Coverstar WiFi touchpad registration problem

[nopain00]

I wanted to know whether anyone has any experience with the Coverstar WiFi touchpad, model #A2463. I've recently replaced the old toggle-style switch for my Coverstar cover with this one. Everything seems to go well with the switch, including connecting it to WiFi. However, to use the online notification features, I have to register the switch with the Coverstar website (connect.coverstar.com).

Whenever I type the MAC address of the touchpad into the "add devices" page on that website, it says "The Device ID is not authorized for use with CoverStar." I've checked over the address many times and it is correct. Coverstar or its parent company Latham doesn't seem to have a good technical support e-mail address or contact method.

Does anyone else here use this touchpad and have any ideas of what I can do to connect it? I'd appreciate the advice.

 

[kimkats]

What a pain! Here is a bump to get this in front of more eyes.

 

[nopain00]

Thanks for the bump. I ended up contacting Latham directly and after a few email forwards, I got in touch with someone in IT. The problem was on their end. They added the MAC address to their list and it works perfectly. Now I can work my cover into my pool automation tasks.

I'm happy to help anyone with similar problems.

 

[bmoreswim]

Glad they got your problem resolved, eventually. I originally had that switch, but I never took the time to get it operating online. I just used the keypad to open and close the pool. But after a few years the switch stopped working (had to manually open the cover with a breaker bar and 1/2" square socket so we could use it). I replaced it with the toggle since I found I apparently wasn't inclined to or interested in getting the WiFi features setup. So, hang onto your toggle. Hopefully it won't be needed, but it could help in a pinch.

 

[kimkats]

NICE update! Thanks for sharing!

 

[tron]

Thanks for the bump. I ended up contacting Latham directly and after a few email forwards, I got in touch with someone in IT. The problem was on their end. They added the MAC address to their list and it works perfectly. Now I can work my cover into my pool automation tasks.

I'm happy to help anyone with similar problems.

Bumping an old thread. Is there a subscription fee for the online service for email or text message notifications or is it free of cost? Thank you.

 

[nopain00]

The notifications are free of cost. They can be sent to one e-mail address and/or one phone number by text. The 6 possible notifications are:

1. Cover opened
2. Cover closed
3. User X has logged in
4. Error
5. Cover left open for Y hours
6. No communication from device for Z hours

If you want to integrate any of these events with something else, you'd have to use a third-party app. For example, you may be able to use IFTTT to read the messages and trigger another event. As you know, some of those services require a subscription.

Unfortunately, there's no easy way to integrate events with triggers unless you use multiple apps. For example, if you wanted some water features to be active only when the cover is open, you'd need to use IFTTT to read the "cover open" event, and then trigger something else like a switch, which would then inform your pool controller whether or not the feature could be activated.

What are you looking to do?

 

[tron]

I got my cover installed with the numeric touchpad without wifi. I want to upgrade to the wifi model to know when the cover was closed or opened, who did it and if it was left open for too long. I don't have any water features, so I'm OK there. This is mainly for safety for kids. I'm also experienced with IFTTT, but I guess I won't need it.

Is it reliable in terms of maintaining connectivity and sending the messages to your phone or email?

 

[nopain00]

Yes, it's reliable as long as you have good WiFi coverage in that area. Fortunately, it tells you when there's a connectivity problem. The server expects to hear from the device every so often. If there is no communication for 24 hours, then the server sends a message. I had to install another access point to extend the coverage since my controller is at the far end of the pool. As long as my access point is active, I have not had it drop the connection. Similarly, when connected, I've never had it miss an event.

Are you looking to install the keypad switch yourself?

 

[tron]

Yes, it's reliable as long as you have good WiFi coverage in that area. Fortunately, it tells you when there's a connectivity problem. The server expects to hear from the device every so often. If there is no communication for 24 hours, then the server sends a message. I had to install another access point to extend the coverage since my controller is at the far end of the pool. As long as my access point is active, I have not had it drop the connection. Similarly, when connected, I've never had it miss an event.

Are you looking to install the keypad switch yourself?

Thank you. I can install a wifi extender if needed. I have two wireless APs in my home and I have good signal. My pool cover contractor is coming to install it but I'm able to install it if needed.

 

[tron]

I got the Coverstar touchpad with wifi today. My pool cover contractor installed it. It just wouldn't connect to wifi. I tried using the touchpad, using a wifi-connected mobile phone's browser as well as my laptop's browser - both using the dropdown menus and using the command prompt through the web interface. I tried a variety of security options - none, WEP, WPA and WPA2. It just doesn't connect.

@nopain00 - Did you have any issues connecting to wifi? What security option do you use on your wifi? Looking at the information tab on a web browser, I have the RN-171 wifi chip with wifly-EZX-441-r1057 firmware. I'm led to believe that's firmware v4.41. What chip or firmware version do you have?

 

[tron]

Spent several hours on this and finally got it to connect. The documentation said the touchpad supports open, WPA-PSK (TKIP) and WPA2-PSK for wireless security. But only 'open' (no security) worked on my UniFi wireless network. I tried all different security options via both the touchpad itself and using my laptop by connecting to the latham_wifi network by enabling the 'mobile' option in the touchpad. I tried both the web UI and the (pseudo) command line interface through the web browser. Nothing worked. My UniFi access points do not have WPS of course. After trying both TKIP and AES for both WPA and WPA2, I only ended up getting frustrated.

So, instead of the UniFi access points, I dusted an old TP-Link access point and plugged it into my home network. Manual set up of WPA and WPA2 (with both TKIP and AES) did not work. So I enabled WPS on the TP-Link access point and then chose the 'Connect using WPS' option and it connected successfully regardless of whatever security option I had chosen - WPA or WPA2 (or auto) with TKIP or AES (or auto).

So, WPS is the only security mechanism that worked. No manual set up would work on either UniFi or TP-Link. I'm disappointed at this finicky product. Wish they had tested and made sure it worked on manual set up.Because of these issues, now I need to have an extra access point on my network just so this buggy wifi touchpad can connect.

@nopain00 - what security options did you use on your wifi network? Did you connect this device to your wifi network manually or using WPS?

 

[wgipe]

Spent several hours on this and finally got it to connect. The documentation said the touchpad supports open, WPA-PSK (TKIP) and WPA2-PSK for wireless security. But only 'open' (no security) worked on my UniFi wireless network. I tried all different security options via both the touchpad itself and using my laptop by connecting to the latham_wifi network by enabling the 'mobile' option in the touchpad. I tried both the web UI and the (pseudo) command line interface through the web browser. Nothing worked. My UniFi access points do not have WPS of course. After trying both TKIP and AES for both WPA and WPA2, I only ended up getting frustrated.

So, instead of the UniFi access points, I dusted an old TP-Link access point and plugged it into my home network. Manual set up of WPA and WPA2 (with both TKIP and AES) did not work. So I enabled WPS on the TP-Link access point and then chose the 'Connect using WPS' option and it connected successfully regardless of whatever security option I had chosen - WPA or WPA2 (or auto) with TKIP or AES (or auto).

So, WPS is the only security mechanism that worked. No manual set up would work on either UniFi or TP-Link. I'm disappointed at this finicky product. Wish they had tested and made sure it worked on manual set up.Because of these issues, now I need to have an extra access point on my network just so this buggy wifi touchpad can connect.

@nopain00 - what security options did you use on your wifi network? Did you connect this device to your wifi network manually or using WPS?

@tron - thanks for taking the time to post this.Our pool build starts next week, and includes a WiFi keypad from Coverstar. I installed an outdoor UniFi AP so I would have complete coverage on the pool deck, but you just saved me hours of frustration.
Hope you are enjoying your new pool!

-Wes

 

[tron]

@tron - thanks for taking the time to post this.Our pool build starts next week, and includes a WiFi keypad from Coverstar. I installed an outdoor UniFi AP so I would have complete coverage on the pool deck, but you just saved me hours of frustration.
Hope you are enjoying your new pool!

-Wes

@wgipe - happy to be of help. My touchpad's MAC ID is not recognized by the coverstar connect server - same issue that @nopain00 reported at the top of this thread. I'm chasing after Latham to get it resolved now.

 

[gingrbredman]

Thanks for taking the time to go through all of this, especially for those of us who are about to install the same thing, and get prepared for frustration. I also have an outdoor Unifi access point installed so I wouldn't have any WiFi issues. When my PB was out a few weeks back, they insisted on trying to connect the Intellicenter through WiFi and could not get that to work. Despite full coverage out there, there wasn't any way to connect it to my WiFi. For the Intellicenter, I wanted it hard wired anyway, actually ran ethernet cables out by the pad just so they could use it, but insisted on trying the WiFi first. So we did hardwire the Intellicenter, but the keypad for the Coverstar is WiFi only, so we will see how this goes in the next day or two. I'll report back here as well the results.

 

[tron]

Thanks for taking the time to go through all of this, especially for those of us who are about to install the same thing, and get prepared for frustration. I also have an outdoor Unifi access point installed so I wouldn't have any WiFi issues. When my PB was out a few weeks back, they insisted on trying to connect the Intellicenter through WiFi and could not get that to work. Despite full coverage out there, there wasn't any way to connect it to my WiFi. For the Intellicenter, I wanted it hard wired anyway, actually ran ethernet cables out by the pad just so they could use it, but insisted on trying the WiFi first. So we did hardwire the Intellicenter, but the keypad for the Coverstar is WiFi only, so we will see how this goes in the next day or two. I'll report back here as well the results.

My intellicenter connected without any issues using its wifi adapter. There's an EnGenius wifi adapter (aka 'external antenna') which is plugged via ethernet into a PoE injector inside the IntelliCenter. I entered the wifi WPA2 passphrase into the IntelliCenter touchscreen and it just worked. It doesn't even tell me that there's an EnGenius external wifi adapter/antenna in use, it's rather transparent.

But please report back on how the CoverStar wifi controller works for you while connecting to wifi.

 

[tron]

@gingrbredman - did your IntelliCenter have the same EnGenius external wifi antenna? Was it plugged into a PoE injector that provides its power supply?

I want to hardwire my IntelliCenter into ethernet, but I don't have the ethernet cable to my pad yet. Wifi is working well for now. This might be a good time to run ethernet to the pool cover switch too in case there's a future model with an ethernet port.

 

[gingrbredman]

did your IntelliCenter have the same EnGenius external wifi antenna? Was it plugged into a PoE injector that provides its power supply?

That is a good question, but I honestly do not know. Here is a picture from early on in the build when they were putting the equipment together.

They did mount the EnGenius on the wall, and they did run an ethernet cable from the panel into it. I just do not recall which port the ethernet cable was plugged into. I actually disconnected it the other day when I was running my new ethernet cable, and forgot to see which port it was plugged into. I do recall a post a while back about this unit, and maybe the wrong port was used.

The next pic shows a blank box towards the left with the cover on it is now where my ethernet comes in from the house. Its the grey pipe that has a very nice heat bend to it (my first attempt at it). I used a box instead of a service plug so I can pull more ethernet cables for cameras later on, and there are pull strings in the box along with my single cable for the Intellicenter. The blue wire at the top is my temporary ethernet cable that runs to an exterior box that I mounted around the corner which has 6 ethernet pulls from the house as well as a patch panel. This is also for future cameras, TV, etc., and is closer to my keypad location so if there is a future keypad that can be hardwired, I've already got the wires outside to connect.

My OCD still needs to take the letters off the pipe and the pad is no where near cleaned up or complete.

Here is my outdoor panel


Since the Coverstar keypad has to be WiFi, that is my only option. I am still waiting for the electrician to come out and hook everything up, then I can try and connect it and see what happens.

 

[tron]

That is a good question, but I honestly do not know. Here is a picture from early on in the build when they were putting the equipment together.

They did mount the EnGenius on the wall, and they did run an ethernet cable from the panel into it. I just do not recall which port the ethernet cable was plugged into. I actually disconnected it the other day when I was running my new ethernet cable, and forgot to see which port it was plugged into. I do recall a post a while back about this unit, and maybe the wrong port was used.
[...]

That's a nice clean pad. I'll get a picture of mine sometime. There's a small black PoE injector that's inside the top part of the IntelliCenter. I'm guessing you'd bypass it if you use an ethernet connection instead of the EnGenius.

 

[gingrbredman]

That's a nice clean pad. I'll get a picture of mine sometime. There's a small black PoE injector that's inside the top part of the IntelliCenter. I'm guessing you'd bypass it if you use an ethernet connection instead of the EnGenius.

Yes, I do recall seeing that inside the Intellicenter. I do remember that when the PB gave up on the WiFi, and we went to a cable, it was not as simple as unplugging the ethernet cable from the Intellicenter to the EnGenius, then plugging in my home ethernet cable, there was something that had to be moved and I didn't pay attention to what that was.

My new ethernet cable from the house is not actually plugged in yet, so we still have to go back in there. I'll ask them what that was when they come back.