Haverland Smartbox with EE Smarthub router

[SueyBrown]

Hi All, Does anyone use Haverland internet controlled electric radiators?

I  have been using them for a number of years. They  connect over wifi to a "Smartbox" that needs to be directly connected to the router ethernet port.

Earlier this year the smartbox stopped talking to the router. Since then I have replaced the router, the cable, the smartbox and tired all the ports but it will not connect.

I've looked at the technical log on the router and can see the port come up but  it goes down immediately.

As a test I took the 'smartbox' and plugged it into a different router (BT smarthub) at a different property and the smartbox connected straight away.

So now I'm thinking  something has changed on the ethernet port config on the EE router, this will have been around April/May this year (2024)

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

Su

[Ewan15]

Hi Su

Are both routers using the same IP address range ie you can log onto either router using the same IP Address 192.168.1.254? If you can the issue could be an IP Address conflict. 

Log onto the BT smart Hub and look at the ethernet devices and make a note of the IP Address the Smart Box is using.

Disconnect the BT Hub and connect the EE hub without the Smart Box connected and check whether any other device is using that IP Address. If there is one, switch off that device and then connect your Smart Box which should then grab the IP Address.

Once you have confirmed your Smart Box is connected you can switch on the other device which will get a new IP Address

[SueyBrown]

Thanks for the reply Ewan15.

The routers are in different locations ( ie different towns) and they are both using DHCP I think.

When the smartbox is connected to the EE router, there are no other devices connected.

So I don't think that's the issue.

And the strange thing was it was all working fine,  which is why I assumed something had died, but having replaced everything, it seems  it is the EE router ethernet ports not enabling the connection to the Smartbox, which is why I wondered if the ports firmware had been updated which is now stopping the connection.

[JimM11]

@SueyBrown Do you have another device that you can plug into the EE Ethernet ports to test them, something like a laptop and then you can prove all 4 ports on the EE Router Lan. 

[Mike4643]

I had the same problem. Router Model Smart Hub SH31B

I check the Ethernet Ports plugin a computer and they work fine. But plugging the Smart Box of Haverland and it does not connect. Also checking on the router website like they say in the comment to check if there is a conflict with IPs did not show the Smartbox connected anywhere.

Haverland's solution is to get Wifi extender from EE called Smartbox Wi-Fi SW30A.

My solution was a wifi exteder from TPLINK - TP-Link RE200 AC750 Universal Dual Band Range Extender

It has a ethernet connection at the bottom. First you set quickly through TPLINK app and then connect the smart box once its all done and straight away will work.

[JimM11]

@Mike4643 Welcome to the forum, good to see you found a solution to the connection issue.👍

[SueyBrown]

So I've resolved the issue, it was the EE router, an engineer visited and after testing the smartbox with the router confirmed that there were compatibility issues with these routers.

He reported this back to EE and requested that I be sent a BT router, which when I'd heard nothing from EE, I called them and was told my call was closed and fixed.

I asked them to send me a BT router which I then received, it worked straight away and now I have my heaters reconnected.

I could not find information this issue anywhere online, I don't know the exact nature of the compatibility issue with the Ethernet ports, but taking the EE router out of the picture has resolved the issue.

Thanks for all your help!

[Mustrum]

@SueyBrown  thanks for coming back and updating the thread.

From yours and @Mike4643  description it would seem that the Haverland box and EE router LAN ports operate at different speeds and the EE router is not able to auto negotiate to Haverland box.

I seem to remember another device having a similar problem. Another possible way round the issue could be to use a small switch in between boxes = not something most users would want to do.