GivEnergy app 11 June 2022 at 11:01PM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 13 replies 2.5K views

Clive_Woody

I recently had a GivEnergy inverter and battery installed but after updates to my home broadband I have lost connection to the WiFi dongle. I use Tp-Link Deco P9 MESH routers so there is a strong Wi-Fi signal.

I have tried following the guidance sheet from my installer for connecting, but cannot get the dongle to connect to my WiFi so I can see energy generation on the app (blue light is flashing on the dongle constantly even after going through the steps and hitting reboot).

Has anyone had something similar happen and found a way to reconnect the GivEnergy App?

I did call the Givenergy technical support but they weren't able to help. Thanks in advance 👍

thevilla

I don't have any knowledge of the app and you haven't explained the change to your broadband however....

Assuming you have changed your BB router, have you tried matching the WiFi password on the new router to match that of the old one?  Match the encryption method too. It may just connect as before.

Clive_Woody

thevilla said:

I don't have any knowledge of the app and you haven't explained the change to your broadband however....

Assuming you have changed your BB router, have you tried matching the WiFi password on the new router to match that of the old one?  Match the encryption method too. It may just connect as before.

I previously had a set of Deco M5 routers, I added two Deco M9 routers to the set up to extend signal around house. New MESH network created and had to reconnect all devices. For some reason the Wi-Fi dongle will not connect. I connected to the dongle with my computer and shared the new  network password, but when I try and reboot the dongle to finalise the update it will not connect to the Wi-Fi.

thevilla

The m9 has tri band capabilities whereas the M5 is dual band.  I guess that the dongle does not support tri band. Can you ensure that the dongle is connecting to the mesh on the supported frequency? The tplink website may have some tips.

Make sure you've upgraded to the latest firmware on the routers too.

Edit: firmware suggestion.

Yorkie71

I came across this thread as I'm just having a GivEnergy system installed and the engineer was having trouble connecting to the WiFi. I have three Deco M9 units. Reading the GE forums it seems that the dongle doesn't like mesh networks. Which is a pain.
https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/49-mesh-wifi-and-dongle

Clive_Woody

Yorkie71 said:

I came across this thread as I'm just having a GivEnergy system installed and the engineer was having trouble connecting to the WiFi. I have three Deco M9 units. Reading the GE forums it seems that the dongle doesn't like mesh networks. Which is a pain.
https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/49-mesh-wifi-and-dongle

Thanks, I’ve got the TP Link tech folk now trying to help, but no joy. I can get the dongle to connect to the router provided by my ISP when I turn the wireless signal back on, but it resolutely refuses to connect my mesh network.

Yorkie71

Hi Clive.

I ran a test this morning to confirm our theory. I turned on the WiFi on my router, (it's usually off as the mesh handles the WiFi in the house). Accessed the dongle config page and it connected to the WiFi first time following which I could see the inverter on the cloud account. So I think it's safe to assume that the WiFi dongle doesn't like mesh networks, or at least the one we have!

Not ideal and it takes the edge of what so far, has been a fairly issue free install. I have submitted a bug report to GivEnergy via the cloud portal. If you haven't done already, it might be a good idea to do the same as the more reports they get, the higher up the priority list these go. Might also be worth adding your issues to the thread in the GE forum, which I'll be doing shortly.

In the meantime, if you find a setting that works, please do share and I'll do the same. I did read that disabling "Fast Roaming" fixed this for one user with Deco units, but it doesn't say which model.

Good luck!

Mikeyboy01443

Can you not just leave the old router plugged in to the LAN so it acts as a wifi access point? So you could keep your mesh as your main WiFi and just leave the router on for GE to work? 

Yorkie71

Mikeyboy01443 said:

Can you not just leave the old router plugged in to the LAN so it acts as a wifi access point? So you could keep your mesh as your main WiFi and just leave the router on for GE to work? 

Hi Mikey, yes, that's how I have it now. It's OK short term but not ideal long term for the following reasons.

1. It's another WiFi signal to add to the ever more crowded WiFi signals.
2. The strength is not great, (about 30%) where the mesh node is around 60% so I'd rather have the dongle connected to that.
3. It's another entry point onto my LAN which I'd rather not have. Of course, it's secured but even so, I'd rather not have it.

So, it will do for now, but hopefully GE can sort it.

Ad5Walker

I have recently had the same problem connecting a GivEnergy dongle to the TP-Link Deco P9 mesh network. I believe the issue relates to the chipset used in the dongle not fully support the 802.11s standard. The work around which works for me is to disable "Fast Roaming" within the Deco settings. This is done from the Deco control app, under Router Settings, then Advanced. I hope this works for you. 

Clive_Woody

Ad5Walker said:

I have recently had the same problem connecting a GivEnergy dongle to the TP-Link Deco P9 mesh network. I believe the issue relates to the chipset used in the dongle not fully support the 802.11s standard. The work around which works for me is to disable "Fast Roaming" within the Deco settings. This is done from the Deco control app, under Router Settings, then Advanced. I hope this works for you. 

Thanks, I did try that, and turning off the 5GHz band, as recommended by the TP Link tech guys, but still couldn't get it to connect.