I’ve had an issue ever since installation a few months ago where probably 95% of the time I am unable to access the iotawatt’s interface via a browser. After a reboot I can generally access the page right away. Occasionally I can randomly connect after the device has been on for a while, I can’t pin point why it works sometimes. I’ve put it on a static DHCP IP now, and that is how I’ve been connecting to it ever since I installed (was on 192.168.1.154 since install, just recently switched to 200).
I think the wifi strength is decent (in basement, router is on 2nd story and only goes through 1 vertical wall) since my phone, laptop, and Enphase envoy have good signal strength.
The log looks OK @wighty. I only see a few power failures, which look to be deliberate restarts. Not clear what you are reporting. It sounds like you are saying that you can’t access using iotawatt.local, but can access using the IP address. If that’s the case, it has to do with something in your LAN environment. If you also can’t access with the IP, it is probably something else. Can you confirm the nature of the problem?
The power failures do coincide with me manually power cycling because I wanted to look at the outputs.
No, I can’t connect at all, using either iotawatt.local (I kept the device name the default), or trying to use the IP (which was the main method I’ve been using to view it). Again it is mostly sporadic that it will in fact finally connect, but it seems like 95% of the time I am unable to connect. the only fairly consistent way I can view it is with the hard power cycle and viewing it immediately after.
So the log starts about a month ago when release 02.05.11 was downloaded and installed.
Six days later the system was restarted on 10/19.
Nineteen days later it was restarted again on 11/08.
Then again on 11/09 after a cluster of WiFi disconnect/connect where the channel and IP changed.
And now today… In all of these cases, the IoTaWatt was running and logging right up to the time it was restarted. You don’t have any regular uploading going on, but the unit is successfully updating time at least once per day, and it successfully check for auto-update every hour. So it is connected and communicating.
Some things to try:
Make sure the device you are using is connected to the same WIFi network.
Yeah I have not seen any data drops when I finally get it to work and take a look at the graphs.
I am unable to connect on any device I try. Macbook pro, windows desktop, windows laptop, android phone. I’ve tried multiple browsers. It does not seem to matter if my device is on the 2.4ghz channel, 5ghz channel, or wired. I don’t have any vlan’s or anything special that should be interfering with the networking. I’ve tried resetting my router settings. I’ve tried changing the position around of the iotawatt device. It inevitably stops connecting shortly after a reboot, and only very rarely and randomly can I get it to connect unless I power cycle. Again it was like this when I first installed it in August.
If IoTaWatt were not connected and able to communicate over WiFi, there would be log messages indicating failure to access time server for 24 hrs, or inability to access the update server. There are a couple of random network server failures, but that’s over a month and it does so every hour. There isn’t really any difference between outbound and inbound TCP from a hardware perspective. It’s just packets.
You are running the same firmware as thousands of other units, and it is validated with an md5 hash when installed, moreover there has been a firmware upgrade and the problem hasn’t changed. So I’m ruling that out.
So that leaves something in your environment. I have an IoTaWatt in an outbuilding. It connects to my WiFi through a WiFi bridge. Sometimes the connection between the bridge and my router gets disconnected and I can’t access the unit for hours or days. Then the link is restored and voila, it’s there and catches up on all it’s uploads. The unit itself does not log a disconnect because it’s connected to the bridge, but I can’t access it.
I’m not saying that’s your problem, but just demonstrating that there can be LAN issues that manifest themselves as routing problems.
If you have another WiFi router or AP you could try, or perhaps a phone hotspot, that might shed some light. If you are convinced the unit is somehow defective, you can send it to me and I’ll check it out.
IoTaWatt, Inc
PO Box 1679
Wolfeboro, NH 03894
If you do that, send me a PM with a tracking number.
So that leaves something in your environment. I have an IoTaWatt in an outbuilding. It connects to my WiFi through a WiFi bridge. Sometimes the connection between the bridge and my router gets disconnected and I can’t access the unit for hours or days. Then the link is restored and voila, it’s there and catches up on all it’s uploads. The unit itself does not log a disconnect because it’s connected to the bridge, but I can’t access it.
I’m not saying that’s your problem, but just demonstrating that there can be LAN issues that manifest themselves as routing problems.
So I had been just dealing with intermittent connection issues (it would mostly not connect right away but if I kept trying to go to it, or check every 5-10 minutes eventually it would work) since the last post. I just switched from an asus router to a pfsense setup and it seems to be working 100% now every time I try to connect to the Iotawatt… so ultimately you were right there was something on the network setup that was interferring. It wasn’t a connection strength issue either because for several months I had moved the wifi router to the same room (so line of sight) as the iotawatt. Either way I figured you were right so hence I didn’t try to RMA it.
Sidebar… I had seen you make a few mentions of being able to make an extension cable using the Twisted pairs from a Cat6 cable, unfortunately I tried to make one about 30ish feet in length and it did not work (my goal was to try and use each TP for a channel on the iotawatt as I have a subpanel on the other side of the basement). Using individual 35 foot 1/8" stereo extension cables has worked fine, just more costly since each of those was like $8 on Amazon.