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Problems with latest Eero 6 Pro update and Wemo Mini smart plugs?

I was gone from the house for about a week and there was at least one, brief power outage.  When I returned home, I see that there was also an Eero update while I was gone.  After returning home all 3 of my Wemo Mini Smart Plugs were offline.  When I factory reset them and try to re-add them to Wemo and HomeKit, the whole process work perfectly until the very end, but then the configured Wemo mini smart plugs will not connect to the WiFi.  Temporarily halting the 5 gHz band has no effect, nor does setting it to Legacy mode. 

Did the power outage fry all 3 of my smart plugs, but nothing else, or did something about the Eero update make the Eero Pro 6 incompatible with Wemo Mini Smart Plugs.

I was able to get some replacement Feit smart plugs (2.4 only)  to connect and work just fine, but they do not work with HomeKit like the Wemo ones do.

111 replies

    • andyj
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Checked my WEMO app just now and three devices are still missing, but not the same three as last night. Checked the EERO app, and all three are showing as connected to the mesh, with a strong signal. 
     

    I do have a general question about my EERO set up. I have two WEMOs and the Raspberry Pi in my office and another WEMO just outside my office, located on the second floor. In the office the cable modem is connected to the main EERO base with Ethernet. Yet all these devices show up as connected to the EERO in my basement, 2 floors away. Why?

    • naiju_merin
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I have 14 WEMO devices and 4 EERO 6 pro. Initially I had no issues with anything. It connected fine and I was able to control the WEMO devices from my google home devices, iphone apps etc. Then a few EERO updates later I started losing a couple of the WEMO devices and it would not connect to the network. I reset them and it did not work and I took them off and moved the ones that worked to the lights I wanted automated. Then after the latest update from EERO, I was not able to control the WEMO at all from my google home devices and from my phones and if it worked, it would be either slow to respond or it just falls off the network. So a couple of days ago, I switched off all the eero labs settings and the UPnP, thread and Client Steering and Voila!!! All my WEMOs and many other smart devices started to work perfectly fine, I can add them easily, I can control them from my google home devices, my iphone apps. This was an issue with just EERO. 

    I also have the myQ garage openers, nest bell and cameras and they all had issues. I was not able to open my garages remotely, the nest bell will not ring and my cameras kept on going offline but after I turned off all the settings on EERO, everything is back to normal. So EERO, I think its an issue here. My system was really stable when I had the 1st Gen EERO but the latest Gen needs a little more work. 

      • txgunlover
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      naiju. merin I have all of the devices you describe and many more and have not had those problems with 4 6 pros.

      • Jdr
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      naiju. merin I was able to get mine working by only disabling thread support. I have upnp and client steer on. Eeros firmware 6.8.0

      • Jdr
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jdr well that was not it. Woke up to all Wemo not reachable this morning. However I turned thread back on and turned client steer off. Network reboot and devices are reachable again. Client steer issue would make sense fingers crossed this was it. 

    • naiju_merin
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I do not have any issues now after I turned off all the settings. 

      • markwhy
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      naiju. merin  can you tell us who are  following, what settings did you turn off to get wemo to work?

      • naiju_merin
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      markwhy UPnP, Client steering and Thread.

    • andyj
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Right now I have everything turned on except WP3 and I have all my WEMO devices showing and working right now. That will probably change. 
     

    I’m starting to wonder if my ISP also has a hand in this mess. Last year, prior to getting the EERO mesh system I was having problems (sometimes) with email hosted on another server.  If I tried to access with LTE on my iPhone, no problem. Also had problems with web sites hosted on that same server. My ISP insisted that they weren’t the problem, so I installed a VPN, and mail/access problems went away. The only problem with the VPN is that some sites refuse to allow access via a VPN, so I frequently have to turn on/off. This won’t help with WEMO though unless you can set up a VPN between EERO and modem, as right now the VPN is on individual computers/iPads/iPhones. 

    • andyj
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I just turned on my WPA3 and all seems to be well right now. Spoke too soon, three devices just disappeared.  Now another device just vanished. Did a refresh and one device came back. 

    • andyj
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Seems that WPA3 on was causing problems with some of my other devices at least through HomeBridge. Had to restart HomeBridge, but for now I am leaving WPA3 off. 

    • andyj
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Shortly after writing the last post (next day) all seemed to be working properly. In an attempt to find a solution to the on again / off again issues with WEMO devices I decided to try an EVE Energy plug and it seems to work just fine, if a little slow to respond at time. After testing this unit for about a week I decided to order 5 more. I was starting to wonder if I was  spending money unnecessarily as the WEMOs were all working flawlessly, until tonight when all but one device went AWOL again. So when the EVEs arrive next Wednesday all the WEMOs are being taken down and replaced with the EVEs. As to the switches, they are being replaced with Insteon units. This may be a bad plan as it seems that Insteon is dying, although the new Nokia Lamp products seem to replace Insteon and their new hub may also support the Insteon switches in the future. 

    • andyj
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I find that the Insteon switches work reliably, although they don’t always report their current status correctly. Although Insteon does not currently support HomeKit (ignoring that dubious HomeKit hub they used to have), I do use my Insteon switches with HomeKit via Homebridge. 
     

    One of the reasons that I like the Insteon devices is that they support the older X-10 technology which is supported by HomeLink that ships in many cars. I use the HomeLink to open/close my garage door, and also to turn the garage ceiling lights on and off. The only other option for controlling lights from HomeLink is a proprietary HomeLink system that I don’t believe integrates with any other system. 

    • tinktig
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Same issues as everyone else, except with Wemo switches. Same actions taken to rectify situation. When 1st installed Eero no issues with connecting the Wemo switches, in fact they worked better than the old router. Then they just quit working. James, add me to your email list please. I prefer email to hours on the phone.

    • andyj
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    We’ll I’ve replaced all my WEMO plugs with Eve Energy devices and the system seems to be behaving quite well. I managed to set up my two WEMO mini plugs directly on HomeKit (I.e. not through HomeBridge) and they seemed to work ok, but as soon as I relocated them to different outlets they wouldn’t show up, so I would have had to re-set them up again, so they are also gone from my collection too. So now I have three WEMO switches left that only show up in the WEMO app if I disable the 5 GHz network. Other devices that I have that are 2.4 GHz only seem to play quite nicely with the EERO mesh network, so I am convinced that it is the WEMOs that are the problem. I am just waiting for the replacement switches and will then be WEMO free. 
     

    Not really that sad about dropping WEMO after their stunt of bricking their netcam. 

      • Element
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      andyj thanks for mentioning Eve. I wasn’t even aware of it and know little to nothing about Thread. I do have a HomePod mini already so I understand that can serve as my Thread hub/router. The Eve plugs are somewhat pricier but a little less than the Lutron Caseta and more capabilities like energy monitoring which is nice. At this point having something reliable and that doesn’t constantly break far surpasses the increase in cost

    • Element
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Following this topic as i had an eero pro (I think) router and beacon I rented through my ISP (TDS Telecom). I have a mix of about 4 of the older WeMo plugs (wide ones) and about 6 of the newer small ones or minis. All worked fine. I decided to save the monthly charge and buy my own eero so just got the latest and greatest eero pro 6. I did the replace option to replace the main router and beacon with the eero two pack system. The older wemos reconnected just fine as did pretty much everything else but alll the newer WeMo plugs went offline. I’ve tried everything I’ve seen suggested and cannot get them back into HomeKit. I did manage so far to get a couple of them into the WeMo app but they still won’t connect to HomeKit. I’ve pretty much given up. It seems the newer plugs with newer firmware won’t play with the eero 6 Pro.  They did work with the other eero. Hate to junk them but guess I’ll box them up and find something that works (like very expensive Lutron Caseta) 

      • scw
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Element  True that, the newer firmware seems to be the issue :-(

    • 812
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Same issues as noted above. 3 brand new Wemo smart plugs. Won't join via HomeKit, WeMo app, or eero app. Got one to join Home, but wouldn't sync its wifi so wasn't controllable. James  please add me to the list before I junk these WeMo. Thanks 

      • Element
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      I ended up resolving my issues and here’s what worked for me. I deleted my eero network using the eero app. This is equivalent of a reset. I think I cycled power to it after that. I deleted my eero app from my phone. Powered off phone and back on. Reloaded eero app and setup eero from scratch. When I was finished I had no problem whatsoever with joining the plugs to my network and HomeKit and didn’t even have to stop the 5Ghz band temporarily. Honestly they’ve never been more cooperative after doing that. Won’t say it will fix your issue but it definitely fixed mine. Hope that helps. 

    • andyj
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I replaced all my WEMO plugs with Eve devices and they seem to be pretty good (the fact that they use Bluetooth is not an issue as my Apple TV hub effectively makes them accessible away from home).
     

    The only WEMO devices that remained were 3 wall switches, but now two of those have been replaced with Insteon switches.  While I was waiting for the Insteon switches to arrive the three remaining switches were variable in terms of behaving properly. There were some days when all 3 worked, some when none worked, and many days when only 1 or 2 worked. Even on days when none were available in the WEMO app and/or HomeKit, programmed settings worked because they were saved inside the switches.

    The last switch that is still installed is located in a front hall closet controlling outside soffit lights; basically it is programmed to turn lights on 15 minutes before sunset and turn them off at midnight. I don’t really need to remotely control that switch, so may just leave it in place and put the third new Insteon at another location that I have identified. 

    While the Eero firmware update may have initiated these problems, all my other devices work properly, and so I believe that WEMO is the real source of the problems. For example all my other devices are 2.4 GHz only and yet don’t have problems with dual band operation of the network, just the WEMOs. 
     

    Also problems with WEMOs connecting to the network predated the Eeros. In fact the acquisition of the Eeros was due to ongoing problems of WEMOs and other devices disconnecting from the network. The Eeros significantly improved overall network performance. 

    Coupled with the way that Belkin bricked their netcam, and how hopeless their HomeKit bridge was, I for one am glad to be done with their products
     

    • CMore
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Yep. I had a problem updating Wemo plugs and also had issues with my plugs authenticating to the Eero.  I had HomeKit Security on the Eero for the Wemo plugs. With HomeKit security enabled, the Wemo must go to a URL registered with Apple by Wemo to get updates. I believe that the address registered with Apple is no longer valid. Once I turned off HomeKit Security on the Eero for the Wemo, the plugs were able to function fine.

    I would suggest disabling HomeKit Security on the Eero for the plugs since you have done a Factory reset. Then decide if you want to leave HomeKit Security off and risk someone updating the OS on your Wemo or if you want to enable security after the update is complete. (It sounds unlikely that someone would hack the Wemo OS, but this did happen to Wemo plugs.)

    To enable the Wemo plug to update its software:

    1. go to the HomeKit home app. 
    2. Click "home settings"
    3. Click "Wi-Fi Network & Routers"
    4. Under "Belkin International Inc Outlet" select "No Restriction"

    I first contacted Wemo support and they could not figure out the issue, but said that there were other calls about the same problem. After I found this "solution" I called Wemo and described the above. I asked the technician if they were having this issue mostly with Eeros or other HomeKit enabled routers and his answer was "yes."

    As you consider what I believe the issue to be, you will understand the advantage of Eero providing HomeKit security in the router. If my assumption is correct, the real fix to this problem is for Wemo to update the URL registration with Apple. I mentioned this to the Wemo tech and asked him to pass this on to Wemo development.

      • scw
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      So glad to finally read someone posting a possible solution for this! 👍🏻
       

      i need to try this out for sure! Set the ‘No restriction’ setting as told. Question: did you toggle the one above also off?

      • CMore
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      scw I have other HomeKit devices using HomeKit Accessory Security, so I leave the security on for the other devices when the Belkin security is in "No Restriction" mode. 

      • scw
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      CMore OK totally clear! Thank you so much if this works.

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