Nuki 3.0 Pro looses connection despite AP is next to it

I’m having constant issues with my Nuki lock and being unable to access it remotely. It will constantly connect and disconnect from the network for no apparent reason. It’s only about 3 meters away from the access point and I have tried every setting I can see mentioned in this post with no success. Any ideas?


Has anyone find the solution for this? I’m also on unifi environment and this week started to see exactly the same behavior. It constantly disconnects and connection is not maintained.

@Juergen my wifi stats report failure stage of DHCP for the nuki — not sure if that helps anyway. But all my other clients have no issues on that stage and I have plenty esp8266 clients.

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I tried to ping my Nuki (3.0 Pro) every 30 seconds and had no disconnects anymore. Maybe this could be a workaround for you.

That may work, but doesn’t seem reasonable at all. That’s absurd.

I’m using Home Assistant, so it’s no big deal.

But as far as I know, they are investigating the problem.

I have a 3.0 Pro and a couple of weeks ago I switched my router to a UniFi Express.

I’m now constantly having connection issues. Seems like a particular issue with UniFi routers from what I can read here. Also when I switch back to my old Eero 6pro seems to work OK all the time.

I created a new SSID where the Nuki connects (it’s only for the Nuki) following this configuration but that doesn’t seem to have helped.

I’m very frustrated as I usually lock my door when I’m already outside the apartment. Who can I contact? What can I do?

Is there a solution for this? I see this thread and I see no solutions. This might be enough reason to activate a warranty request since I got my Nuki just a few months ago.

My Nuki 3.0 Pro has also suddenly started to drop WiFi connection on Unifi APs. It worked without issues since I got it in April up until end of last year, at least it was still working in September, when I added some fingerprints to the pad and looked at the connection status.

I noticed a few days ago that it had dropped WiFi connectivity. I did set it up again but after a few minutes it dropped out again, and won’t reconnect.
I have a 2 ghz only ssid setup, and HomeKit integration still works…

Firmware is 3.7.7

Quick Update:

I got contacted by Stefan from Nuki who offered to include my Nuki device on the Beta firmware.

The beta firmware (3.8.2) seems to have solved all connectivity issues with the Unifi Express.

I’ll keep monitoring the connection and report back if something changes, but so far, issue seems to be gone.

Thanks to Stefan for his quick and reliable support!

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@Juergen can you tell me the difference of the WiFi quality indicators? What does the 2 mean and the 15? Because in my network I either have 2 (when nuki is stable connected) or 15 when I have a lot of drops but never other number.

Thanks.

Basically it tells how many data packets the Smart Lock receives on average per minute that are not related to data transfer with the Nuki server.

I.e. if you have many devices in your network that somehow send data to the Smart Lock or distribute data in the network that also reaches the Smart Lock, this value will go up. The lower the value, the lower the power consumption of the Smart Lock should be. The usefulness of this number has changed since the launch of the integrated WiFi, because the firmware became better at ignoring unwanted data before it even reaches the lock. That’s why it is hidden in the App and only used by Nuki support to understand specific problems.

Thank you for the clarification. Although I still don’t quite get why I see either 2 or 15, seems like hardcoded values for different parameters/conditions.

Hi Jaime & @Juergen

So I installed the 3.8.2. There are less problems (running UI Express and U6+ as WLAN AP). This ONLY works when sending pings every 30 secs (and killing the Nuki-battery). BUT…

image

Unfortunately that does not mean that there is anything stable, not Nuki Web not the App in the same WLAN, even in the green times :disappointed_relieved: NOTHING stable. Sometimes full stable connections for a few minutes.

image

It is so hard to understand what causes this. @Jaime_Creixems: Does the Nuki Web or the App in the same private WLAN works without a problem?

I changed the UI AP to a Fritz WLAN Repeater in that UNIFI Network, just to see if the AP causes some issues (that worked before on a fritz.box invironment 100% stable). ==> Don’t work. So the Unifi AP is not the bad guy in the drama. It seems that somehow the connection to internet has a problem and then the nuki lock is sulky don’t come back with the tunnel.

I disabled important parts of the Unify Firewall, nothing helped:

Nuki 3 Pro even worse:

image

Final I will try with a Unifi Dream Router instead of Express. And then, if it don’t work again, I burn all that unifi down :angel:

Someone an additional idea?

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Having the same problem for some time now with Nuki bridges that have connectivity issues with Unifi APs. Took some time to find out what the real problem was. Bridges are running firmware 2.17.0. They won’t connect to my Nano-HD APs, no matter what I do. However, when I move them next to an older model AP (AC-M), the connections is perfect again.
A factory reset (hence old firmware) solves the problems also for about 1 day with the Nano-HD AP, and then after the automatic firmware update the problems start again.
So, my conclusion is that there is a firmware issue causing problems with the newer Unifi APs. Hope this gets solved soon…

Hi Stefan, I can confirm that both the Web App and the Nuki iOS app have been working without problems since I updated to the beta firmware 3.8.2

There are 2 things I kept since before I updated. I did a full charge of the Nuki battery and I kept the Nuki in its own Wifi SSID.

I’m sorry to hear you’re still struggling. I hope you figure it out.

Nuki products do not downgrade their firmware by factory resetting them.

Do you mean that the Nano-HD AP downgrades and stops working after an automatic update?

Interesting to know that the firmware does not downgrade by factory reset. The nano-HD AP works just fine, is up-to-date, and has no issues with any other clients. Only the Nuki bridge will not connect to it (same problem on two different locations). It worked just fine for over a year, and now we have these issues. That is why I suspect the newer firmware.
I will do some more testing to see if I can get it connected to the nano-HD AP by changing the settings. It definitly has no issues connecting to a AC-M AP, what makes it strange.

Ok, now here it comes my UNIFI-SOLUTION on the Nuki disconnect issue (testing 24h). Just right before selling all stuff at ebay I got it running. :grinning::sparkles::balloon:

1. Summary what DOES NOT WORK:

  • Setting up the network like it’s shown above or here…
  • Set a ping every 15 seconds to the smartlock (works bether then without, but finally not helpfull).
  • A fully open Firewall
  • Every possible DNS-Server-trick or tweet
  • fixed IP address

2. Solution: THIS WORKS on a Nuki 3 Pro (using build in WLAN) & Unifi Express and AP U6+:

  • Firmware 3.8.2 (right now it’s beta).
  • No ping to the Nuki nescessary
  • Battery Save to “middle” (seems that this triggers the secret nuki solution of a fritz.box-AX-Issue. Seems that also works on Unifi. It does not work on any other battery setting! @Juergen can that really be or is it a kind of conspiration-theory?).
  • Own WLAN SSID only on 2,4 ghz (but this is not nescessary, it just safes battery-time of the Nuki)
  • Network: The game-changer was: 802.11 DTIM Period to 3 (and hey, it took so long to touch this parameter, because unifi warns you to really let the fingers off, stupid)
  • Network: Lowest speed set manual to lowest speed.
  • Bind Nuki to the AP next to it (no roaming)
  • Network: all other cool stuff to make speed or frequ change or things: Just switch it off. Or let it in default settings, just don’t care

Here is my network:

image

Open Issues:

  • Screenshot: The offline time at night shows another issue: After booting the Unifi router the lock needs really long to get online again. Maybe issues of the ISP dissconect and with that a new WAN-IP / DNS thing or so…
  • Smart Lock 4 Pro doesn’t work with regular firmware
  • Why does the support is not able to help me for days and days? And do the support know about our infos here? How can we give theres infos to the developer to help other customers? @Juergen

I tell if that stays stable. Thanx to all!

This …

… and this …

are because of that: Nuki 3.0 Pro Connectivity Issues with MQTT Broker on Home Assistant - #6 by Juergen

Essentially by setting the DTIM to 3 you align the power saving of the Smart Lock with the power saving of the network. This is in most networks not needed, but some routers (esp. the ones who try to learn and steer devices based around on some secret measurements they do) throw devices off the network if they think they need to act.

This is also why this …

… helps. Could also be responsible for this …

… if it is the network that does not allow the SL to connect, which is a behaviour we’ve also seen with Unifi configurations.

This is far too technical for the standard Nuki support. The best way to have this findable is flagging the working solution in the forum and having a separate, properly named thread for your Unifi problem. Google will index it and other customers will find it.

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I have been testing this for the past weeks and I can say that there is some magic behind the scenes that I can’t understand.

I’m trying to find solutions and I like nuki products, but fault is definitely on the Nuki’s side, not on the wireless vendors, in this case, unifi.

I have a network with 50+ devices and every single time a network config changes, a reboot is made, etc (even just rebooting the SL itself because I had to charge the battery) will result in a long period of no response from nuki’s side.

It happens on both my Nuki bridge connected to a 3.0 standard and my Nuki 3.0 Pro directly connected to the wlan.

It doesn’t matter how you play with the settings for dtims, uaspd, proxy arp, basic data rates (actually, the auto just so you know, applies the minimum so manually setting to the minimum is the same).

I’m on the latest stable, and from my tests these are the conclusions that I made:

Smart Lock 3.0 Pro

  • Everytime a minor change in the network happens that results in the AP provisioning, it will throw the nuki’s into the reconnect loop.
  • sometimes rebooting the nuki fixes it, but most of the times doesn’t. It may take 1 to 5 reboots to fix it. Sometimes going into the nuki WiFi settings and removing the network and joining again, fixes it.
  • if for some reason the lock doesn’t stay connected to the AP for more than 5 minutes, you better reboot/fix it, it will be hard for it to stick on its own.
  • as soon as it crosses the 10 min uptime in the AP, it will be 100% online working as intended, no disconnections or whatsoever until you reboot it or change any network config.

Nuki Bridge

  • same behavior of the pro 3.0 with the difference that it remains online in the AP but it doesn’t connect to the servers.
  • while you can’t reach nuki in the nuki app, you can through MQTT or webhooks (funny, isn’t it?)

My guess: nuki has a really hard time reaching the nuki servers when it boots or lost connection (disassociate from the AP) and it starts going havoc into a non recovery process. Typically the bridge recovers on its own after a few hours, but the pro doesn’t.

So bottom line is: nuki understands a lot of locks, but it’s really bad on networking so it seems. Again, I don’t have any other similar issue on all my other iot devices, some of them are even cheap stuff from AliExpress that I’d expect to work worse than premium smart locks.

I’m getting tired of working around this issue for a long time now, but I’m too lazy to search another lock vendor and sell my nukis. So I guess I’ll have to live with it and hope, with all the respect, that Nuki engineers hire someone that understands networking or find a fix. I’m sorry to put it this way, but I think you’ll understand the frustration.

Edit: Just to add an example of my lock today:

Basically yesterday I changed some network config (not related with the Nuki network) but since the AP had to re-provision, it dropped the Nuki connection like I’ve described. Then, it start its “re-connect loop” until today earlier this morning, I went to it, removed wifi, removed mqtt, removed battery, re-added battery, wifi/mqtt etc. played a bit with it and it got connected. As soon as I saw it was connected for more than 5 minutes, I knew it would stick. Now it’s more than 2h up and I know, that unless I change anything in the network, reboot the AP/lock, it won’t disconnect and it will be fully green 24/7. It has been like this for the past 3 months or so but it’s really limited that you have to deal with this struggle whenever a network change or reboot to lock happens. To prove my theory, I can post a screenshot tomorrow and it’ll be full green.

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Update: I got my Nuki bridge connection again stable with the nano-HD AP, after some fine-tunning. It appears that the Auto power mode of the AP is too much for the Nuki bridge. I turned down the power on the 5 GHz band and also on the 2.4 Ghz (-7 dB more). Also made sure that neigbouring APs were tuned down as needed. After this, the bridge had no problem connecting again. So, conclusion: bridges with firmware 2.17.0 are sensitive to the transmitting power of the nearby Unifi APs!