HubDuo Troubleshooting Instructions

Preface

This pertains to the AyrMesh HubDuo.

The AyrMesh Gateway Hub is the one Hub in your network that is connected to a router that's connected to the Internet - there should be only ONE Gateway Hub per Network (Ayrmesh.com account). All the other Hubs (not connected to an Internet-connected router) are Remote Hubs.

Very briefly, the most common problems are cables (the cables between the power supply and the Hub, usually), power (to the power supply, or the power supply itself), and IP address conflicts, usually from trying to use a second router on your network. Make sure the cables are all good and clicked into the Hub and power supply, that the power supply light is on (and the power light on the Hub, if you can see it), and disconnect any secondary routers you may have before checking anything else.

First, check the lights on the Hub. The bottom light should be on steady, with one of the next two lights (Ethernet activity) blinking.

If no lights are showing, make sure the light on the power supply is on. If it's not, the power supply is probably dead. Check the light on the power supply - it should shine brightly and constantly, not be dim or pulsing.

Gateway Hub

As shown below, one of the next two lights (the Ethernet port lights with the little "Ethernet port" icons) should be on steady or blinking. This indicates that your router is connected to one of the Ethernet ports on the bottom (which light is blinking indicates which port you are connected to - it doesn't matter which port you use)

On the Gateway Hub, the top light (with the WiFi signal curves) should blink while the Hub is booting (about a minute or so after it is powered on), then stay on steady, no blinking. If it blinks, then the Hub is not reaching the Internet.

Remote Hub

The Next two lights above the power light indicate Ethernet traffic; normally these will be off unless you have something connected to one of the Ethernet ports (either the second port under the Hub or the port on the power supply).

The top light (with the WiFi signal curves) indicates the radio function; if the Remote Hub is working properly and in contact with the rest of the network, the light will blink slowly, once second on and one second off. If there's a problem, it will blink much more quickly.

If you cannot see the lights

You may have to take down the Hub and connect it to your router with short, known-good Ethernet cables to see what's going on, but you can access the web server on the Hub by using any browser on any device connected to your home network. You can find the Hub's private IP address on your AyrMesh.com dashboard:

You can see that my Hub is at 192.168.1.103 and 192.168.1.106, so I type that into the URL bar of a browser on my computer. If the Hub is working on the network, the Hub prompts for a username and password; this is your AyrMesh.com username and password. Then you'll see a webpage like this:

First, the fact that you can see the webpage means that your Hub is connected and working properly. If the Hub DOESN'T respond, then your Hub may not be working or may no longer be attached to your network. Check its power supply and, if it's a Gateway Hub, its connection to your router. You can look at your router's DHCP table (sometimes called a "client table") to see if your Hub is receiving a private IP address from your router.

Note that only the top of the 2.4 GHz. Site Survey shows above; below that is the 5 GHz. Site Survey, showing possible interference on the 5.8 GHz. channels, followed by the list of devices connected to the Hub's WiFi:

In this case, there are no device connected to the WiFi.

Bad cables are the most common cause of problems with the AyrMesh Hub. Ethernet cables comprise four twisted pairs of wires, eight wires total - four for power and four for data. If one of the power wires has broken, then the light may not light up. If one of the data wires has broken, then the Hub may light up but not communicate over its Ethernet cable - this will cause a Gateway Hub to fail, but the only effect on a Remote Hub will be to any device that's connected to the Hub's LAN port. If you suspect a cable might be bad, take down the Hub and connect it to your router with short, known-good cables. Make sure to disconnect any Hub that's currently connected, and ensure both the cable from the router to the power supply AND the cable from the power supply to the Hub are good.

If you have Remote Hubs, you will see the signal strength to the nearest Hub displayed; if that number is lower than -80 or so (note that, since the numbers are negative, higher numbers are smaller; -81 is a lower signal than -80) then the signal may be too low. Here, you can see the signal is -47, which is extremely high. Second, you can see the "Site Survey." This allows you to see if there are local WiFi access points interfering with your Hub. As you can see, there is a LOT of interference near this Hub (it's in our "torture chamber" - in front of a retail location on a busy street in a major city).

Router ports sometimes go bad. If the cables seem OK but the Hub still won't check in to AyrMesh.com and does not show up on your router, try plugging it into one of the other "LAN" ports on the router.

Second, check to see if the Hub is transmitting WiFi.

• It takes about a minute for the Hub to boot, so it won't start transmitting right away after getting power. If the lights are on but the WiFi is not transmitting, the problem is almost certainly that the Ethernet cable between the power supply and the Hub is not providing enough voltage to the Hub. Usually, this means that the cable is not made of 100% copper wires and needs to be replaced. Re-test the Hub on one of the 10' cables included with the Hub.
• Make sure to check the Power Supply - if the light on the power supply is off or is pulsating or blinking, the Power Supply is bad and needs to be replaced (unfortunately, not all our power supplies have lights any more). Contact Ayrstone Support to see if you are eligible for a replacement;  you can also buy the power supplies off-the-shelf. Check the voltage of the power supply and make sure you buy one with the right voltage.

Third, if the Hub is transmitting WiFi, try to connect to it.

• If you cannot connect to the Hub, either your computer/phone/tablet is misconfigured (must be set up to get an automatic IP address via DHCP) or the Hub is not getting an IP address from the router to which it is connected.
• If you can connect to the Hub but you cannot access the Internet, then either the router is not connected to the Internet or the router is blocking the Hub from the Internet.
• If the signal from the Hub seems low, make sure the Hub is mounted with the antenna pointed straight up and that there are no obstacles between the Hub and your device. Note that a "normal" wood-stud wall or a tree will approximately halve the range of the Hub. Note also that some devices are "calibrated" relative to a normal 100 mW WiFi access point, and that they sometimes go slightly nuts if they're close to the Hub, which is 30-40x as powerful. If you are getting "2 bars" of signal when you're next to the Hub, don't worry - it may be trying to tell you that it's seeing "7 out of a possible 5" bars.

Still not working?