Not connecting to WiFi [RESOLVED]

Hello, I currently have an issue with an IotaWatt not connecting to the local WiFi.

Context

iota1: 3 CTs (100A),1 AC Reference(9v) and 1 Power Supply (5v DC).
iota2: 12 CTs (100A), 1 AC Reference(9v) and 1 Power Supply (5v DC).

Both are in the same room, not right next to each other but WiFi range shouldn’t be an issue.

Detail

Both weren’t connected initially, but after removing the VT from iota1 and giving it a reboot, it was able to connect to the local WiFi. We tried doing the same with the iota2, while we could configure the WiFi through it’s access point it wouldn’t connect to the network, the light would go stay Red too.

Any help on the matter would be appreciated and if you need more info then let me know.

Edit #1
I should also mention that we tried connecting them to the WiFi before they had any CTs or VTs and they had no problem connecting.

Edit #2
It appears the the WiFi signal strength is just too weak and I have to look into using a range extender.
Related comment

If you still have one connecting, could you post the message log?

Have you set a unique device name for one of the two units? They default to “iotawatt” and use that as a hostname when connecting.

Yeah i have a unique name for them. I changed it from “Iotawatt” to “iotaX”, similar to how i labelled them in the original post.

I can’t get the logs until tomorrow morning, sorry about that, I forgot to save them.

I should also mention that we tried connecting them to the WiFi before they had any CTs or VTs and they had no problem connecting.

I’ll wait for that.

Should not matter. We’ll see.

Log file for Iota1 is below. The logs start with everything from 2/12/20 which is when we initially tried to connect it, which it did eventually. I should note that since then it hasn’t been able to reconnect to the WiFi. The IOTAWatts are located in a meter room with a main incomer and many sub-meters. When we brought the two devices into the main building (where the wifi access points are located) both iota1 and iota2 had no issue connecting.

It seems like we might have to include a range extender into the meter room, but if you can spare the time to review the logs to see if there’s anything to help validate my theory it’d be appreciated. The only thing I can see is that the RSSI values are quite high, the initial connection has a value of -79db which is barely acceptable, the second time it connects (when we brought them into the main building) the value is -64 db which is much better.

iota1.txt (32.9 KB)

It does look like a straightforward case of being out of range. Your idea of extending the range should resolve this.

I have a couple of unrelated observations from the log:

You have auto-update set to none andare on release 02_04_02. While this was a solid workhorse release for some time, we’ve moved on with release 5 which has many improvements. I’d recommend you subscribe to MINOR auto update. There are changes in the pipe that address some WiFi issues and an influxDB issue.

I see that even when you did connect at the end, the unit was unable to query influxDB. That may be because of some local problem, or it could be related the issue mentioned above. I cannot tell because the url has been removed.

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I’d recommend you subscribe to MINOR auto update.

Yeah I’ll look into changing it back once we get up and running. I turned off auto-updates, because the version I had was working fine and I didn’t want the possibility of an update interrupting/halting readings.

I see that even when you did connect at the end, the unit was unable to query influxDB.

That’s to be expected, I have the influxdb server running on a Pi. I was initially testing the IOTAWatts and Pi on a different LAN so the influxdb url is from the old network. They’ve now moved location and are trying to connect to a new network. Once we get the IOTAWatts connected to the new network, the first action is to change the influx ip.

Just to close this off and say that it was a signal strength issue. We used a range extender and the devices connected without issue.

I had a look at the logs of some of the devices, when they tried to connect to the WiFi (without the range extender) the signal strength was around -97db, so it obviously must’ve connected initially but the signal was too weak to maintain.

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