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Forum Discussion
Assign HomeKit devices to 2.4Ghz Band
I'm having some issues with some devices staying connected to Homekit, including Hunter Fan, Nanoleaf & Meross bulbs. Still other devices have had no issues at all, including Circle View doorbell, K...
jbh8063 wrote:
Per recommendation, I disabled 5Ghz and was able to add the Hunter fan to the app and HK, but days later I noticed streaming services being pixelated so I re-enabled 5Ghz for streaming Apple TV. Two days later - probably when the DHCP Lease renewed - the fan became unresponsive, as did the Nanoleaf bulbs.
A couple of items in this narrative "do not add up" for me.
The 5G Issue.
- Nearly every Internet of Things (IoT) device includes a radio that supports only 2.4G WiFi.
- 2.4G WiFi chips are less expensive than dual band WiFi chips.
- 2.4G WiFi has greater effective range than 5G WiFi.
- Thus, it makes both economic and performance sense for a device with limited bandwidth needs to use only 2.4G. (How much bandwidth does it take to command "Turn On" or "Turn Off"?)
- There are some smartphone apps that are poorly written and struggle to set up their IoT device when the smartphone itself is connected at 5G, so one solution is to (temporarily) turn off 5G during the setup process.
- Once the device has been connected successfully at 2.4G and is working correctly, enabling the 5G WiFi can have no effect on the device. The device cannot detect 5G WiFi. Simply not possible.
DHCP Lease. The default DHCP lease issued by Orbi routers is one day (actually 86,400 seconds). Devices ask to renew their lease when half of the time remains (e.g. 12 hours). See the Wikipedia artlcle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol Thus, if the devices worked correctly for two days, that means they have successfully renewed their IP lease at least three times already.
I suspect the issue involves Apple Home Kit.
CrimpOn wrote:
jbh8063 wrote:Per recommendation, I disabled 5Ghz and was able to add the Hunter fan to the app and HK, but days later I noticed streaming services being pixelated so I re-enabled 5Ghz for streaming Apple TV. Two days later - probably when the DHCP Lease renewed - the fan became unresponsive, as did the Nanoleaf bulbs.
A couple of items in this narrative "do not add up" for me.
The 5G Issue.
- Nearly every Internet of Things (IoT) device includes a radio that supports only 2.4G WiFi.
- 2.4G WiFi chips are less expensive than dual band WiFi chips.
- 2.4G WiFi has greater effective range than 5G WiFi.
- Thus, it makes both economic and performance sense for a device with limited bandwidth needs to use only 2.4G. (How much bandwidth does it take to command "Turn On" or "Turn Off"?)
- There are some smartphone apps that are poorly written and struggle to set up their IoT device when the smartphone itself is connected at 5G, so one solution is to (temporarily) turn off 5G during the setup process.
- Once the device has been connected successfully at 2.4G and is working correctly, enabling the 5G WiFi can have no effect on the device. The device cannot detect 5G WiFi. Simply not possible.
DHCP Lease. The default DHCP lease issued by Orbi routers is one day (actually 86,400 seconds). Devices ask to renew their lease when half of the time remains (e.g. 12 hours). See the Wikipedia artlcle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol Thus, if the devices worked correctly for two days, that means they have successfully renewed their IP lease at least three times already.
I suspect the issue involves Apple Home Kit.
Not sure what to tell you. It's not a "narrative," it's what happened. I disabled 5Ghz (not to confuse 5G cellular service), and it worked, re-enabled and it stopped working. Also no longer listed under the router's connected devices, so it's not only HK or a poorly written app.