ChargePoint and Orbi

When looking at the ChargePoint documentation on line, it appears that:

•  the Flex works with both 2.4G and 5G WiFi, and
• the smartphone app communicates with the Flex charger using Bluetooth.

This leads me to think that the typical "2.4G issues" people encounter with a few products are not what's going on here.

https://www.chargepoint.com/en-ca/products/home/troubleshooting

It is strange that there is no error message.

There is one other setting that might be responsible (but I think not).  If Access Control has become enabled, it can block new devices from connecting:

I have found that technical support people vary. It might be worth making another call to ChargePoint to explain what is happening.  i.e. "the app shows the WiFi SSID.  I enter the password correctly. and then ... "nothing".  No error message.  Nothing."

p.s. The typical "2.4G issue" users encounter is when the smartphone app refuses to even proceed to connect to the device unless the smartphone is connected at 2.4G.  (using Bluetooth eliminates this problem).  In the newer Orbi's that cannot turn off broadcasting the SSID, the technique is to temporarily provide a 2.4G network with the same credentials, perform the setup, and then remove this network.  I have both an old WiFi router (Netgear R7000) and a new TP Link 2.4G access point (under $20 on Amazon).  I have also created a Hot Spot on my cell phone.  i.e. power off the home WiFi entirely, create a 2.4G Hot Spot with exactly the same SSID/password as the Orbi, use another device to perform the setup, and then restore the home network.  Once the device "knows" the SSID/password to the home WiFi system, there is "no problem."

Is it possible that the ChargePoint Flex cannot get a good WiFi signal because of where it is placed?  RBS30's are often located close to the floor and surrounded by furniture

If that method fails, there are other methods that are more complicated (and were often recommended to owners of the newer AX systems before Netgear introduced the "IoT" WiFi network for the AX products.)

Thanks, I had found that setting but had not tried forgetting the network on the phone.  I will give that a try.

The original WiFi5 Orbi products have a feature to control whether the WiFi "name" (SSID) is broadcast.

This feature allows the following:

• Uncheck the Enable SSID Broadcast on the 5G WiFi.
• Click Apply at the top of the page.
• (the WiFi subsystem will restart - takes about a minute)
• On the smartphone which is running the Charge Point app, 'forget' the Orbi WiFi SSID.
• On the smartphone, select the Orbi WiFi SSID, enter the password, and Connect.
  (This will force the smartphone to connect at 2.4G.)
• Use the Charge Point app to connect the charging adapter to the Orbi WiFi.
• After the charging adapter is connected and working, reverse the steps
• Go back to the Orbi Advanced Wireless Settings.
• Check the Enable SSID Broadcast on the 5G channel.
• Click Apply.
• On the smartphone, 'forget' the Orbi WiFi, then select it, enter the password, and connect again.

There is a feature on newer Orbi WiFi routers to create a 2.4G only "Internet of Things" network.  That feature was never introduced to the WiFi5 product line.

I’m having issues getting a ChargePoint home flex connected to my Orbi network.  Their support claimed that I need to have a separate 2.4GHz network to connect to instead of a mixed 2.4GHz/5GHz mixed network.  I couldn’t find a way to do that in the setup but did try disabling the 5GHz with no success.  My next thought was to try access control to pre-add the MAC address and maybe be able to force it onto the 2.4GHz channel.  My next issue is that the MAC address listed for the ChargePoint device has 16 characters, which I can’t enter as a valid MAC address on the router.  Does anyone have any experience getting this type of device on a Netgear Orbi network?

Thanks.