Bryant Connex thermostat won't connect to Orbi RBS753

[titaniumrx8]

The Bryant Connex thermostat is the same as Carrier Infinity and only works at 2.4ghz. Had no issues connecting to the Netgear Nighthawk which I replaced with the Orbi.

Suggestion on this forum to change RTS/CTS to 2457 worked for a couple of minutes but the thermostat got IP address of ".2" which conflicted with the Satellite which was also at the reserved address of ".2". (The IP conflict knocked the satellite off the network but the thermostat stayed online)

I reserved the address of ".32" for the thermostat, rebooted everything and tried again after setting the ".32" address in the thermostat's settings. Haven't been able to connect since.

With the nighthawk, I used a lot of reserved addresses for stationary, dumb devices and never had any issues. If I can't resolve the thermostat issues I'll  return the Orbi and go back to the Nighthawk.

Assistance Please.

[FURRYe38 · Accepted solution]

Turn OFF all RBS to help elimiate seeing to many SSID names. 

Disable AX mode on the RBR:

Set CTS values to 2347. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings. Save settings and apply. 

If the Controller is taking 20 minutes to report back that it can't connect, this would not be a Orbi problem. Contact the Mfr about this. Shouldn't take that long. My NEST report with in seconds if it can't connect for some reason. 

[FURRYe38]

Netgear has set up a community forum specifically for the Orbi AX product. Most of the people who watch that forum are more likely to have experience with Orbi AX and know how to work it better than those of us who follow this "general Orbi" forum. Might be more likely to find someone who has a solution if the question is posted there:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/bd-p/en-home-orbi-ax

Thank you.

[titaniumrx8]

Will repost. Thanks.

[FURRYe38]

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/Bryant-Connex-thermostat-won-t-connect-to-Rbk753s/td-p/2101...

[CrimpOn]

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@titaniumrx8 wrote:

The Bryant Connex thermostat is the same as Carrier Infinity and only works at 2.4ghz. Had no issues connecting to the Netgear Nighthawk which I replaced with the Orbi.

I reserved the address of ".32" for the thermostat, rebooted everything and tried again after setting the ".32" address in the thermostat's settings. Haven't been able to connect since.

With the nighthawk, I used a lot of reserved addresses for stationary, dumb devices and never had any issues. If I can't resolve the thermostat issues I'll  return the Orbi and go back to the Nighthawk.

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It appears that you have learned that Orbi provides the same IP reservation feature that Nighthawk does.  Is that the meaning of "reserved"?  (Or did you mean that the Orbi has a "gap" where 32 would be?)

My thermostat (different brand) had me select the WiFi SSID from a list of available WiFi and then enter the password on the thermostat. (very cumbersome selecting those CAPITAL letters and numbers).  Is that how the Bryant works?

It is a little strange to mix IP reservation with static IP (setting the IP address on the device.

[titaniumrx8]

"My thermostat (different brand) had me select the WiFi SSID from a list of available WiFi and then enter the password on the thermostat. (very cumbersome selecting those CAPITAL letters and numbers). Is that how the Bryant works?

It is a little strange to mix IP reservation with static IP (setting the IP address on the device."

I use the address reservation table in the advanced tab of the router. In the case of the Bryant thermostat, I have also set the static IP to the same IP as the reservation table. The Connex shouldn't need a fixed IP but it seems to make it's connection more stable, at least it did with the nighthawk. 

So far It looks like the AX has to be turned off for 2.4ghz AND RTS/CTS has to be expanded to get the Connex connected.

[CrimpOn]

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@titaniumrx8 wrote:

So far It looks like the AX has to be turned off for 2.4ghz AND RTS/CTS has to be expanded to get the Connex connected.

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This might be a typo? The thermostat supports only 2.4ghz.

I am still confused about "where things go wrong".  Does it not have you select an SSID from a list and enter the password on the thermostat?

[titaniumrx8]

"The thermostat supports only 2.4ghz.

I am still confused about "where things go wrong".  Does it not have you select an SSID from a list and enter the password on the thermostat?"

2.4ghz only

The thermostat brings up 6 SSIDs, three for primary and three for guest. There's no way of delineating which device the SSID is associated with. And the list can come up in a different sequence after every scan. There are typically a dozen SSID visible. So I pick one of the orbi's ssids, enter the correct password and wait.

The thermostat is very slow so it takes about 15-20 minutes just to see if the connection failed. Never had an issue with it on the Tri-Band Nighthawk so I probably need to review every setting that's different on the Orbi. There's no other option for a Wifi thermostat which can control this variable speed, multi-zone heat pump system. If I can't get the thermostat to work, the Orbi gets returned.

[FURRYe38 · Accepted solution]

Turn OFF all RBS to help elimiate seeing to many SSID names. 

Disable AX mode on the RBR:

Set CTS values to 2347. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings. Save settings and apply. 

If the Controller is taking 20 minutes to report back that it can't connect, this would not be a Orbi problem. Contact the Mfr about this. Shouldn't take that long. My NEST report with in seconds if it can't connect for some reason. 

[titaniumrx8]

Turn OFF all RBS to help elimiate seeing to many SSID names.

*If I turn off the satellites there won't be any wifi in the thermostat's location. The orbi is replacing a Nighthawk + extender to get wifi to the other end of the house.*

Disable AX mode on the RBR:
*Done previously and currently as set*

Set CTS values to 2347. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings. Save settings and apply.
*Done previously but it really killed performance. Is there a reason to use 64 or 2347 specifically? I put it back to 64 because all the TV's were buffering which never happened with the Nighthawk setup. Can I try 128, 256, 512 etc?*

If the Controller is taking 20 minutes to report back that it can't connect, this would not be a Orbi problem. Contact the Mfr about this. Shouldn't take that long. My NEST report with in seconds if it can't connect for some reason.
*Actually calling it a thermostat is a misnomer. It's actually a display station for a hard wired remotely located controller which houses all the logic and interfaces for the HVAC system. But the wifi is located in the display the furthest point of the house from the router. The time it takes is totally normal unfortunately, the result of software written by HVAC engineers. Changing the wifi is part of a "new" installation process which takes the entire system through a sequence of self-tests where the wifi connect is the final step. Worked exactly the same after a power outage even with the Nighthawk.*

[FURRYe38]

Try this with your prior router, set it up near the controller. Turn OFF the RBS temporarily. Use same SSID name and PW as set on the Orbi. Let the controller connect to this router. If it does, turn on the RBS, then just turn off this router and the controller should auto connect to the Orbi SSID name and PW. 

Yes you can try different CTS values. 

Ya some engineers may not be aware of how there products and software handle smart connect wifi systems and MESH. IoT has been a big problem for single SSID name wifi systems. Some fail to realized that 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wifi networks are on the SAME SIDE network. 

[CrimpOn]

Although certainly frustrating for the person afflicted, this situation presents an entirely different approach to WiFi connection.

Just to confirm, the process is as shown on pages 52 and 54 of this manual:

https://www.shareddocs.com/hvac/docs/1009/Public/03/OMSYSTXBBEC-07.pdf 

What is "different" is the concept of showing the SSID of each separate access point as if they were totally different systems.

Taking 10-20 minutes to confirm seems at odds with page 53 where it says the control will inform you if the connection is successful.

Since this controller has already been in use, there is probably no need to proceed on to the registration step on page 54.

Page 52 seems to indicate that each of the WiFi access points will appear with an indication of signal strength.  I'm wondering if it might be possible to temporarily locate the nearest satellite to be in the same room as the controller.  It ought to have the greatest signal strength.

[titaniumrx8]

@FURRYe38
"Ya some engineers may not be aware of how there products and software handle smart connect wifi systems and MESH. IoT has been a big problem for single SSID name wifi systems. Some fail to realized that 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wifi networks are on the SAME SIDE network. "

For sure. With the Nighthawk, I disabled WPS and used the guest network with a different SSID. My extender was also Tri-band so it handled this well, the devices on the guest network didn't know if they were connecting through the router or extender. All of the 2.4ghz devices including the thermostat were logged into the guest network and it worked great. My 2 motivations for moving to mesh was better coverage and easier to manage single SSID. I didn't anticipate that some of the devices wouldn't readily accept the single SSID.

[FURRYe38]

Well if you used the same SSID name and PW from the last router, most devices should migrate to the single SSID. Its up to devices to pick and choose where what they connect to and which frequency. 2.4Ghz only devices will never see 5Ghz. The dual band ones seem to have some problems here and there. 

[titaniumrx8]

@FURRYe38

"Try this with your prior router, set it up near the controller. Turn OFF the RBS temporarily. Use same SSID name and PW as set on the Orbi. Let the controller connect to this router. If it does, turn on the RBS, then just turn off this router and the controller should auto connect to the Orbi SSID name and PW. "

Before seeing this suggestion, I brought one of the satellites within a couple of feet of the thermostat so it would have the strongest signal and ideally the first that would be seen. It worked.

Part of the problem with the list of available SSIDs was that they all showed up with 5 bars.

Funny thing is that I thought that after getting the thermostat recognized and connected with the IP reserved on the RBR and set as the static IP on the thermostat, I tried switching the thermostat to DHCP but it wouldn't connect.

So, currently these are the settings that are working:
1. AX disabled for the 2.4ghz band
2. RTS/CTS set to 2347
3. Thermostat IP address reserved on the RBR
4. Static IP on the thermostat set to the reserved IP

As time permits, I plan to see if AX can be enabled. After that, I'll experiment with lower RTS/CTS thresholds.

[FURRYe38]

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@titaniumrx8 wrote:
@FURRYe38

"Try this with your prior router, set it up near the controller. Turn OFF the RBS temporarily. Use same SSID name and PW as set on the Orbi. Let the controller connect to this router. If it does, turn on the RBS, then just turn off this router and the controller should auto connect to the Orbi SSID name and PW. "

Before seeing this suggestion, I brought one of the satellites within a couple of feet of the thermostat so it would have the strongest signal and ideally the first that would be seen. It worked. Seems like the stronger single is preferred by the controller. 

Part of the problem with the list of available SSIDs was that they all showed up with 5 bars.

Funny thing is that I thought that after getting the thermostat recognized and connected with the IP reserved on the RBR and set as the static IP on the thermostat, I tried switching the thermostat to DHCP but it wouldn't connect.

So, currently these are the settings that are working:
1. AX disabled for the 2.4ghz band
2. RTS/CTS set to 2347
3. Thermostat IP address reserved on the RBR
4. Static IP on the thermostat set to the reserved IP< Set the Thermostat to Auto, It's not recommended or normal practice to set a static IP address to same IP address reservation ON the router. 

As time permits, I plan to see if AX can be enabled. After that, I'll experiment with lower RTS/CTS thresholds.

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Sounds good. 

[titaniumrx8]

@CrimpOn

Yes that's the manual for my Connex. The part that they don't talk about in the manual is that while it looks like you can enter new credentials when choosing a different SSID/installing new router, it actually ignores the new password and the old password persists. This is a known bug that Bryant support has confirmed to me in the past. The Connex has to be unplugged for several minutes to forget the old SSID and password pair and reattached. When the Connex boots up, it starts self tests on the HVAC equipment before connecting the wifi. The more components it controls, the longer the the testing. Each of the zone dampers takes 5 minutes and the tests are run sequentially.

As posted above, the Connex is now working. It even reconnected automatically after a power failure this morning.

Thanks for your research and assistance.

[titaniumrx8]

@FURRYe38
"Well if you used the same SSID name and PW from the last router, "

For the majority of my devices, I did use the same SSID and password but for the 2.4ghz-only devices which were on the separately named guest network, they had to join the single SSID of the mesh.

"The dual band ones seem to have some problems here and there. "

On the Nighthawk the streaming devices were assigned to 5ghz but with the Orbi, I seem to be finding the TV's connecting to 2.4 half the time.

[FURRYe38]

Ya, some devices will pick 2.4G over 5G. You can try this, try turning down the power output of the RBRs wifi radios from 100% to 50% or 25% and see if this changes anything. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

[titaniumrx8]

That seems counter-intuitive but I'll give it a shot in a few days. Still want to monitor the stability of everything before making more adjustments.

[titaniumrx8]

Can this thread get merged with the same thread on the Orbi AX board?

[FURRYe38]

I've asked to have this tread moved to the AX forum since your system is the AX model...Can't be merged with other threads though.