Hi, I just got the IoTaWatt and am trying to configure it before putting it in my subpanel. Unfortunately I seem to be having WiFi connection issues.
I’ve tried a combination of a 2.4GHz only SSID and a 2.4/5GHz SSID. My latest attempt with the mixed 2.4/5GHz SSID seems to be a little more reliable. But once in a while on power-cycle it still does not connect, and I have to power-cycle a few times. I guess it does not continually retry? Any other suggestions to allow me to not have to continually power-cycle when it does not connect? Worst case I can add a smart plug to the adapter, I suppose. It’s just a little inconvenient.
I’m in a connected state now, and when I go to status, it’s reporting an RSSI of -67 / -68. Given that and from what I read in other comments, it sounds like the IoTaWatt is probably not going to work if I put it in the subpanel? So my guess is I’ll probably have to setup a repeater. I do have an Asus RT-AX92U, currently only running in a single router configuration. But I can setup a mesh if I need. Has anyone seen any issues with the IoTaWatt running in a mesh WiFi configuration? (I have seen other devices not like it so much).
Thanks
The IoTaWatt is not certified for installation inside a panel. That is a whole different ballgame. Also, as you suggest, it’s not a reliable WiFi environment.
To address your connection issues, I’d like to see the message log.
Looking at the logs, I see that where I was setting it up, the RSSI (when it connected) was between -68 and -76. I think I saw in other posts that -70dB was getting into bad territory. Fortunately I managed to get it installed in a location where I’m getting -55dB pretty consistently, so I think I’m good. I agree with others though that it’s probably worth a warning somewhere in the product description about the WiFi being weaker than other commercial products. It wouldn’t have affected my purchase, but it would’ve been good to know.
The only thing I’m noticing additional issue I’m seeing is it doesn’t seem to be respecting my DHCP servers change of IP address. I even power-cycled the unit and it doesn’t take the new IP. It’s not a big deal as I was trying to assign it a fixed IP anyway, but a little weird.
My mistake on the DHCP issue. I used the Soft AP MAC address rather the Station MAC address when I tried to fix the IP. Now that I fixed it, it’s working fine! I have it integrated with HomeAssistant and am generating cool graphs now. Yay!
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