could try switching the busiest hub off and connect the Tasmota to the other hub as AP1.  If that doesn’t improve matters switch the hub off and then connect to the busy hub as AP2. That may then let Tasmota switch hubs if the mesh wants to.

ilker Aktuna

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Oct 16, 2021, 8:42:47 AM10/16/21
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ok. that's a good idea. But how do you select "same" ssid other access point for AP2 ?
let's say I turned of first access point and now there's only second one available.
when I scan it shows the ssid with mac address of the second access point. how do I make it go into the second AP setting ?

Philip Knowles

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Oct 16, 2021, 2:51:30 PM10/16/21
to ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers

Just type it into the 2nd AP place. I think that Tasmota links the MAC address with the SSID so when you place it in the second slot they are different (although they obviously look the same). It’s worth a try.

ilker Aktuna

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Oct 16, 2021, 4:09:02 PM10/16/21
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ok. I've just done that. Let's see if it will help.

Btw, on https://tasmota.github.io/docs/Commands/ , there is a WifiConfig setting.
Maybe 4 or 5 would help ?

Philip Knowles

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Oct 16, 2021, 5:42:02 PM10/16/21
to ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers

The default is WiFiConfig 4. 5 may make things worse

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ilker Aktuna

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Oct 21, 2021, 4:56:21 PM10/21/21
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after doing what you suggested, it is better. But it still loses connection sometimes.
I really don't understand why the firmware does not bring a solution to this...

there is also a "bind to this mesh node" feature on my mesh system. I tried binding to a node previously but it did not solve my issue.
maybe combining with a specific config. would it help ?

Philip Knowles

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Oct 21, 2021, 5:08:35 PM10/21/21
to ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers

There are lots of ESP8266 firmwares with this issue. The issue is the underlying library

It is a known issue. Some repeaters don't work well with the Arduino Core for ESP8266. Tasmota is built on top of the Arduino Core. And the Arduino core uses the SDK provided by Espressif (the manufacturer of the ESP8266) that is a closed source SDK. So, neither us nor the Arduino core team can solve this issue. Espressif won't open source their libraries and also the actual SDK type (NonOs) is no longer with support/fixes/development by them. Espressif have moved to RTOS Type and the Arduino core haven't moved to it yet because it requires a full rewrite of all the Arduino Core (too much work for a free open source project).

 

A possible solution from one person is

My solution: Activating the MAC-Filter in my AVM Fritz!Box Client, so that all Tasmota-Clients only connect to the Mesh Master.

ilker Aktuna

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Oct 21, 2021, 5:13:22 PM10/21/21
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but my mesh system does not have a mac filter per mesh node.
However, as I wrote , there is a "bind to this node" feature. It normally would do the same trick wouldn't ?

On the other hand, if this is a Tasmota issue coming from Arduino core, should I try another firmware ?
There is another firmware that I had previously used. I'm not sure if it is based on Arduino or not.

Philip Knowles

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Oct 21, 2021, 5:20:59 PM10/21/21
to ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers

I would think it would achieve the same thing as the MAC filter. Most firmwares are based on the Espressif SDK but may cope differently with the problem. I have some Shelly devices which suffer the same and made it slightly better by reducing the numbers on each node.

 

Regards

 

Phil K

ilker Aktuna

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Oct 28, 2021, 11:44:09 AM10/28/21
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I could not find a good solution to this.
I really wonder if same will happen with a non-tasmota firmware on same device.
any chance ?

As a last resort, I will try moving one of the mesh nodes a little away. Would 2 meters make any difference ?

Philip Knowles

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Oct 28, 2021, 11:55:48 AM10/28/21
to ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers

I have a similar issue with a couple of Shelly devices and one running Open MQTT Gateway. The other day a Google Home Hub and my Trio Smart Meter display dropped off the mesh which was resolved by powering them off.

The Tasmota (and Shelly) devices that remain in the same state for long periods seem worse affected. If you have the TelePeriod at the default shortening it to a minute may help but no promises.

ilker Aktuna

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Oct 28, 2021, 8:28:25 PM10/28/21
to TasmotaUsers
what is teleperiod ?

Philip Knowles

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Oct 29, 2021, 12:57:58 AM10/29/21
to ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers
The length of time between MQTT messages. It defaults to 300 seconds. Set in the Logging page
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2021 1:28:25 AM
To: TasmotaUsers <sonof...@googlegroups.com>

Andrew Russell

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Oct 29, 2021, 4:26:25 AM10/29/21
to Philip Knowles, ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers
Similar, but maybe more effective than tele period, and might be worth a try: SetOption41 45
This will send out a gratuitous arp every 45 seconds. That helps to keep routers etc aware of your presence.

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sonoffusers/7E831D75-3494-4506-AAE3-560BCC53E1F4%40hxcore.ol.

Philip Knowles

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Oct 29, 2021, 4:27:10 AM10/29/21
to Andrew Russell, ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers

Good idea

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

ilker Aktuna

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Oct 30, 2021, 6:25:42 PM10/30/21
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my tasmota switch is normally turned off. It is connected to a zigbee device which turns on the power to tasmota device when motion is detected.
So , "the tasmota device" is normally off and powered on by demand. I believe in this situation setting a frequent arp or  frequent mqtt messages won't help because my issue occurs when the device is "powered on"

I'm still wondering if using another firmware on this device would help.
I need your idea because previously you said tasmota is using Arduino core and the problem comes from Arduino implementation. So is there any chance that the other firmware I found may be "not using Arduino core" ?

Philip Knowles

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Oct 31, 2021, 1:39:15 AM10/31/21
to ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers
The Arduino core is based on Espressif's (the manufacturer of the ESP8266) SDK so it's most likely that all other firmware's will be based on the same.
It would've helped if you had mentioned the minor issue of it attempting to rejoin the mesh at the beginning. The device isn't been forced to switch by the mesh. It's attempting to rejoin and the mesh looks at its load levels and decides which hub to let it join.
You may get better results by using GPIO16 and putting the ESP8266 into 'deep sleep' mode rather than powering it off.
Unless you are trying to conserve battey power (which again it would've helpful to let us know) you would be better leaving the 8266 powered on.
A full description of what you are trying to achieve would help us to resolve this
Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2021 11:25:42 PM
To: TasmotaUsers <sonof...@googlegroups.com>

ilker Aktuna

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Oct 31, 2021, 1:01:29 PM10/31/21
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ok. let me try to explain.

there is only 2 power lines in my bathroom. First is used for power outlet (hairdrye etc.)
The second one is attached to 2 devices which work simultaneously. The ceiling lamp and the ventilator.
So, normally when the ceiling lamp is turned on, ventilator starts.

I have this power line controlled by a zigbee switch. It is triggered by a motion sensor.
So when there is motion, the zigbee switch turns on the ceiling lamp which means also the ventilator starts.

To stop the ventilator when I don't want it running, I attached a  esp switch (the tasmota device) to the input of the ventilator.

So, it can not receive power all the time. Because the ceiling lamp will be shut off when there is no motion.
Now, I hope you can understand why the tasmota device needs to be powered on "when needed" 

any suitable solution ?

Philip Knowles

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Oct 31, 2021, 1:51:00 PM10/31/21
to ilker Aktuna, TasmotaUsers

Well, I’d replace the Tasmota device with a Shelly 1 as its inputs will accept mains voltages (you could flash it with Tasmota if you wish). Power the Shelly permanently from the live input to the ZiigBee and connect the output from the ZigBee to the SW input on the Shelly

You could also look at the Sonoff ZBMINI which could be bound to the PIR

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

From: ilker Aktuna
Sent: 31 October 2021 17:01
To: TasmotaUsers
Subject: Re: Sonoff switch with Tasmota - Asus Aimesh - connection problem

 

ok. let me try to explain.

 

there is only 2 power lines in my bathroom. First is used for power outlet (hairdrye etc.)

The second one is attached to 2 devices which work simultaneously. The ceiling lamp and the ventilator.

So, normally when the ceiling lamp is turned on, ventilator starts.

 

I have this power line controlled by a zigbee switch. It is triggered by a motion sensor.

So when there is motion, the zigbee switch turns on the ceiling lamp which means also the ventilator starts.

 

To stop the ventilator when I don't want it running, I attached a  esp switch (the tasmota device) to the input of the ventilator.

 

So, it can not receive power all the time. Because the ceiling lamp will be shut off when there is no motion.

Now, I hope you can understand why the tasmota device needs to be powered on "when needed" 

 

any suitable solution ?

On Sunday, 31 October 2021 at 08:39:15 UTC+3 knowles...@gmail.com wrote:

The Arduino core is based on Espressif's (the manufacturer of the ESP8266) SDK so it's most likely that all other firmware's will be based on the same.

It would've helped if you had mentioned the minor issue of it attempting to rejoin the mesh at the beginning. The device isn't been forced to switch by the mesh. It's attempting to rejoin and the mesh looks at its load levels and decides which hub to let it join.

You may get better results by using GPIO16 and putting the ESP8266 into 'deep sleep' mode rather than powering it off.

Unless you are trying to conserve battey power (which again it would've helpful to let us know) you would be better leaving the 8266 powered on.

A full description of what you are trying to achieve would help us to resolve this

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ilker Aktuna

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Oct 31, 2021, 3:41:12 PM10/31/21
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The problem is , I don't have separate cables to the input of the ventilator.
Besides, if I'm to install anything new, I would go for another zigbee switch. That would eliminate the wifi mesh issues since it will use the zigbee mesh.

If there's no other solution with the current setup maybe I should seriously consider ordering a new zigbee device.
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