BG Electrical - Broadlink Meraki Smart Setup Mode

[aristosv]

We have a few British General 922/HC smart power outlets, that we need to connect to our Wi-Fi, which is handled by Meraki MR42 access points. These power outlets use Broadlink chipsets found in Broadlink's smart plugs and use the QUIC protocol. They use 2 setup methods. Smart Setup Mode and AP Setup Mode.

AP Setup Mode basically creates a hotspot on the outlet, which you connect to, using your phone, and configure the SSID and password of your Wi-Fi network, and then the outlet tries to connect on it.

For our purposes, it's important that we use the Smart Setup Mode. In this mode, your phone is already connected to the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, you define the SSID and password of your Wi-Fi, and then the app somehow connects to the outlet, and configures it to connect to that SSID.

We know this issue is related to Meraki configuration, because we created a hotspot and went through the setup process, and it worked flawlessly.

So the question is, how must we configure Meraki, to allow the Smart Setup Mode configuration for these smart outlets?

[marce1000]

             - You may go here for that : https://community.meraki.com/t5/Wireless-LAN/bd-p/wireless-lan

 M.

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

I think on the Meraki you can change settings such as the minimum bitrate and the transmit power range. These settings are usually configured in the RF profile(s). I could only find an example of how to configure these settings in the document linked below, maybe that is of some use to you...

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Radio_Settings/RF_Profiles

[aristosv]

You suspect that it might be a problem with the outlet Wi-Fi reception? Because the access point is very close to the outlet.

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

if the outlet is close, the transmit power range settings (default) should be sufficient, in theory. It might be worth changing both the transmit power range as well as the minimum bitrate anyway, it could make a difference. I did some research on your BG 922/HC outlets, there usually is an app for these ? QUIC defaults to UDP 443, you might want to check if the Meraki somehow restricts access.

That said, I am just guessing, as I have absolutely no experience with these outlets. The solution is usually (a lot of) trial and error...