WTH does ESPhome wireless update fail so often

Archive Month of "What the heck?!" 2022
1

I have 3 esp home devices,
and while updating, a lot of times I get

ERROR Error auth result: Unknown error from ESP

or

ERROR Error receiving acknowledge version: timed out

or another error.
At this point the update doesn’t complete, still the addon removes the update message.

Also sometimes the device gets unresponsive up untill the point whrere I need to unpower it.

To compare, I have 27 Tasmota devices and I never have issues where the update fails or the device gets fully unresponsive. 2 of my 3 ESPHome devices were Tasmota before and then I didn’t have those issues.

2

IME this is a network issue rather than an ESPHome issue.

For me, the more expensive the network kit, the less well it works with IOT devices. I use a couple of these for all my IOT gear https://www.amazon.co.uk/GL-iNet-GL-MT300N-V2-Converter-Pre-installed-Performance/dp/B073TSK26W/ and it is rock solid.

1 Like
3

Yea and know. WiFi reach for those devices is pretty good.
And more important. No issues with Tasmota. Which means technically it’s possible to have it stable.
And if it’s end up failing. The device should never crash without reboot.
I also have switches hidden in the wall. I’m not going to migrate those to ESPHome if these is a chance they crash while changing the config.

4

It isn’t the reach, it is the underlying network.

Yes I have seen that before as well. IME Tasmota has always been more stable from a wireless network perspective and in some ways I prefer it. However, ESPHome is just too easy to setup by comparison.

5

Then probably this wireless stability is the issue.
And off-topic
IMO Tasmota is more easy to configure. Especially on advanced configs because you don’t have to redeploy while changing just one setting.

6

I have 10 EspHome devices spread over 3 floors, OTA has never failed thus far….

1 Like
7

Tasmota is jibberish…

It makes more sense now that i am using EspHome for it :thinking:

8

At that point if I’m the only one having issues it’s strange

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password
  power_save_mode: HIGH
  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "Bathroom-Light Fallback Hotspot"
    password: "<SomwPWD>"

api:
  encryption:
    key: "<mykey>"

ota:
  password: "<otapwd>"

I have some specific settings,
Maybe it’s in power_saving_mode or the otapassword.
Still I don’t think this should bother

9

As I said, I’d point the finger at your network equipment. I had the issues when it connected to my Ubiquiti kit. Now it isn’t (and that was the only network change) no problem but YMMV.

10

I read that, and I do believe other network equipment would work. But I actually don’t want to add any other network hardware to avoid this issue.
I have OpenWrt wireless roaming to cover my whole house.
And it other devices/software doesn’t have issues with it, ESPHome should be able to handle this as well.
Also if a network issue occurs during an update, which can always happen the device should be able to recover itself, either reboot or something else but this now is not the case.

[edit] btw modifying power_save_mode doesn’t make the problem go away, just tested this.

11

I can also confirm that it’s a network issue rather than FW’s one. I’ve had similar problems until i managed to “get my router” in order.
Regarding Tasmota: i agree, it’s easier to configure the part YOU CAN configure. But it’s quite harder (if not impossible at times) to get some special function you want if tasmota’s FW doesn’t have it built-in already. Yes, lately tasmota has scripts, but… oh, dear jesus…

1 Like
12

It’s ubiquiti. I have their system and this happens every other firmware update to the access points. Super annoying. They are known for pushing out crap firmware.

4 Likes
13

Also using Ubiquity ap’s here, no issue (apart from the controller, which doesn’t want to fall in line with my firewall rules on my windows machine (so if i want to make changes/check for updates, i have to switch off my firewall :thinking:)

14

How often do you update your AP firmware?

15

Actually, i don’t have a clue…when i set up the controller, all was working fine and set to auto.
However, i think abt 2 months ago, i noticed the controller lost connection with both AP’s.
So i changed my firewall and opened all required port (according ubiquity), but connection is lost whenever I turn on my firewall again.
I think i checked it last 2-3 weeks ago, and updated them… (still no issues though)

16

I had to switch on ping in settings of esphome to get them stable, now almost none fail or drop out of the network, maybe that helps!

17

I don’t have Ubiquity so that can’t be it,
I have tp-link running OpenWrt.
I did some additional tesging and found actually really strange, this error.

INFO Successfully compiled program.
INFO Resolving IP address of bijkeuken-light.local
INFO  -> 192.168.180.140
INFO Uploading /data/bijkeuken-light/.pioenvs/bijkeuken-light/firmware.bin (524944 bytes)
INFO Compressed to 364308 bytes
Uploading: [==================                                          ] 30% 
ERROR Error sending data: timed out

the error on itself is not strange, but starting from 20% the bar went slower and slower untill it stopped.

And with it the device died(also the physical buttons won’t respond, so not only wifi), like it’s chocking on the update process.
If just the update fails bacause of a network issue the device wouldn’t die.

It could be device specific, that my devices have issues when using to much power or something.
I have this issue with sonoff t0 and t4,
but not on my esphome “slimmelezer” which I’m using for over a year now with ESPHome.

@jayjay
how does this ping actually work, then I can give it a try.

18

Did you try with different power supply? This behaviour sounds to me like power issue…

But, regarding routers: i have Asus routers with Merlin FW. There are TONS of settings for wifi. Setting them right is pain in the a**, but once you do it it’s ok. For starter turn off all “speed boost” functions for 2.4GHz (like turbo etc…). Supposely these functions should improve transmission speed on 2.4GHz, but since they were never standardized they generally doesn’t work good and cause nothing but problems, so it’s best to avoid them.

19

good point :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

20

Those sonoff wallswitches go directly into the maingrid. Do can’t really change the powesupply. What I did try was flashing a sonoff t0. Because the t4 has some override on the neutral which I thought maybe the issue. But the t0 had the same issue.

You wire them directly to 230v

I’ll have a look at speedboosters. I think I don’t have them for 2.4G. As performance requiring devices are all on 5G