Ubiquiti Unifi LAN and Mitsubishi Heat Pump

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Ubiquiti Unifi LAN and Mitsubishi Heat Pump - very strange issue

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#306842 26-Aug-2023 15:53

As per the title, I'm having a strange issue with my heat pump that seems to be network related, but doesn't make sense.

First, my setup/equipment: Ubiquiti Unifi USG-3 router with latest FW, AP-AC Lite AP's, USW8 switches, Mitsubishi MSZ-AP71VG(D/KD) heat pump with Wifi Module.

I've had the heat pump for a couple of years, no issues with the wifi module on the LAN, no problems using the Mitsubishi app on my Android phone(s). In the last week the heat pump has not been turning off intermittently (not following the schedule set up via the app), then I lost comms with the heat pump on the app, although my Unifi controller was showing the heat pump as connected via wifi, with good signal strength (heat pump module only runs on 2.4GHz). I physically checked the module in the heat pump and it was displaying a DNS error LED. This is where it gets strange. No other devices on the network have been having issues with DNS that I'm aware of.

I changed the DNS settings on the router (from fixed DNS servers (on Spark Fibre) to auto, which may have picked the same servers, not sure. I rolled back the FW on the AP to an earlier version, just in case - no difference. Rebooted the router, factory reset the wifi module and set it up again (several times). Every time it comes back with the DNS error LED. Everything seemed to be pointing to a faulty wifi module.

I then setup a wifi hotspot on my phone, reset the heat pump module and connected it via the hotspot. DNS error disappeared, heat pump accessible via the phone app. So that seems to point the issue back to my LAN rather than the wifi module. But as mentioned, no other devices on the network, wired or wireless have any issues with DNS - it would be very obviouse quickly if they were.

I'm reaching the limits of my network troubleshooting skills (I've been a Telco engineer for many years, with a crossover into VOiP and WiFi). Am I missing anything obvious??

Any help troubleshooting this would be greatly appreciated.

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#3120641 26-Aug-2023 18:09

Any updates recently installed on this module?

Any blackholes setup to allow for some special DNS configuration for streaming services?

Any outbound FW rules?

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rhy7s

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#3120652 26-Aug-2023 18:51

I've had issues with DNS on UniFi networks with automatic time-zone and time sync on client devices. Maybe try manually setting those for something to try.

CYaBro

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#3120653 26-Aug-2023 19:08

My heat pump had issues until I created a 2.4ghz only wifi network.

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#3120664 26-Aug-2023 19:54

freitasm: Any updates recently installed on this module?

Any blackholes setup to allow for some special DNS configuration for streaming services?

Any outbound FW rules?

No updates I'm aware of on the module (but I couldn't discount Mitsubishi pushing them through in the background without my knowledge)

How would I check for DNS blackholes? A tracert to the IP of the server the heat pump is trying to reach? Although I don't know how I'd find that without some Wireshark traces (Unifi controller UI is a bit crap for traffic analysis I've found). Seems a bit of a stretch, but I'll keep it in mind.

No outbound FW rules - just using MS firewall with standard settings (unblock outgoing).

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#3120665 26-Aug-2023 19:58

rhy7s:

I've had issues with DNS on UniFi networks with automatic time-zone and time sync on client devices. Maybe try manually setting those for something to try.

That's very interesting. Which settings are you referring to? I had the router DNS set to fixed, using the Spark DNS primary and secondary servers, then I changed it to Dynamic as part of the troubleshooting. For all I know the router has dynamically set the same DNS servers as it had before. I don't know how to find what it's set for.

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#3120667 26-Aug-2023 20:02

CYaBro: My heat pump had issues until I created a 2.4ghz only wifi network.

Do you mean a specific network just for the heat pump? I have a separate network/vlan to keep the security cameras off the main network, I could do another one to test the heat pump (or I could move the heat pump termporarily onto the cams network as it uses a different vlan/subnet and DHCP range, although wouldn't it still use the same DNS as the main network, causing the same issue? Can certainly try it.

Edit - I've just set up a new network & SSID on 2.4GHz only and will try it probably tomorrow. Annoyingly the heat pump wifi module has come back online and is working at the moment. I'll wait until it fails again and try switching it to the new network. I'll keep you posted.

michaelmurfy

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#3120675 26-Aug-2023 20:54

muttley68:

CYaBro: My heat pump had issues until I created a 2.4ghz only wifi network.

Do you mean a specific network just for the heat pump? I have a separate network/vlan to keep the security cameras off the main network, I could do another one to test the heat pump (or I could move the heat pump termporarily onto the cams network as it uses a different vlan/subnet and DHCP range, although wouldn't it still use the same DNS as the main network, causing the same issue? Can certainly try it.

Edit - I've just set up a new network & SSID on 2.4GHz only and will try it probably tomorrow. Annoyingly the heat pump wifi module has come back online and is working at the moment. I'll wait until it fails again and try switching it to the new network. I'll keep you posted.

No need to use a 2.4GHz only network here. I've got the same heatpump and same module and mine works absolutely no problems on a mixed (2.4/5GHz) network. It also worked no problems when I had an Ubiquiti network. They're pretty rock solid.

One thing however it does have an issue with is if you've got a WPA3 mixed network. I've found that the heatpumps did have a bit of difficulty here. I resolved this by having my IoT network running at WPA2 only. The heatpump WiFi module doesn't work locally on the network unless if you're using the Home Assistant / Homebridge plugins via EchonetLite (I just created a firewall rule to pass this through to my main network).

I've got very restrictive DNS on my network with no outbound DNS allowed apart to my own servers. Again, the heatpumps work fine here.

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BarTender

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#3120684 26-Aug-2023 22:38

I have a Mitsubishi heat pump with the original module and the newer revision that supports having an AP but both are 2.4g only.

Main thing you should make sure your AP is locked to a channel and not auto. Set it to 3/7/11 and then leave it. Then the wifi controller might need a reboot by power cycling the heat pump and you shouldn’t have an issue again.

and

rscole86

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#3120716 27-Aug-2023 09:08

I've got four Mitsi heat pumps with controllers, I've not had any issues with their losing comms.

3x MAC568, 1xMAC578. All were set up via their own Wi-Fi rather than WPS.

They're running off two AP's (GWN7610's), using a mixed 2.4/5GHz SSID.

All are running DHCP, WPA2, with 2.4 set to channels 1 and 6.

They're all currently on my main Wi-Fi, with pihole and Spark DNS, but will look at moving them to a IoT network once I replace the ER4.

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#3120852 27-Aug-2023 15:24

michaelmurfy:

No need to use a 2.4GHz only network here. I've got the same heatpump and same module and mine works absolutely no problems on a mixed (2.4/5GHz) network. It also worked no problems when I had an Ubiquiti network. They're pretty rock solid.

One thing however it does have an issue with is if you've got a WPA3 mixed network. I've found that the heatpumps did have a bit of difficulty here. I resolved this by having my IoT network running at WPA2 only. The heatpump WiFi module doesn't work locally on the network unless if you're using the Home Assistant / Homebridge plugins via EchonetLite (I just created a firewall rule to pass this through to my main network).

I've got very restrictive DNS on my network with no outbound DNS allowed apart to my own servers. Again, the heatpumps work fine here.

Ah, that could be something - I am running WPA2/WPA3 on the main network. I have been for a while so it's odd if it's only causing problems now, but I could move it to the CAMS network and make sure that's only using WPA2 (I don't believe the cameras - Reolink POE's - are WPA3 capable anyway) if the problem returns.

Thanks.

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#3120854 27-Aug-2023 15:27

BarTender: I have a Mitsubishi heat pump with the original module and the newer revision that supports having an AP but both are 2.4g only.

Main thing you should make sure your AP is locked to a channel and not auto. Set it to 3/7/11 and then leave it. Then the wifi controller might need a reboot by power cycling the heat pump and you shouldn’t have an issue again.

Both AP's have always been locked to channels on 2.4 (20MHz) and 5 (80MHz), no auto channel selection.

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#3120855 27-Aug-2023 15:31

rscole86: I've got four Mitsi heat pumps with controllers, I've not had any issues with their losing comms.

3x MAC568, 1xMAC578. All were set up via their own Wi-Fi rather than WPS.

They're running off two AP's (GWN7610's), using a mixed 2.4/5GHz SSID.

All are running DHCP, WPA2, with 2.4 set to channels 1 and 6.

They're all currently on my main Wi-Fi, with pihole and Spark DNS, but will look at moving them to a IoT network once I replace the ER4.

Good to know. I have the MAC568 module. I set it up using the AP method (I don't use WPS on my network) and it's been rock solid until recently.

openmedia

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#3120858 27-Aug-2023 15:44

I've got similar heat pumps and I'm using Aruba APs.

One additional way to test/interact with the units is via the hard(ish) to find Web App

https://app.melview.net

My network for IoT devices is WPA2 only so I don't appear to be hitting your issue.

Is anyone else here also using echonet to connect Home Assistant? It appears that there are some odd UDP issues when traversing VLANs i'm still trying to troubleshoot.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#3120862 27-Aug-2023 16:07

openmedia:

I've got similar heat pumps and I'm using Aruba APs.

One additional way to test/interact with the units is via the hard(ish) to find Web App

https://app.melview.net
My network for IoT devices is WPA2 only so I don't appear to be hitting your issue.

Is anyone else here also using echonet to connect Home Assistant? It appears that there are some odd UDP issues when traversing VLANs i'm still trying to troubleshoot.

Can't help you with your query, but damn, thanks for the URL - I didn't know that existed. Means I can run it on my Galaxy TAB A, which for some weird reason will not clear the sidebar from the Mitsi App display no matter what, meaning it obscures 1/3rd of the display, very frustrating.

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#3120865 27-Aug-2023 16:38

Update: I've set up a new SSID with WPA2-PSK only, tied to a new network on a separate subnet/vlan to keep it away from the default network traffic. DNS remains unchanged - as far as I can see the Unifi equipment doesn't allow separate DNS servers, but feeds DNS queries back to the global DNS setting on the USG-3 router (could be wrong on this, but I couldn't see separate DNS options for the different networks I have). So far so good, will keep it under obs and update here if any change.

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