Hi I have recently purchased 4 smart plugs and they are great when they are working but after around 3 hours they become unresponsive I'm using the Alexa app on my phone to control the plugs mainly in my garden area to switch on/off lights and also control various pumps on my water feature.
1. The software version on the plugs is 1000015..is there a firmware update to fix this?.
2. I have a dedicated wifi hotspot just for these plugs in the garden area which has been set to 2.4ghz ...5ghz has been disabled as I know this causes issues.
3. When the plug is taken out and plugged back in none of the settings are stored in the plug so you have to do the setup all over again.
4. I noticed in another thread that in order to do a firmware update you need to connect to amazon cloud could you explain this process?
5. I did like the routine feature as I wanted to setup a routine that switches my water feature on for 10mins every hour but again once the plug became unresponsive they have to be setup again and the routine then also has to be setup again as it assumes the device is no longer there and breaks the routine.
Hope you can help me resolve this issue I should have purchased 1 to test but considered amazon to be a good brand so purchased 4 which I'm anxious about now but hoping this can be fixed.
Spoke to Amazon Support yesturday and they got me to plugin one of my amazon smart plugs in side my house to run a test. I have a BT Homehub inside the house and a Deco Mesh Network Wifi expander outside in the garden area which is the area I wanted to use the plugs. Amazon got me to check a few things and they asked me to call back after 3 hours to see if the plug in the house was still active as all the plugs outside normally became unresponsive. Being impatient I dug a little further...as the main router in the house feeds the deco mesh network I wondered if the IP address was changing and causing a drop out, also the amazon guy I spoke to told me the as the plugs were on the old firmware these needed updating but I'm controlling them from my iPhone as I don't have the Alexa unit. As a result because of the dropouts I think the system did not get chance to download and install these updates that normally happen automatically due to them becoming unresponsive after a short period of time. So I discovered if you are using a BT Homehub you are best to reserve a IP address for each plug if you are using your plugs in the house and also make sure you have switched 5ghz wifi off and just use the 2.4ghz. In my case there was also an option to change how my outside wifi received its signal, by default it was set to get this connection from the main router in the house which went by a DHCP server which would have been allocating IP address's to various devices as people come and go I also have quite a lot of IT kit in my house as I work in animation. After setting the Deco Mesh Network router to access point all devices outside are working like a charm and even if the plugs are disconnected from the mains once plugged back in work perfectly. I have also noticed that all plugs have also updated to the latest firmware overnight.
So it seems the rule of thumb is to ensure you have a reserved IP for your device
Make sure 5 ghz is switched off
If using a wifi expander depending on the make try and get this to allocate the connection directly over piggybacking from the main router.
Hope this helps others as I spent alot of time trying to figure out the problem.
Hi I have recently purchased 4 smart plugs and they are great when they are working but after around 3 hours they become unresponsive I'm using the Alexa app on my phone to control the plugs mainly in my garden area to switch on/off lights and also control various pumps on my water feature.
1. The software version on the plugs is 1000015..is there a firmware update to fix this?.
2. I have a dedicated wifi hotspot just for these plugs in the garden area which has been set to 2.4ghz ...5ghz has been disabled as I know this causes issues.
3. When the plug is taken out and plugged back in none of the settings are stored in the plug so you have to do the setup all over again.
4. I noticed in another thread that in order to do a firmware update you need to connect to amazon cloud could you explain this process?
5. I did like the routine feature as I wanted to setup a routine that switches my water feature on for 10mins every hour but again once the plug became unresponsive they have to be setup again and the routine then also has to be setup again as it assumes the device is no longer there and breaks the routine.
Hope you can help me resolve this issue I should have purchased 1 to test but considered amazon to be a good brand so purchased 4 which I'm anxious about now but hoping this can be fixed.
Regards
Simon Hodgkiss.
@SimonH,
Y
ou don't say what the brand of your smart-plugs.I see ..they are Amazon Smart-plugs.I suggest you contact the Amazon support channel via the help links on main sales pages or the Help & Feedback section of your Alexa app.
Thanks Peter I have also just sent the query through the app.
Simon.
Just thought I would post an update.
Spoke to Amazon Support yesturday and they got me to plugin one of my amazon smart plugs in side my house to run a test. I have a BT Homehub inside the house and a Deco Mesh Network Wifi expander outside in the garden area which is the area I wanted to use the plugs. Amazon got me to check a few things and they asked me to call back after 3 hours to see if the plug in the house was still active as all the plugs outside normally became unresponsive. Being impatient I dug a little further...as the main router in the house feeds the deco mesh network I wondered if the IP address was changing and causing a drop out, also the amazon guy I spoke to told me the as the plugs were on the old firmware these needed updating but I'm controlling them from my iPhone as I don't have the Alexa unit. As a result because of the dropouts I think the system did not get chance to download and install these updates that normally happen automatically due to them becoming unresponsive after a short period of time. So I discovered if you are using a BT Homehub you are best to reserve a IP address for each plug if you are using your plugs in the house and also make sure you have switched 5ghz wifi off and just use the 2.4ghz. In my case there was also an option to change how my outside wifi received its signal, by default it was set to get this connection from the main router in the house which went by a DHCP server which would have been allocating IP address's to various devices as people come and go I also have quite a lot of IT kit in my house as I work in animation. After setting the Deco Mesh Network router to access point all devices outside are working like a charm and even if the plugs are disconnected from the mains once plugged back in work perfectly. I have also noticed that all plugs have also updated to the latest firmware overnight.
So it seems the rule of thumb is to ensure you have a reserved IP for your device
Make sure 5 ghz is switched off
If using a wifi expander depending on the make try and get this to allocate the connection directly over piggybacking from the main router.
Hope this helps others as I spent alot of time trying to figure out the problem.
Simon.
There is no need to switch 5ghz off. Just change its name in the router. Also switch off all smart/easy features on the router.