AiMesh + Google Home (Groups) Issues

[rugglebear]

Hey all,

My set up is:
One RT-AC68U AiMesh Router (A)
One RT-AC68U AiMesh Node (B)
5 Google Home devices (these are all also 'combined' into a 'Group' called Whole House in Google's 'Home' app.

My issue is that if I say something like "Hey Google, play Pandora Radio in Whole House (the name of the Group to which those 5 devices belong)" only the Google Home devices currently connected to (A) will play. The devices currently connected to the Node (B) will not.


I did some research on this topic before posting but couldn't find anything exactly quite like the situation I'm experiencing. What I could find had to do with setting up a new Google Home device on an AiMesh Network. I couldn't find anything like my situation where an ecosystem already exists, then adding a Node kind of throws everything for a loop.

Thanks for any help with this one!

 

[L&LD]

What firmware is being used on the routers? How exactly was the AiMesh node added to the main router?

Does the order of creating the AiMesh node (btw, wired or wireless?) first, then the Group, make a difference (or, vice versa)?

 

[rugglebear]

Firmware on both:
Asuswrt-Merlin 384.17

Wireless Node (B) was added via the Main Router's GUI at 192.168.1.1 (auto scan and find).

I'm not sure if the order of operations matters...hmmm...do you think I should decommission the group, then create a new Group?

 

[L&LD]

Worth a try.

Was the Wireless AiMesh node first fully reset to factory defaults/Initialize all settings (checked) before using the main Routers GUI to add it as an AiMesh node?

Has the main router been recently fully reset to factory defaults/Initialize all settings (checked)?

If running the node as an AP (at least to test), does the Group function work properly?

 

[rugglebear]

I guess the 'try' really was worth it, because after removing the Group, then creating a new Group, everything seems to be operating correctly and in-sync at the moment. Thanks!

To answer your other questions:

Yes, everything has been recently factory defaulted.
If I choose to in the future for whatever reason, how would I 'convert' a Node into an Access Point? What are the high-level trade-offs of using one or the other?

 

[L&LD]

Process order matters.

Glad this got it working for you.

What AP mode (or even better, manual AP mode) would offer is the option to use different SSID's, control channels, and channel bandwidth and radio power (more easily) than on the AiMesh mode which does it all for you (and sometimes AiMesses it up).

You would remove the router as an AiMesh node, go into its settings (it will have been reset after removing it, so it will be in the setup wizard screens) and choose AP mode.

Manual AP mode would be to use it in router mode and turn off DHCP. See the link below for further details.

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/bas...onvert-a-wireless-router-into-an-access-point

 

[rugglebear]

Dualy noted! Thanks again, and for the good laugh!

Last question, and I know this has become off-topic, but only because you've been able to put plainly things I've researched and read over and over but never could get a clear answer on:
- Is an Access Point, as you explained above (and according to the article), required to be hardwired via Ethernet back to the router? Or is a 'Wireless Access Point' possible?

 

[L&LD]

While some hardware/firmware combinations may give the option to connect wirelessly in AP mode, that is just a repeater at that point (and a repeater, when in use, will effectively halve the bandwidth otherwise available, or worse).

(Always) use wired for best results.

AiMesh gives that option (wired or wireless), but the cost of that convenience is the same cost as with the repeater example above.