by manjitsahota » Sat May 25, 2013 12:45 am
Hi Brooks:
First of all, I will contact you through the support email address and will be happy to leave my home phone number. However, I feel a bit more information is worth posting to see if anyone else is having the same problem. Here is a bit more precise information.
1. The problem is absolutely repeatable and I have repeated it many times, but how long it takes to happen is unpredictable. It takes anywhere between four hours and three or four days. Let me emphasize that if I just use the timer with ZyXEL router as most people would, it works like a champ and stays on indefinitely. The problem occurs when I try to fix its IP address either within or outside the range of DHCP server. (Without the dynamic DNS and even without port forwarding.)
2. Another way to repeat the same problem is by even not fixing the IP address but just doing a port forwarding based on the IP address assigned by the DHCP. No dynamic DNS but using router's WAN IP address directly to get to the timer. (My thought here was if the local IP address of HydroFLASH changes, I could easily reconfigure port forwarding through remote management of the router.) Yes, I can access HydroFLASH this way for some time until the problem occurs.
3. I have been so focused on items 1 and 2, that I have not gotten around doing the most common thing, i.e., first get a dynamic DNS server, then fix the IP address of the timer outside the range of DHCP, and then do port forwarding. I think I would have no way to get it working without getting past items 1 and 2.
4. Today by coincidence I was able to observe the problem remotely as it started to happen (using port forwarding as mentioned in item 2). I lost contact with HydroFLASH on my iPhone. I immediately went to my computer and remotely tried to log onto HydroFLASH without success. Logged onto the router right away and deleted port forwarding. Rebooted the router remotely. HydroFLASH came on line on my iPhone. Strangely however, I could not see HydroFLASH connected to the router. Drove to the location where HydroFLASH was and confirmed that everything appeared normal with the HydroFLASH with the usual IP address of 192.168.1.50. However, still the router did not show HydroFLASH attached to it. Logged onto HydroFLASH using the local address of 192.168.1.50 anyway. Rebooted HydroFLASH using my browser. Everything became completely normal with router showing HydroFLASH connected with the correct IP address. I am sure, had I not taken these actions right away, HydroFLASH would have eventually frozen as usual.
Now I will answer your questions specifically:
1. The issue occurs with the ZyXEL router model NBG-418N. This is the only ZyXEL router I got. I do not know if the other ZyXEL routers would behave the same way. As I said earlier, the problem is consistently repeatable, but it could take several days. What I can say with a fair degree of certainty is if you got this router and got Comcast internet, connect HydroFLASH to this one and fix its IP address. Or alternately, do port forwarding without dynamic DNS with or without fixing the IP address. It will happen within a couple of days.
2. It is getting pretty hard for me to get physical access to this HydroFLASH because this is at my rental property inside the garage, and my new renters are moving in this weekend. It takes me several days to get a data point. I cannot go without irrigating my lawn everyday as it's getting pretty warm in Sacramento area. All I can say is this HydroFLASH ran for two weeks continuously at my home when I was setting it up. By the same token, it runs fine at my rental property as long as I don't mess with port forwarding or its IP address.
3. My level of WiFi encryption at the rental place is WPA2-PSK [AES] and at home is WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES].
As I said before, I will leave my phone number at your support email address.
Thanks,
Manjit