Ethernet/Internet drops out and will not reconnect

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tomm asked Aug 31, '23

Ethernet/Internet drops out and will not reconnect

Possibly a simple issue.

I am running an Easy Solar 2 GX with internet provided via Ethernet from a Starlink.

I set my Starlink to sleep overnight to save on power.

Normally it works fine with re-acquiring internet once it is available again.

But every couple or few days the Easy Solar seems to lose connection all-together and will not re-acquire the internet regardless of availability or what I do.

It ends up requiring a hard reset of the Easy Solar unit, which then makes the Starlink have to find a satellite again, which is pretty inconvenient.

I've tried adjusting the VRM portal settings to reset when connection is lost but this setting doesn't seem very effective nor ideal.

I find it kinda odd that it wouldn't simply re-acquire the internet when it is available again. Literally nothing else has changed. Seems like some kind of internal error?

Would really like to find a simple solution for this. I could buy a UPS unit for the Starlink but would like to avoid that if I can.

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated,

Thanks

EasySolar All-in-One ethernet

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tomm commented · Sep 23, 2023 at 03:14 AM

Can anyone actually help with this issue? It's very frustrating

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2023-08-31T06:32:29Z

Paul B answered · Aug 31, 2023 at 06:32 AM

suggest trying to set the IP address of the cerbo either-net port to be 192.168.1.12 (or similar) and the gateway to 192.168.1.1

This is presuming that the starlink routers default IP address. 192.168.1.1 as this is my starlink ip address this may help.

Also the starlink routers dont have a RJ45 output port so are you using standard startlink devices - anyway so maybe also try using wireless connection

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tomm commented · Aug 31, 2023 at 09:39 AM

Thanks for your answer, I'll try adjusting the IP of the unit and see how I go

Also, Starlink routers do not come standard with an RJ45 connector. But you can buy an adaptor from the Starlink store that goes in line between the router and antenna and allows you to connect a single ethernet cable. Quite handy.

Wireless is not an option as the unit will not pickup the signal through the wall.

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Answer 2 · 2023-08-31T09:41:45Z

nickdb answered · Aug 31, 2023 at 09:41 AM

Go to the GX settings -> VRM portal, and enable restart on connection failure. Choose an interval that suits. When it times out it will automatically restart and hopefully resolve the issue.

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tomm commented · Sep 01, 2023 at 05:22 AM

Tried this but didn't seem to do anything to fix the issue.

Is it stating that it will restart the entire unit when communication is lost? I fail to see why that's helpful.

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nickdb ♦♦ tomm commented · Sep 01, 2023 at 05:42 AM

When routers go offline the GX often won't reconnect or rejoin or renegotiate its DHCP IP lease. Once it sees it can't communicate to VRM it will reboot itself, reconnecting to wifi, getting new IP info, and usually reestablishing comms to VRM.

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tomm nickdb ♦♦ commented · Sep 01, 2023 at 06:07 AM

Thanks a lot for that explanation. It can get confusing when it's a few different products combined into one.

I can't adjust my settings until my phone returns from repairs but sounds like if I adjust the interval to about 20 minutes that should give the Starlink more than enough time to re-acquire a satellite.

I'll see how I go. Thanks

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tomm nickdb ♦♦ commented · Sep 20, 2023 at 06:05 AM

Are you certain about this solution? I'm fairly skeptical. It does not seem to fix the issue at all.

Also, if this was a fix, would it not also work if I restarted the GX device manually by pressing the reset button? Again this also does not work.

I'm finding this extremely frustrating. Seems like such a simple problem and something that could be very easily rectified with a knowledgeable network engineer.

It's clearly in a mode where it can auto-detect network settings on startup, so it stands to reason that this mode is achievable. Surely there is some way to be able to get it to revert back to this mode without having to power cycle the entire inverter and then waiting for starlink to reconnect.

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Answer 3 · 2023-08-31T14:26:05Z

JohnC answered · Aug 31, 2023 at 02:26 PM

@TomM

One other little thing you could try..

Set the 'IP Configuraion' in the GX to Automatic and reboot. When it shows Connected with the new IP address, change it from Automatic to Manual, then leave it.

I do this with both ethernet and wifi, and it always seems to stay there. Left on Automatic I lose it often. Don't ask me to explain it, I can't..

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Answer 4 · 2023-09-01T05:29:00Z

tomm answered · Sep 01, 2023 at 05:29 AM

I adjusted the IP to manual and tried setting it to the Starlink router IP

Now it won't connect at all and I can't connect to the unit to reset the IP

I tried connecting to the unit via bluetooth but it simply refuses to connect on this phone. I'll have to wait for my other phone to get back from repairs as it just barely picks up bluetooth from this unit.

The Easy Solar 2 GX has a lot of great features but also some peculiar design choices. The bluetooth antenna seems very ineffective (can barely get it to connect with the phone pressed against the unit)

The Wi-Fi antenna seems smaller than the one contained in my phone? I can get Wi-Fi just fine on my phone directly next to the unit but the unit itself just sits there and says "Wi-Fi?"

It also seems much more difficult than necessary to get a direct connection to the unit (offline) to configure settings. I have to buy some proprietary and frankly unnecessary adaptor to be able to connect my PC directly to the unit to change settings? So now I'm just stuck till my better phone gets back.

It's a good unit when it's working and maintains a basic internet connection. But otherwise it's very frustrating and far from optimal.

The design team was having a lot of late nights when they hobbled this project together apparently

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