Can’t connect Apex and other devices via Wi-Fi?

[dennislagoon]

Getting a bit frustated with sort of a weird problem.

My Apex El and Reef Factory doser suddenly both lost wifi connection yesterday and still haven’t be able to reconnect. I also installled a Jebao MDP wifi return pump a week ago, and tried setting the wifi up for the first time today with no avail. It’s weird because next to my tank are some other devices like an Apple TV that doesn’t have any problems. It feels like something is only blocking everything from the tank.

What I did so far:

• Rebooted my router muliple times with a 60 seconds wait.
• Rebooted my Apex, Reef Factory doser and Jebao pump multiple times.
• Restarted them with some time between them to see if they interfere with each other.
• Connected my Apex with a wire, which worked! So this looks like a wireless/router problem.
• Reset the wifi (via the pinhole pressing the button for 5 seconds) in the Apex, once connected via the wifi setup, it doesn’t connect anymore on apex.local nor in Fusion.
• Gave the Apex a static address in my router which doesn’t help.

What else could I try? What could be the problem? I can’t connect to Reef Factory doser at all, since it doesn’t have an ethernet port. I’m quite a noob when it comes to routers and their settings and I absolutely don’t know why multiple devices are not connecting (yet only tank related).

 

[MnFish1]

So what you're saying is that all of your equipment is working - is it plugged into your EB? Is your programming still working?

I would consider talking to Apex tech support.

PS - are you using another device to connect to your wifi (i.e a network extender) attached to your apex - or are you using only the Apex Wifi?

 

[LeftyReefer]

And you are connecting to the 2.4 ghz band?

If you reset your router, did it possibly reset it back to factory defaults? which may have changed the name of your SSID's? It may have both wifi bands with the same SSID, which could be preventing your 2.4 only equipment from connecting now.

 

[dennislagoon]

So what you're saying is that all of your equipment is working - is it plugged into your EB? Is your programming still working?

I would consider talking to Apex tech support.

PS - are you using another device to connect to your wifi (i.e a network extender) attached to your apex - or are you using only the Apex Wifi?

Correct. All is working fortunately, just no access through wifi. Only the Apex has an ethernet port, and by running a wire straight through my living room is the only way to access apex.local or fusion. Other devices don’t have an ethernet port.

Not using an extender, just directly connected to the router of my provider.

And you are connecting to the 2.4 ghz band?

If you reset your router, did it possibly reset it back to factory defaults? which may have changed the name of your SSID's? It may have both wifi bands with the same SSID, which could be preventing your 2.4 only equipment from connecting now.

I don’t know, really. How could I check what a specific device uses? I can only see both bands are open in general on the router.

The weird thing to me remains that all of my other devices work fine, yet not the ones that should handle the most expensive thing in my living room.

 

[LeftyReefer]

I don’t know, really. How could I check for a specific device what it uses? I can only see both bands are open in general on the router.

The weird thing to me remains that all of my other devices work fine, just not the ones that should handle the most expensive thing in my living room.

do the two bands (2.4ghz and 5.0ghz) each have a different name (SSID)?

 

[dennislagoon]

do the two bands (2.4ghz and 5.0ghz) each have a different name (SSID)?

They do not and are the same. Should I change like the 5.0ghz one?

 

[LeftyReefer]

Yes.

Most reefing equipment can only connect to a 2.4ghz wifi signal.
Many equipment providers will set up their routers so that both bands have the same name.... This works fine most of the time if your equipment is also dual band capable, but some devices that are 2.4ghz only will have trouble connecting in this manner. If you just rename your two bands so that they each have unique names, it often fixes the issues. When setting up your reefing device, you select the 2.4ghz signal, not the 5.0ghz one and it will connect. if they are both named the same, there is no way to select only the 2.4ghz signal.

 

[LeftyReefer]

You can just do something like;
Dennislagoon WIFI 2.4
Dennislagoon WIFI 5.0

just so that you can tell the two signals apart.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Try changing the channel from auto to a specific channel. Sometimes routers are dumb and pick a channel that is not 1, 6, or 11 and you end up getting enough interference that weaker chips (like apex and smart home devices) can't connect, but stronger devices can (like your apple TV). Use an app like wifi analyzer to determine which of those three channels has the least interference and set it to that channel instead of AUTO.

The dual band same name thing mentioned above could potentially be a problem, but I have always been able to make that work without resorting to 2 names.

 

[dennislagoon]

Yes.

Most reefing equipment can only connect to a 2.4ghz wifi signal.
Many equipment providers will set up their routers so that both bands have the same name.... This works fine most of the time if your equipment is also dual band capable, but some devices that are 2.4ghz only will have trouble connecting in this manner. If you just rename your two bands so that they each have unique names, it often fixes the issues. When setting up your reefing device, you select the 2.4ghz signal, not the 5.0ghz one and it will connect. if they are both named the same, there is no way to select only the 2.4ghz signal.

This did the trick! Changed only the name of my 5ghz, since I didn’t want to reconnect all my other devices. Everything came back online. Even got the Jebao MDP pump connected.

Eventually still reconnected a lot of my devices to 5ghz, like my Apple TV and consoles etc. but all seem to work again.

Thanks so much for the help and not making me throw out my reefing equipment through the window.

 

[LeftyReefer]

Glad you got it working!

 

[MnFish1]

Yes.

Most reefing equipment can only connect to a 2.4ghz wifi signal.
Many equipment providers will set up their routers so that both bands have the same name.... This works fine most of the time if your equipment is also dual band capable, but some devices that are 2.4ghz only will have trouble connecting in this manner. If you just rename your two bands so that they each have unique names, it often fixes the issues. When setting up your reefing device, you select the 2.4ghz signal, not the 5.0ghz one and it will connect. if they are both named the same, there is no way to select only the 2.4ghz signal.

THIS IS AWESOME - OF COURSE they never tell you to do this (i.e. NOT TO name the 2 networks the same)