Hi, I have an HA Green automation (and some hardware) that is set up to notify me if the refrigerator doesn’t open for a designated period of time. It works fine when I plug it into my modem/router combo but, when I take everything to my dad’s, he has a modem and a separate router (TP Link Deco mesh, to be specific). Which should I plug into? Anything else I might need to be aware of as I set this up? Greatly appreciate the advice!
Short answer: whichever one is handing out IPs.
Longer answer: Decos have a (bad) reputation here due to having locked down settings & causing issues with HA, but mostly over WiFi.
If at least 1 of your Decos is plugged into the modem & not configured as a router, you can hook up the Green to either that or the modem.
Otherwise you need to find out which device is configured as the gateway in your dad’s house & hook up to that
Its a LAN with internet access, right, with all devices logically connected to each other happily chatting away? Are you on the same IP subnet range on both ends, like 192.168.0.x, or 10.0.0.x, and have appropriate generic DNS lookup addresses like 8.8.8.8, or 1.1.1.1 for fallback in case your ISP ones are different? Hint: write down your network settings before you leave home.
Unless you have VLANs or similar network gymnastics, plugging it into an Ethernet port should work, locally.
Remote access? VPNs? Static IP allocation? WiFi with different SSIDs and passwords? Um, you will need a lot of planning and careful configuration.
It should just work for a simple setup.
Let us know how you go.
On top of what is said: is that TP Link the only router?
So that modem is just a modem (with no router functionality) and has only the TP Link connected?