Same network different SSID

ESPHome
1

Hello,
I have several ESP32 devices connected. I have a main router and a powerline connected to it. My question: I want to connect some devices to the powerline (with its password and name) and some to the main router. I saw that I can enter both networks and the devices will connect to the best one. The problem is that the main router has a good connection in some places but sometimes it gets very bad for a few minutes and then goes back to normal (maybe due to interference). I would like some devices to stay connected to the powerline (which is closer to them) and has a more stable network connection. Can I set the network name and password directly in the YAML configuration of each device I choose?

For example:
wifi:
ssid: “my powerline ssid”
password: “my passord”
fast_connect: True

“save” and “install”?

2

Yep, just put one network instead of both. There’s also the ability to prioritize the networks, but that might not work well for your use-case.

As a side note, I’d get that WiFi issue sorted out. Sounds like you might have intermittent interference on the channel you’re currently using.

3

You can edit the secrets and add other networks.

# Your Wi-Fi SSID and password
wifi_ssid: "IOT"
wifi_password: "XXXXXXX"

wifi_ssid_powerline : "powerline "
wifi_password_powerline : "XXXXXXX"

And use it like this in your yaml

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid_powerline 
  password: !secret wifi_password_powerline
4

I think second solution is better… to edit directly the YAML file as sometimes the router connection in good… and sometimes drop down.

5

You do know that there is official Esphome documentation that explains how to use Esphome broadly and it specifically answers your questions under the relevant documentation section.

Screenshot_20250325-094949_Samsung Internet
Screenshot_20250325-094949_Samsung Internet1080×2280 153 KB

People that dont take advantage of that very helpful resource, they aren’t doing themselves any favors and they will make very little progress and it will be very slow process.

I strongly recommend that you use it as a resource and use it frequently so that you keep up with changes as they come.

You might also start looking into upgrading your home wifi network too. I personally save my old router whenever i upgrade or will buy one thats used if its a good price and they make excellent wifi access points with typically 3 additional wired LAN ports for a home or property. For example, i have a detached garage about 60’ away and wifi was pretty poor inside of it so, i ran 1/2" PVC conduit from hoise to garage and fed an ethernet cord from the home router to my older model router in garage. Now i have excellent wifi in there and those LAN ports were very helpful with getting another camera off wifi and getting the TV/Roku off wifi out there and that one upgrade had several benefits for my network by making it more dependable and decluttering wifi traffic by hard wiring heavy bandwidth devices now instead them using wifi.

Some newer routers even have a configuration option in the UI for putting the router in AP mode or sometimes will have both AP and wifi extender/repeater mode or STA , if im remembering correctly. Its a huge improvement over how you used to have to do it and it required a comprehensive configuration to add it to your network and now its just a simple option you turn On/Off.