Px50 6-node system dropouts

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Px50 6-node system dropouts

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Px50 6-node system dropouts
Px50 6-node system dropouts
2024-06-25 07:09:00
Model: Deco PX50  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version: 1.2.2 Build 20231226 Rel. 74361

We're struggling with 'random' dropouts in a PX50 system.

 

We've recently moved to a new (to us) home and bought a 3-node PX50 system as we expected WiFi to be a challenge. The house is a long/thin converted farm building set over two floors. Although the exterior walls are thick (45cm?) stone, most of the interior partitions are likely to be mid-1980s construction. 

The fibre-to-property router is at one end of the building on the upper floor and we need good networking all the way to the far end, lower floor. PX50s seemed ideal.

 

With a three-node system (one master wired to router, one far end lower floor, one mid way lower floor), performance was not brilliant. The far-end room showed a weak signal and the streaming box (Ethernet wired to the deco) lost connection frequently.

 

We added a second 3-node PX50 to fill in the gaps. Upper and lower floors are almost certainly on different power circuits, so we placed one deco at the far end of the building directly above the room that was struggling (so that at worst it could PLC to the master on the same mains wiring and then mesh down WiFi to the room below. A second deco went in in the room directly below the master (same idea - mesh over WiFi to enable the power circuit downstairs - and put the final px50 midway down the lower floor so that it could bridge the two ends and to the original mid-floor unit.

 

Reported signal strengths generally increased to a whopping 'medium' - but we still suffer several drop outs a day whereby a streaming device will say it has lost connection (SkyQ minis - noting that the SKYQ WiFi is firmly turned off and our minis connect by Ethernet through adjacent px50s).

 

If I'm quick, I often spot in the app that one or more of the decos has dropped out and gone offline during these instances - quite often *not* the one we're streaming from...

 

 

Any suggestions as to how to improve this? A six-unit mesh should be overkill even with part-traditional construction of the house. All satellite units are set to auto-choose their connections but seem to default to the master. I don't know if this is indicative that the mesh isn't actually a mesh amd that were actually always in a star-satellite arrangement?

 

???

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#1
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8 Reply
Re:Px50 6-node system dropouts
2024-06-26 02:32:20

  @FoxFlier 

Hi

 

You could refer to the following link to improve performance:
https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/stories/detail/1886

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#2
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Re:Px50 6-node system dropouts
2024-06-26 07:05:48

  @Joseph-TP 

 

Thanks Joseph - the problem is not *just* SkyQ - that's just a symptom of the Deco boxes/links dropping out.

 

The SkyQ WiFi has been deactivated from day one and so can't interfere with the Deco mesh. All of the SkyQ products are connected by Ethernet to deco boxes only.

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#3
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Re:Px50 6-node system dropouts
2024-06-28 10:29:18

  @FoxFlier 

Hi

 

Could you please observe which Deco units are frequently disconnected and whether the network map of the Deco APP changed when the problem occurred?

It is recommended that you set connection preference for the problematic Deco and streaming media clients to let them choose the signal source first:
https://www.tp-link.com/support/faq/3480/
Which clients are frequently disconnected at your home?

Good day.

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#4
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Re:Px50 6-node system dropouts
2024-06-28 14:14:18

  @Joseph-TP 

 

The two problem-nodes are the Main Bedroom and Conservatory units. I have observed topology changes during dropouts (I've been trying to check the deco map whenever something goes down over the last week or so).

 

As standard, all satellites seem to prefer to connect to Main even though there are physically closer units.

 

I have tried forcing connections but reverted to auto as there wasn't an obvious improvement. I will try again.

 

 

As an aside, would there be any benefit to switching to router mode (Qos etc. excepted - I'm only really interested in stability just now)?

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#5
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Re:Px50 6-node system dropouts
2024-07-02 18:43:24

  @Joseph-TP 

 

I'm getting nowhere with this - and both my partner and I are getting pretty frustrated!

 

I've tried forcing the two Px50s that have the most trouble to connect to nearby units and this hasn't solved the problem. Units will go offline (even though they're happily streaming content to a Sky mini box for example) frequently and randomly - which seems to affect WiFi connectivity and at other times the topology will spontaneously change - and this knocks everything out for a time. At best SkyQ drops out for a few seconds (usually while the deco led flashes red) - at worst SkyQ totally falls over and needs reconnection and restarting.

 

I've moved 'spare' px50s physically around the building to try and bridge gaps - but the topology defaults to a star and -as I've mentioned - directing units to connect to specific neighbours doesn't seem to help.

 

I also tried Router mode instead of AP - and this really seemed to be unhelpful in terms of connectivity or stability - but (small sample size) the topology did seem to be more 'mesh' than star.

 

I don't know what to try next - this isn't working as advertised or expected. 

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#6
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Re:Px50 6-node system dropouts
2024-07-03 02:45:00

  @FoxFlier 

Hi

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to post the issue on the TP-Link community!

To better assist you, I've created a support ticket via your registered email address. The ticket ID is TKID240705515, please check your email box and ensure the support email is well received. Thanks!

 

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#7
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Re:Px50 6-node system dropouts
2024-07-03 12:58:07

  @FoxFlier 

This may seem like a stupid question but have you made sure all your decos are up to date on their firmware? I purchased a 2pack and a 3pack of xe75's at the same time and the firmware is different for the 2pack than it is for the 3 pack. Who knows why. I only used the 3pack and 1 from the 2pack. The "1", I imagine because of firmware difference, would drop out and require a reset sometimes etc. Firmware updates come at different times for the "1" than the other 3 as well. I made sure to check for updates every week and keep them updated and now the "1" plays nicely witht the others now.

For the ones on different floors, this may seem like a given, try and keep the nodes as close together as possible. If two nodes are used on the middle floor try and make sure

one of the nodes is close to the floor near the area of the node on the bottom floor and the other node as close to the ceiling near the area of the node on the top floor.... you get the idea I'm sure..  If you check the firmware I'm guessing they will be different between the two purchases so check for updates.

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#8
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Re:Px50 6-node system dropouts
2024-07-03 18:29:56

  @JRHZ28 Yes, I'm sure - you can step through each deco in the map in the app and it shows the firmware version, build id etc. at the bottom.

 

As to the floor-hopping - I have tried placing 'spare' decos directly above downstairs units and it hasn't materially helped.

 

Also, if I'm reading the app correctly, it looks as if the decos are preferring to connect to the main one via PLC (judging by the 'graph' symbol in the signal strength sections).

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#9
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