I left it running overnight.
Teminal.txt.pdf (182.5 KB)
screenshot of the end of the above PDF
I also wired my home with Ethernet so if it can be plugged in it is. Like the five AirPort base stations around my house.
Networking use to be only for college graduates and as things get smarter it’s filtering down to us common folk. I wonder if other devices on any given network or adversely affecting the Rachio connection…?
Every time I run this test it is exactly the same, over and over. I still don’t know why my stuff just works? The LEVITON’s do great, the Rachio does great? But why why why? Router?
Like I said before, I am having issues with my IKEA Trådfri Gateway. I am going to try to figure out how to use Wireshark on my pfSense appliance. I’ll do the same for the Rachio to see, whether I can detect anything that’s amiss.
IKEA’s tech support beyond how to screw pieces of furniture together is non-existent, even though they should have a pretty sizable home automation market share, based on their ubiquity and their components’ price points.
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I used to do Mac tech work. I still remember the days of LocalTalk using phone cables and then came Thinnet and then Ethernet and then fiber.I also used to admin linux servers. I was in the Apple Solutions Team of experts. I’m self taught but really good and this stuff and used to admin the Mac departments of businesses. I also have a Masters in HVAC and hold a state licenses that a local AC company operates under. Grew up in the family HVAC biz.
The only issues I’ve had are the Rachio.until I got a Logictech doorbell that would get hot and cycle off. This is a common problem with it and a firmware update is coming out but I fixed mine by moving a wifi basestation right next to it in the window at my front door. Oddly it gets hot if it has a less than perfect wifi signal.
Wow, great life experiences Tzterri! So when the doorbell radio is working overtime it creates heat? hmmm…
At one point during all of this Rachio testing, I moved one of my synology mesh node’s out of my garage to the master bedroom (closer to outside wifi camera’s) but further away from the Rachio. It’s 2.4 GHz signal dropped from 5 bars to 2 bars where it stays today… The controller seems to work well either way… My limited knowledge (and guessing) tells me that signal strength is not necessarily all that important for the Rachio in my case?
It seems that the 5-632 firmware is not working as designed for some folks but works well for me - in ways I just don’t understand…
Tzterri wrote: Oddly it gets hot if it has a less than perfect wifi signal.
It’ll be cranking up the RF power to try to reach the far distant Wi-Fi access point.
Other than the fiber setup, mine is the same. And experiencing the exact issue. Removed from HomeKit and tried re-adding. I even disconnected all the mesh beacons and only kept the home base on to try and re-add to HomeKit. The first time it worked about a year ago but then stopped responding in the home app. So tried the same steps and NOTHING!
Assume it was the firmware update!
Here if you want to read about the doorbell issues.
Mine has been fine since moving an WiFi into the window next to it.
PS: my Rachio is also less than six feet from another WiFi base station.
I know this is off topic but so far in warm California with direct sun in the morning my Circle doorbell has been faultless and perhaps that’s because it’s only 10 feet from an eero.
On topic, if HomeKit worked as advertised I’d buy a 16 station Gen 3 in a heartbeat. But I’m going to wait as I also don’t care for the App interfaces & irrigation paradigms of competitor controllers at all. Until then I’m happy with my Gen 2 8 Zone Controller and just the Rachio app.
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Mine was also the same each time I ran the command. But leaving it running overnight gave me a much different result.
Try leaving it running overnight and see what you get.
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The GE/Jamco switches ( I’ve mostly used their Z-wave toggles ) have worked sell for me. I especially like the fact that they look like a regular toggle switch.
There are some other brands as well. I like the fact that they don’t get out of sync ( like a 3-way switch ) since they self center. They provide the mechanical backup in case network goes out. Yes, z-wave, but I’ve found that a SmartThings hub with the home kit bridging set up is a very useful homekit accessory. It’s enabled me to utilize all of the previous accessories that I had with my Wink set up. It also gives me the option to purchase cheaper Zigbee and Zwave accessories when the direct homekit sensor is priced stupidly expensive.
Yes, this can be a common problem with WiFi ( or other radio devices —I’ve helped design WiFi products and AP/routers etc. for a number of years )
What happens is that if the config isn’t right for when it’s near the edge of its range it drops and tries to repeatedly reconnect. A normal reconnect causes the radio to switch to a more active transmit power mode — to describe it simply ). This causes higher emissions which basically heat up the device. When done properly if it doesn’t connect it will sleep a random interval and try again. When done wrong it can keep the radio on — radio waves, like other electromagnetic waves, generate heat as they pass thru materials.
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This terminal command I found gives interesting results.
dns-sd -Z _homekit._tcp local
Also found this Reddit thread
Also this HomeKit troubleshooting page.I might try turning off auto channel after reading it.
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There actually was an update from Franz!
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Thanks for the update Dane
Is there a reliable way to contact Franz?
That’s interesting. Mine has never connected to 5GHz band, only 2.4. Eero uses the same SSID for both bands. There is an option called band steering that switches devices to 5GHz if available but never worked for Rachio…
I just checked again and the Rachio is still hanging out on 5Ghz-2. I moved a Synology router node to the garage and turned on traffic control with the Rachio on high priority… It’s been rock solid since. The terminal command shows a really fast connection. With the node in another location I would see the Rachio on 2.4 most of the time with a weaker signal (which makes sense that it would move to 2.4 with distance and walls). I will leave things like this a while and watch.
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