Wifi vs Ethernet device discovery issues

Configuration
1

Hello,

I’m having some issues with the device discovery within my hass running on a raspberry pi 3. I believe it’s a network issue, but am struggling to find a solution (not sure I even know what to search on google for an answer…!).

My network setup: my home network is set up using wifi from a Virgin Media Hub 3.0, with a TP-Link Powerline network adapter to provide an ethernet connection for my desktop / PS4 etc. At the back of the house I extend the using a TP-link Wifi extender broadcasting on the same ssid. So in the router config screen, half of my devices show up as connected via wifi (including the hassio server on the Pi) and the other half as connected via the ethernet (as they go through the the powerline network).

The issue: I have 4 LIFX bulbs, two of which are connecting directly to the router via wifi, the other 2 connect via the wifi range extender. When hass starts up, it detects the 2 connected via wifi, but the 2 via the range extender are not detected. In fact - any device connecting via the range extender does not get found (including a chromecast speaker, a roomba etc). I can control all 4 of my lifx bulbs via their android app, so they are clearly communicating over the network.

Here are the error messages in the log:

2017-10-21 13:43:10 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of notify is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 13:43:11 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of sensor is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 13:43:12 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of media_player is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 13:43:12 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of light is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 13:43:12 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of device_tracker is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 13:43:13 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of tts is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 13:43:38 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.media_player] Setup of platform cast is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 13:43:52 ERROR (SyncWorker_10) [pychromecast.socket_client] Failed to connect, retrying in 5.0s
2017-10-21 13:44:28 ERROR (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.media_player] Setup of platform cast is taking longer than 60 seconds. Startup will proceed without waiting any longer.

I’d be really grateful for any thoughts on what I may be doing wrong.

2

Possibly the range extender is blocking the broadcast packets that are required.

For many of them you’ll be able to manually configure them, but sadly it looks like for Lifx that’s not an option.

Have you tried connecting your Pi to your network via a network cable, rather than Wifi?

3

Just did - and the cast device is detected, however the LIFX bulbs don’t connect. The log reads:

2017-10-21 15:07:35 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of sensor is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 15:07:35 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of notify is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 15:07:36 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of media_player is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 15:07:37 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of light is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 15:07:37 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of device_tracker is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 15:07:55 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.setup] Setup of tts is taking over 10 seconds.
2017-10-21 15:08:01 ERROR (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.light.lifx] Failed to initialize 192.168.0.73
2017-10-21 15:08:01 ERROR (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.light.lifx] Failed to initialize 192.168.0.72
2017-10-21 15:08:03 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.media_player] Setup of platform cast is taking over 10 seconds.

So at least it can now see them, even if it can’t initialise.

4

It seems that your extender is not fully transparent (i.e. a bridge) but is doing some kind of NAT. Do you know how to test that?

The “10 seconds” warnings are normal for a Raspberry Pi.

5

I’d be surprised if it’s doing anything fancy. It’s a fairly bog standard TP-Link AV-500 wifi extender. But, no. Having googled a bit, I’m not sure how to test it!

6

Testing would involve doing network packet dumps, that’s a bit involved to explain here.

Maybe you can try “Give Feedback” in the LIFX app. It will send a mail with diagnostics of each bulb (be sure to change the recipient to yourself). In that diagnostics file, check that all bulbs have LAN reachability.

7

thanks - will give it a go when I get back from work.

8

So, weirdly, I got home and the LIFX bulbs are now showing up in HA <\shrugs> I tried looking at the LIFX feedback, but it unsurprisingly reported everything having LAN reachability.

Thanks for your help guys - I’m going to read up on network packets in advance of it all stopping working again…!