iAquaLink RS8 & 3.0 connection issues

[HermanTX]

I have iAquaLink 3.0 (PCB ver T.2 & 3.0 Antenna) installed for nearly a year. It connects to my Eero Pro 6 mesh network. Signal is good as right next to house (but have to do wireless due to house layout). It has worked flawlessly since installation. However, in the past 3 weeks, it has lost connection and did not reconnect automatically. Both times I had to switch off main power to the automation system, wait several minutes, then switch on. It then reboots and connects OK. All working.

I was wondering if this a Texas thing with the heat as we have some power surges where the lights flicker. All other electronics (computers, iPads, cameras, Amazon devices, etc,) do not really lose connection and if they do, they all reconnect automatically. But not the iAquaLink or at least 2 of the times I have found I must do a manual reset on power.

Any similar events by others or any advice on possible causes is appreciated.

Asking @PoolGate and @MSchutzer since I know they have iAquaLink. However, appreciate feedback from anyone who has advice.

 

[ajw22]

It is an incompatibility between the Eero Mesh network and the WiFi chipset that Aqualink uses. iAqualink 3.0 is supposed to be better but mesh networks still seem to confuse some devices. It does not help that Jandy does not do firmware updates to fix bugs in their equipment.

If you connected iAqualink to a non-mesh WiFi access point my bet is your problems would disappear.

 

[MSchutzer]

It is an incompatibility between the Eero Mesh network and the WiFi chipset that Aqualink uses. iAqualink 3.0 is supposed to be better but mesh networks still seem to confuse some devices.

I'll buy that the iAqualink 3.0 isn't the best working with mesh network routers, but @HermanTX said the system has been working flawlessly for almost a year prior to these couple of incidents. There can't be too big of an issue with his installation if it's worked until now.

Maybe it would be worthwhile to take a laptop or an Android device with a WiFi scanner app on it and see what other signals are outside in the area where the iAqualink transceiver is? First see what channel(s) that your WiFi system shows up as, and then turn off your WiFi routers, and look for other signals on the same channel(s). It's always possible that a nearby neighbor has installed a WiFi system on the same channel causing some recent co-channel degradation to your iAqualink's signal reception. If you do see something on the same channel you may want to move your system to a channel away from it.

Was there any thunderstorm activity in the area when the system hung up? Power line brown outs if severe enough may have caused the processor(s) to hang up in a weird state also. Did you just have trouble with the iAqualink communication link, or was the RS system also involved? Were the pumps still activating and running on schedule when the iAqualink 3.0 hung up? If so that sort of eliminates the RS board and the RS-485 link as the pumps continued to work.

In general the iAqualink stuff has been rock solid except for a few times when the servers were down, and the bug issue with "live text" when iOS 15 came out.

 

[HermanTX]

Was there any thunderstorm activity in the area when the system hung up? Power line brown outs if severe enough may have caused the processor(s) to hang up in a weird state also. Did you just have trouble with the iAqualink communication link, or was the RS system also involved? Were the pumps still activating and running on schedule when the iAqualink 3.0 hung up? If so that sort of eliminates the RS board and the RS-485 link as the pumps continued to work.

Thanks for feedback. Yep flawless for nearly a year then 2 recent issues close to one another. The schedule stayed on so no issues with RS board or RS485 cable. It is has been extremely hot with some spot showers but no serious thunder or lighting storms. In fact, it worked great back in Jan Feb when we had the cold and some severe storms. That is why I am thinking some power surges where lights have flicked. I did not open the app immediately after one of those but I will if it occurs again and I am home. When you open the app and it logs in the dot turns green if all connected. Well it just stays red even after refresh request. I then go the EERO app and see iAquaLink is offline.
I will check for other wifi conflicts but again my Eero has been rock solid with good coverage throughout the house. The iAquaLink is connected on the 2.4ghz band according to the Eero app.

I do have a separate non-mesh network that I could possibly use but it is not as strong as my Eero system. Thanks for the idea @ajw22

 

[st47]

Not sure about 3.0....I have 2.0. But I found with 2.0 my eero wouldn't work with iaqualink unless it was on the guest network.

 

[HermanTX]

Not sure about 3.0....I have 2.0. But I found with 2.0 my eero wouldn't work with iaqualink unless it was on the guest network.

The 3.0 was an upgrade to the 2.0 to specifically work with mesh networks.

The other option is to activate the wifi from your main internet router/modem and use that for the 2.0 or the 3.0 as it would a non-mesh wifi. so you would have your mesh network and a individual wifi network from the primary internet router/modem.

 

[Tomballjandy]

I have iAquaLink 3.0 (PCB ver T.2 & 3.0 Antenna) installed for nearly a year. It connects to my Eero Pro 6 mesh network. Signal is good as right next to house (but have to do wireless due to house layout). It has worked flawlessly since installation. However, in the past 3 weeks, it has lost connection and did not reconnect automatically. Both times I had to switch off main power to the automation system, wait several minutes, then switch on. It then reboots and connects OK. All working.

I was wondering if this a Texas thing with the heat as we have some power surges where the lights flicker. All other electronics (computers, iPads, cameras, Amazon devices, etc,) do not really lose connection and if they do, they all reconnect automatically. But not the iAquaLink or at least 2 of the times I have found I must do a manual reset on power.

Any similar events by others or any advice on possible causes is appreciated.

Asking @PoolGate and @MSchutzer since I know they have iAquaLink. However, appreciate feedback from anyone who has advice.

I am having the same issue. I installed the 3.0 but could only get it to connect to my erro 6 pro guest network using a not really good password, thus I cannot Ty it to the closes erros to the antenna. Is there a workaround for this as it says it only supports 2.4 ?

 

[HermanTX]

I am having the same issue. I installed the 3.0 but could only get it to connect to my erro 6 pro guest network using a not really good password, thus I cannot Ty it to the closes erros to the antenna. Is there a workaround for this as it says it only supports 2.4 ?

My eero 6 pro connects just fine and has for quite a while (knock on wood!!). I think my original issue was short term as I do not remember doing anything but reset the system.
It is connected at 2.4 ghz according to the eero app. It has been a while since I lost power or a connection so I do not remember any recent issues. I do not connect it to guest - just my main SSID and it picks the 2.4 ghz band. In fact I have at least 2 other devices that only use 2.4ghz (a Rachio Sprinkler system and a Tempest Weather station) and they have both worked fine as well.

My only thought is to reset the antenna and see if it will connect to your main SSID. I know that is process but may be worth the try.

 

[dfwnoob]

I am having the same issue. I installed the 3.0 but could only get it to connect to my erro 6 pro guest network using a not really good password, thus I cannot Ty it to the closes erros to the antenna. Is there a workaround for this as it says it only supports 2.4 ?

Try setting up a separate SSID that only broadcasts in 2.4 GHz. The el cheapo WiFi chipset used in both the 2.0 and 3.0 variant of iAqualink is rubbish at best and has trouble dealing with hybrid 2.4/5 GHz SSIDs.

I set up a separate, isolated 2.4 GHz SSID and VLAN for IoT garbage and even iAL 2.0 works happily, and I have multiple Unifi APs in a mesh configuration.