ESPHome and Mikrotik CAPSMAN - Unable to connect!

ESPHome
1

Hello to all!

I have been using ESPhome (1.15.0) with a multitude of devices that are based on either ESP32 or ESP8266 (e.g. WeMOS D1/D1 Mini). The wireless network is provided by Mikrotik Access Points, including the model RBcAPGi-5acD2nD and RouterBOARD cAP L-2nD ones (all running firmware 6.48).

If the Mikrotik APs are used individually, i.e. different SSIDs per AP, then all ESPHome devices connect flawlessly to the APs. However, when I enable CAPSMAN in order to optimize AP coverage and SSIDs, no ESPHome devices (ESP32 or ESP8266) can connect to the wireless network! No requests for DHCP are made and no ARPs are recorded within the APs. As soon as CAPSMAN is disabled, all devices can connect flawlessly again.

Please note that other devices, such as mobile phones (both Android/Samsung and iOS/Iphones) can connect with no errors to WLAN when CAPSMAN is enabled, the issue is observed only with ESP devices.

Has anyone deployed Mikrotik CAPSMAN with ESPHome/ESP32-ESP8266 devices?

Thank you!

2

That is a question for Mikrotik isn’t it?

3

I have already raised this with their support and also posted the issue to their forums.

However, I suspect that it is a low-level error, related to the ESP32/8266 driver ESPHome (and probably other fw as well) uses…

Just posted this here should this has been experienced by another user/developer with similar setup!

4

I have capsman running across 5 different access points and over 70 esp devices connected without issues. I think you should reach out to the folks on this Discord: Surviving Networking and IT

I’ve hired a few of them in the past to get thing’s setup properly. They are super helpful if you’re willing to learn