Can't get a smart plug onto the wifi

Paul

My first plug, running Tasmota. I couldn’t get it to work so I made a bunch of changes to my wifi to make it easier on it - e.g. Asus XT12 mesh
ssid is 6 chars, all lowercase alpha
fixed channel 6 (11 and 1 are busier)
split apart 2.4ghz and 5ghz
changed password on 2.4ghz to only have letters and numbers (sigh… had to reconfigure a lot of other devices)
turned off roaming assistant
disable wifi6 mode
turn off all beamforming
turn off all mimo
turn off airtime fairness
MCS level 7 (lowest)
etc.

But still, the plug shows up a tasmota hotspot, I configure, it saves the configuration, 30 seconds later it’s back rebroadcasting it’s ssid. Or it says it can’t connect and reboots itself.

The mesh node is in the same room as the plug.

I’ve got a ton of other hardware that is quite happy with the 2.4ghz network, including an elfin-ew11,
At a loss about what to try next.

RebeccaH

Hi Paul ,

Thanks for reaching out on the forum. I can see that you have tried a number of the troubleshooting steps we’d normally suggest. You are correct that the chip (ESP8266) in our plugs doesn’t support 5Ghz. However, there shouldn’t be a need for a separate SSID or a more simple password. My smart home network broadcasts on 2.4ghz, 5ghz and 6ghz - all with the same SSID and a complex password.

The next steps I would do if I were in your shoes are:

Checking that router is not trying to force the device onto 5ghz.

Check the data rate control for the mesh (that is what Ubiquity calls it - Asus probably has a different name)

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/if-you-run-a-unifi-access-point-and-your-esp32s-keep-going-offline/531982/7

Chech the Tasmota logs to see if there is anything in there

https://tasmota.github.io/docs/Troubleshooting/

Paul

Most of those settings came from the troubleshooting section here: https://tasmota.github.io/docs/FAQ/#cannot-connect-to-wi-fi

And the fix appears to be changing wireless mode to “legacy” - so turning off 802.11n and only having the lower speed. Having done so I now appear to have a stable plug! Thank you for the pointer.

Given the couple of hours resetting up things like inverters (ew11) and the like I’m going to keep the 2.4ghz network separate going forward. It’s only got iot-style devices on it anyway.

And those settings are only for the 2.4ghz radio - 5ghz has all the normal bells and whistles.