Grid Connect Arlec - How to re-connect multiple light to new Wifi router and passowrd rather than one by one
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Peterpop. It's fantastic to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about re-connecting Grid Connect lights to a new router.
Unfortunately I don't believe there is any way to mass migrate all your lights and connect them to your new router. You'd need to do them one by one, as they have individual addresses that the router needs to accept. However, let me mention our resident Grid Connect expert @CSParnell to see if he could share any nifty tricks.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
Hey @Peterpop and @MitchellMc
Unfortunately Mitch is right there isn't a bulk update for devices it has to be done one by one which is painful.
What app are you using ?
Grid Connect, Tuya or Smart Life?
It maybe a good time to research which one you do want to use based on and integrations you may want in the future and switch over since you are resyncing anyways. As long as you don't delete the data of the device the data will come across to any of the apps.
Just getting started with Home Assistant also, Anything you would suggest
Hi @Peterpop,
Let me mention @CSParnell so he is alerted to your question.
Hey @Peterpop and @MitchellMc .
With Google Home Assistant it is best to to setup your automations in Grid connect the assign them to triggers then inside Assistant you can activate those triggers.
Google Assistant is also handy to combine different devices that are not compatible through say grid connect but are within Google Assistant so you can set some automations inside Assistant but don't expect in-depth automations without the Assistant environment.
Let me know if you have any ideas or need help with happy to help.
Hey all,
I just went through this yesterday.
I replaced my NBN modem with a new one and a booster.
Well, with multiple devices, from different manufacturers, including Grid Connect- lights, security cameras, speakers, media devices and a weather station, I thought the best thing to do was to setup the SSID network name and security the same as the previous one (which I had personalised away from the ISP supplied one).
AFTER a bit of meddling (the new router would not initially accept the old SSID (yes, the old router was unplugged and turned off completely), it finally worked once I got the SSID to take, and I didn't have to go around and reconfigure all of my smart devices.
The ones that caused me issues were my Weather station and ONE of my Swann Security cameras. A few retries, and a little bit of frustration, and it all works.
The advantage is that by setting up my own SSID and security, I can upgrade or change to any router or modem in the future, even if we move house (Unlikely)
You won’t have this issue if you switch to Philips hue lights as they are all run from the hub. I explored Wiz and other brands that don’t have hubs and wanted to smash them to smitherines each time something went wrong.
@BoeingFan it is ok if you are interested in globes and a few other accessories but Phillips doesn't have the range of Grid Connect or Tuya, and saying that Tuya also has many many devices that run off hubs be it Bluetooth, ZigBee and work in the same way as Phillips does.
I have setup my fair share of Grid Connect/Tuya devices over the years and if you follow the steps, change your modem 2.4ghz whilst connecting then back to 5/2.4 after connected, if EZ mode doesn't connect use AP mode. Make sure firmware is up to date, make sure app is up to date, use Smart Life app over Grid Connect app.
Every brand has their place and all require attention when setting up.
Connecting with AP mode
Wifi seup with yiut router
Smart Life Android
Smart Life IOS
This is an old thread but still totally relevant. Thanks for the suggestion to change apps! I had to reset and add back all my Grid Connect devices (after changing WiFi routers to support an NBN fibre upgrade).
I opted for SmartLife, and it's simply much more responsive and reliable than the Grid Connect app. That seems odd if they're both Tuya implementations, but apparently there's enough difference in the core code or updates to make a real difference in performance.
I haven't explored what new functionality it offers me, but just having a platform I can trust to work consistently is a welcome improvement.
Hello @GreyWolfMelb
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with the community.
Were keen to hear more about all your projects and plans around the house and garden. Please feel free to reach out whenever you need assistance or would like to share a project with the community.
Eric
This is one reason (the main reason) why I don't use ISP router Wi-Fi.
I turned off Telstra Smart Modem wi-fi and use 2 x TP-Link TL-WA1201 AC1200 Wireless Access Points, one inside and one outside.
Most devices (Alexa) connect to the outside AP in the carport (and a couple of extenders) because for me that's where all the fun is - out in the yard.
Cheers
Hi @Peterpop
Most people, when setting up a new router, just accept the wifi setup on the new router or at best change the SSID and password to suit themselves, However, if you go a bit further, you can get away without having to reset any devices. What you have to do is interrogate your old router (probably in LAN settings) for connected devices and you will get a list of all connected devices, their IP addresses and MAC Addresses. The MAC Address is the unique hardware identifier of the device. So in your new router you first change the IP address range to the same as your old router, change the SSID and password to the same as your old router and then somewhere in the menu (probably LAN settings) you can assign IP addresses to MAC Addresses, also known as reserving IP addresses. If you then enter these in the same as the old router, your devices will never know the router has changed, This will also save you needing to reinstall your printers on your computers.
G'day mate,
I did suggest my solution to avoid all of that using a dedicated AP and I will add... configure all related devices to use a static IP address, much easier to find (and bookmark) if the device allows web access. I start DHCP at xx.xx.xx.100 and when setting up another static device I simply append to the list which looks like this xx.xx.xx.10 -> xx.xx.xx.45 so next one is 50. I also numerically group similar devices for example Tapo device IP list appears as 30.31.32.33,34...next one 35. In my case that includes Canon A4 and A3 LAN enabled printers.
Hi @AlanM52
We always seem to be at odds with each other which is a shame.
I agree that a static ip range is the neater way to go and do like the way you group your devices for ease of identification however most peolple would only ever get into their router if they were setting it up initially or swapping it out (mores the pity). However, having a dedicated AP is fairly restrictive and not necessarily the best use of resources as all an AP is, is an Access Point and all the smarts are in the router so the AP cannot help you avoid this. Better still would be a Mesh so that if there are any mobile products, they can negotiate the best AP to talk to as they move around (thats how my network is set up). The reason I didn't suggest the general user going to static IP addresses is that normally people just add items to their network a piece at a time and so allow DHCP to simply allocate the addresses for them and when it comes to changing the router, having to then re register all their devices can seriously add to the complexity of the task, easier to just reserve the same addresses they had before.
Regards R4 Cisco Certified Network Associate (Lapsed due to retirement)
