Is hardwiring satellites the answer to my woes?

[PurplePJ]

I've installed a Savant home automation system that communicates with its remote control via the home's wifi network.  The base system stays "awake" and thus quickly drains the battery on the remote.  The Best Buy technician that installed the Savant is blaming my Orbi network.

He claims that the Orbi router and satellites communicate over something called "directed multicast" or "multicast" for short.  He says that the active communication of the Orbi's is what's keeping the Savant base "awake".  He suggests that the solution is to hard wire the satellites and disable "multicast" in the Orbi system thus allowing the Savant base to properly go to sleep.

I'm not finding much online on the topic and would like to learn more prior to pulling wire to the satellites.

Anybody know enough about "directed multicast" to know if this is used by Orbi?   If so, can the satellites be hardwired such that it can be disabled in the config (or perhaps just disables itself if hardwired)?

Thanks for any help.

P

[PurplePJ · Accepted solution]

Here's the latest... we tried option 1 which was:

1) Charge all 3 to 100%, lay next to each other overnight, and check battery levels in the morning. He's only used one of the remotes thus far and claims it dies 2-3 hours after being off the charger. We are going to confirm the other two behave the same. If only one dies then it's a faulty remote.

This morning, all three were at 100%.  He laid them side by side and came back three hours later.  The suspect remote had a dead battery and the other two were at 100%.

So -- looks like he has a faulty remote.

Thanks!

P

[FURRYe38]

Possible. 

https://kb.netgear.com/000051205/What-is-Ethernet-backhaul-and-how-do-I-set-it-up-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-Sy...

Something to try. If it continues, wifi mesh may not be something that will work with this particular device. 

[CrimpOn]

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@PurplePJ wrote:

I've installed a Savant home automation system that communicates with its remote control via the home's wifi network.  The base system stays "awake" and thus quickly drains the battery on the remote.  The Best Buy technician that installed the Savant is blaming my Orbi network.

He claims that the Orbi router and satellites communicate over something called "directed multicast" or "multicast" for short.  He says that the active communication of the Orbi's is what's keeping the Savant base "awake".  He suggests that the solution is to hard wire the satellites and disable "multicast" in the Orbi system thus allowing the Savant base to properly go to sleep.

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I would call the company directly, or another Savant authorized dealer.

• Base Stations cannot go to sleep.  They have to be available (awake) any time someone presses a key on the remote or uses a smartphone application.
• My TV never goes to sleep, but my TV does not "drain the batteries" of my TV remote.  The only time my TV remote batteries are used is when I press a key.
• The WiFi communiation between Orbi router and satellites is strictly WiFi 802.11ac (5G). Nothing multicast about it.  Wiring the satellites to the router will produce greater backhaul speed and will switch the data packets from WiFi to ethernet, but the WiFi backhaul radios will continue to send management frames.

Is this the Savant Remote:

https://support.savant.com/help/articles/Support_Article/How-do-I-set-up-and-configure-my-Savant-Rem... 

If so, please notice that there is no mention of WiFi in setting up a remote.  If not, can you find a link to information about the remote?

[PurplePJ]

I'm actually asking the question on behalf of a non technically literate neighbor.

Everything you say is what I'd expect, but the Best Buy tech insisted the remote talked to the base via Wifi (I'm thinking it has to be IR or Bluetooth).

I'm going to stop back over to the neighbor's and get model numbers of the Savant system so I can do my own research.  I was looking for a quick and obvious solution (assuming the tech knew his stuff... perhaps a bad assumption).

I'll report my findings.  Thanks!

P

[PurplePJ]

Here is the remote:  https://www.savant.com/pro-remote-x2

It actually DOES communicate with the base via wi-fi.

He has two other remotes which he's never used -- we are going to run some experiments:

1) Charge all 3 to 100%, lay next to each other overnight, and check battery levels in the morning.  He's only used one of the remotes thus far and claims it dies 2-3 hours after being off the charger.  We are going to confirm the other two behave the same.  If only one dies then it's a faulty remote.

2) If all three remotes degrade battery at the same pace, then we'll turn off the Orbi system for a few hours to see if they still degrade.  If they don't with the Orbi disabled, then we know the tech has a legit beef with the Orbi's.

Stay tuned.

P

[FURRYe38]

I would turn OFF the RBS and leave the RBR online when you test with the Orbi. Possible that these devices are trying to figure out which signal to connect to being that there are many when both RBR and RBS are online. It's up to the devices to pick and choose which signal to connect to and these maybe ping ponging back and forth thus causing the devices to run there batteries down. NEST controllers are notorious for this as well on a different Orbi AX system. 

[CrimpOn]

Thanks for finding out about the remote.  Are these the REM-1000 or REM-2000?

I see that they both have an "on/off" button, but did not see any advice about whether the user is supposed to "leave it on all the time" or.... (why would there be an on/off button?)

[PurplePJ]

They are REM-4000

[PurplePJ · Accepted solution]

Here's the latest... we tried option 1 which was:

1) Charge all 3 to 100%, lay next to each other overnight, and check battery levels in the morning. He's only used one of the remotes thus far and claims it dies 2-3 hours after being off the charger. We are going to confirm the other two behave the same. If only one dies then it's a faulty remote.

This morning, all three were at 100%.  He laid them side by side and came back three hours later.  The suspect remote had a dead battery and the other two were at 100%.

So -- looks like he has a faulty remote.

Thanks!

P

[FURRYe38]

Please mare your thread as solved so others will know. 

Enjoy.