I have a Gen3 Rachio Controller which I’ve owned for several years. All was well until I activated the controller (or took it off standby this year). It’s constantly disconnecting from the wifi network. Wifi problems suck (since there are a lot of variables) however I have 4 wireless access points in my house (2 of them probably within 100 ft of the controller). I can log onto the access point controller software and the software shows my the rachio device and has a warning about excessive latency. The iOS app either shows no connection or 4 bars (nothing in between). I can sometimes control the watering zones and other times the controller is offline. I’ve changed nothing about my wireless setup in the last 3 years. I reconnected the controller to the wireless network, however that only worked for about a day until same crap started happening. Is there a firmware update that messed with the wireless of this device or is there a firmware update I can apply? A smart watering system with connectivity issues is the worst since schedules are skipped and never run.
Would I be wrong in guessing mesh WiFi network?
No – definitely no janky mesh. I’m using pfSense router wired to 4 Unifi-Ac-Pro. The controller is on the IoT Vlan. Within the Unifi Controller software, I can see the AP which the Rachio Controller connects. It doesn’t look at all as if the Rachio Controller is jumping back and forth between APs. The Rachio Controller is in the garage and the AP is located on the ceiling within the room directly above the garage. The floor is a typical wood floor, wood studs with the only metal nearby might be the garage door assembly attached to the roof of the garage. It’s weird since this configuration has changed in like 3 years (no construction or remodeling within the house), and I know this is the AP the the Rachio controller usually connects with (not others). With other wireless devices in the garage (like phone or tablet), it states I’m getting 4 bars (which I’m aware isn’t a measure of signal intensity since its a relative scale) however it does show that wireless signal at least within the garage isn’t lacking. I’ve reset the network settings on the Rachio now a few times. I’m running firmware version iro3-firmware-hk-5-632 with RSSI -67 on band 5
Based on my experience: check the DTIM period on your IoT WiFi network. It should be 1. I find that most IoT devices cannot deal with a DTIM period of 3, which phones usually need to keep battery consumption down.
P.S./edit: UniFi changed a bunch of my settings when it upgraded to Network 7.x. It’s possible yours may have changed, explaining why it’s a new development. I don’t know. Just guessing.
I’m assuming this Rachio IoT device uses 2.4GHz to connect rather than 5Ghz. For the 2.4GHz band, DTIM 2G Period is set to 1. For DTIM 5g its set at 3.
It has 5GHz capability — the UniFi controller can show you whether it’s connected at 2.4 or 5. My IoT WiFi network is 2.4 only.
Never mind — you said band 5, that’s 2.4GHz. I don’t have any other ideas at the moment, sorry.
Yea its on channel 6 which is 2.4Ghz. All the other devices are on channel 44 connected to the same access point (like iPads and such). Heck even the nest thermostats are on 5Ghz.
Thanks for your help. Disappointed there isn’t a wired option.
@kevdog - the UniFi minimum speed settings gave my WiFi thermostats fits. If that is enabled, you might try disabling that option in the UniFi WiFi network settings.
Minimum bit rate control is disabled both for 2.4 and 5Ghz bands.
Grasping at straws: have you rebooted the APs and the pfsense?