Wireless Connections to ECoS 50200

[bigal10]

Hi Folks,

 

I'm having a few issues with WiFi connections to my ECoS.

 

History:

The ECoS has been in place in my loft for about 5 years or so, with ethernet cable to a Netgear Powerline 500 close by, and has worked perfectly up to now! The mains in the loft were installed by me, from a separate connection on my main switch box.

My PC is one floor down, and connects either wirelessly, or by ethernet to a similar Netgear Powerline 500, on the same ring-main as the lounge, one floor down. (Yes, this is odd, the ring-mains in my house are one at front of the house, and another for the rear, as installed by the original builder 30 years ago!

My BT infinity router is in the lounge, on the ground floor, and is connected to the Netgear Powerline 'transmitter' on the (front) ring-main.

 

I recently changed my iPad mini for a brand spanking new iPad, which now runs iOS 11.2.1, and I recently updated my iPhone 7 to the same OS, 11.2.1

 

And now, I find nothing will communicate with my ECoS, other than my PC, which is fine when put in the IP address as found by ECoS in it's settings tab.

 

The 3 apps that i really need for building my layout (when does that ever end?) now do not work,

 

1) TouchCab - I've had a few email discussions with Mike Sutherland, and he seems perplexed, and has gone oddly silent.

 

2) VNC viewer - an absolute must for tweaking CV's for servos, or anything else, Turntable, etc., 5 meters away from the ECoS.

 

3) Cam for iPad - Apple App Store tells me that the "Developer needs to modify this App to work under iOS 11"

Again, another must for seeing the results of what you are twiddling, and what's happening above the layout, when you are upside down in the crawl-space underneath !

 

Also, I recently had an issue with my British Gas Hive system, which meant that I had to swap some of the ethernet cable locations on my BT router / Netgear switch, but everything else is running OK.

 

Is it me?

Or has iOS 11 completely ruined everything?

 

Whilst I DO fancy an ESU Mobile Contol 2, I don't fancy the £300 outlay!

 

Can anyone shine any light on my problems?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Regards,

 

Alan.

 

Confused, of Bury.

Edited January 6, 2018 by bigal10

[GoingUnderground]

I'm not an Apple user, but if your PC can "see" the ECoS, and the PC is connected to your BT Router via an ethernet cable, whilst your iPad and iPhone connect to the Router via WiFi, then I'd start trying to identify the source of the problem by looking at the IP addresses used by the ECoS and by the iDevices. You can do this by opening your usual internet browser and looking at the BT router's home page (on our BT Home Hub (we don't get full Fibre out here in the sticks), it's IP address 192.168.1.254, and you should see a list of all devices connected to your Home Hub/Infinity Router, (for some reason it doesn't show networked printers, at least not for me). You can see which devices are attached via the two WiFi channels 2.4 & 5GHz, via Ethernet which should include your ECoS, and via USB (if your Home Hub has a USB port and you use it).

 

If a device isn't listed, then it isn't connected to the Home Hub, at least as far as the Home Hub is concerned.

 

If all the devices are listed, e.g. ECoS, PC, iPad & iPhone but they don't all have the IP addresses in the same range, e.g. all starting 10.0.0, or 192.168.1 or similar, then the problem is incompatible IP addresses.

 

If they are all the same, then it may be a security issue with the iDevices treating your home network as a public network and their firewalls preventing contact with other devices on your home network. Not being an Apple user, I can't tell you how to fix that.

 

Of course, it might be something else again.

[Ed-farms]

I had this problem years ago, the issue is the wifi you are using has no internet connection I am guessing? The issue is that an apple device offers a "hello" message to the app store when it connects to any wifi and if it doesn't get a "hello2 back it boots the network. I found the solution at a show from another layout that uses touchcab, you need this router https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edimax-BR-6258N-150Mbps-Wireless-Broadband/dp/B0055SPBQU and your phone should connect to the network again. Its out of stock at amazon in my link but there must be some out there

[Nigelcliffe]

I had this problem years ago, the issue is the wifi you are using has no internet connection I am guessing? The issue is that an apple device offers a "hello" message to the app store when it connects to any wifi and if it doesn't get a "hello2 back it boots the network. I found the solution at a show from another layout that uses touchcab, you need this router https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edimax-BR-6258N-150Mbps-Wireless-Broadband/dp/B0055SPBQU and your phone should connect to the network again. Its out of stock at amazon in my link but there must be some out there

 

The first part (Apple devices phoning home) may or may not be correct.   But the Edimax router isn't a solution to that issue because its a very dumb device(*) - without any uplink fitted there remains no means for the Apple device to "phone home".    There will be settings for an Apple device to stop it defaulting to other network connections. 

 

 

(* I have one, and its a handy little pocket router, but its also a dumb device, doesn't do anything "clever".   ). 

 

 

- Nigel

[daltonparva]

I had this problem years ago, the issue is the wifi you are using has no internet connection I am guessing? The issue is that an apple device offers a "hello" message to the app store when it connects to any wifi and if it doesn't get a "hello2 back it boots the network. I found the solution at a show from another layout that uses touchcab, you need this router https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edimax-BR-6258N-150Mbps-Wireless-Broadband/dp/B0055SPBQU and your phone should connect to the network again. Its out of stock at amazon in my link but there must be some out there

I've nothing to contribute to this topic, but I've just recognised your mugshot. Say hello to your Dad, should see you both at Leeds later this year, and I hope my 1F is still running.

[Ed-farms]

The first part (Apple devices phoning home) may or may not be correct.   But the Edimax router isn't a solution to that issue because its a very dumb device(*) - without any uplink fitted there remains no means for the Apple device to "phone home".    There will be settings for an Apple device to stop it defaulting to other network connections. 

 

 

(* I have one, and its a handy little pocket router, but its also a dumb device, doesn't do anything "clever".   ). 

 

 

- Nigel

 

It may be "dumb" but it does the job with ECoS and touchcab, I have tried everything I can think of with old routers we used to use for touch cab (we use it on show layouts and any home layout is in the top of the house too far from the phone points and main users to use for the home wifi) but with this router we just connect and go, its never let us done in nearly 5 years of shows, plus its small size means it doesn't take up too much space on the control panel. Am sure someone else will come up with a similar option to this but unless your wifi has a broadband connection I don't think your apple devices will connect.

[bigal10]

Hi Keith, and anyone else who might have had a similar problem!

 

I have just resolved the issue, with a great deal of assistance from “ ‘er indoors”

 

Her suggestion was, “why don’t you try reconnecting the British Gas Hive network box BACK to the Netgear switch, rather than the BT router”

 

And surprise, surprise, all is now working perfectly!

 

I had now better tell Mike Sutherland, that the problem was all my own doing, and that TouchCab works perfectly, as does VNC viewer.

 

Shame about the loss of iPad Cam, but I can live without it, (for a while!)

 

Regards,

 

Alan.

[MartinB]

Using local routers in various parts of the house by making use of mains plug in network adapter systems greatly helps, I found there is the capacity of your internet connection and "greediness" of the device connecting to a given Wifi router.  Adding a few of these improved the connection stability, especially with kids using devices and streaming things like Netflix and internet radio

[JJGraphics]

Using local routers in various parts of the house by making use of mains plug in network adapter systems greatly helps, I found there is the capacity of your internet connection and "greediness" of the device connecting to a given Wifi router.  Adding a few of these improved the connection stability, especially with kids using devices and streaming things like Netflix and internet radio

 

 

A bit O/T, but one of my neighbours who has the current BT router suddenly started to experience strange problems with his home network a month or two back after British Gas conned him into having a Hive setup and their "engineer" came and installed it. When my neighbour complained, BG just shrugged their shoulders and offered to send someone to look at it more than a week later. The "engineer" that came said there was "nothing wrong" and went away leaving the problem unsolved.

 

I offered to help, spent time troubleshooting, and found that the Hive gear was interfering with the DHCP server in the BT router, causing it to fail to lease IP addresses to the devices on his network. Suspecting the BT router, I tried changing the BT router to a good quality non-BT device, but as that made no difference it was obviously the Hive causing the problem. I could probably have resolved the issue by allocating fixed IP addresses to his devices, but by then he was completely fed up and he asked me to disconnect the Hive as he had discovered it was a complete waste of time (and money) for him.

 

Further O/T: He has since had the Hive thermostat replaced with a modern Drayton wireless programmable thermostat which does the job admirably, and has also changed from British Gas to another supplier and saved himself a considerable sum of money in the process. But, as often happens, thereby hangs a tale: British Gas had also conned him into having one of their wonderful (NOT) "Smart" meters. The new supplier cannot read the smart meter remotely, so he has had to go back to reading the meter himself and submitting the readings online . . . hardly what you call progress!

 

John

Edited January 11, 2018 by JJGraphics

[Steven Draper]

Hi, I am an apple user and just about to try and connect my iPad, laptop and iPhone upto my ECoS. 

What VNC viewer software do you use? There seems to be a few out there but knowing one that works would be great 8^)

[GoingUnderground]

Hi, I am an apple user and just about to try and connect my iPad, laptop and iPhone upto my ECoS. 

 

What VNC viewer software do you use? There seems to be a few out there but knowing one that works would be great 8^)

I use RealVNC Viewer, but I use Windows. However RealVNC comes in versions for iOS and OSX, as well as Android, Linux, Solaris and other operating systems. I don't know how well it works on those other platforms , but it works for me. Here's a link to their website https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/download/viewer/

[bigal10]

I’m still having problems connecting my IPhone8 with ECoS, which I have covered on another post, with regards to TouchCab, and my new DrayTec router.

 

I see that the Edimax nano router is not available anymore (?) so, are any of the alternatives on offer on Amazon any good,

 

Their latest offering seems to be the HooToo pocket jobbie, at a reasonable price (and Prime-able)

Anyone got any knowledge of this, or other similar offerings?

 

Regards,

 

Alan.

[WIMorrison]

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/products/details/TL-WR702N.html

 

I have lots of these for devices that don't have wireless - brilliant little devices.

[bigal10]

I have now resolved my TouchCab to ECoS problem, and the solution was a simple setup setting.

 

ECoS, Setup, Tab 3, PC settings.

 

.

 

Thanks to Mike Sutherland of KMS (TouchCab) for the info, - as well as selecting the second button, “PC Legacy Mode”, you also need to Deselect the first button, “Enable Warnings”.

 

It appears that in 2014, in the ECoS firmware update release notes, ESU made considerable changes to the PC connection coding specifically for mobile apps like TouchCab.

 

Regards,

 

Alan.