- I'm back on site at our smart home take
of everything here has been working fantastically
for well over a year now, smart lights,
smart security camera, smart doorbell, EV charger,
even inputs to the solar system as well.
Now we don't mean the sky, we mean the solar panels
on the roof.
But earlier this week I got a call from a client.
Everything has stopped working, can't get access
to the app, can't turn the heating on.
So we're gonna find out what's happened
and what we can do to put it right.
I'd like to get the thoughts of electricians
who install smart systems for customers.
How do you support the systems throughout that life?
You know, do you become the IT help desk
whenever anything goes wrong?
Put a comment below.
Also stick around in this video because there's something
at the end of this video you should be aware of
that will kill almost any smart system dead in its tracks.
Well, thank you for calling the eFixx IT helpline.
My name's Gordon, how can I help you?
Everything's gone off well.
I've got a sneaking suspicion
that that is to do with the wifi system.
If you lose that, you can't gain
that access on any of those smart devices.
Has anything happened in the installation recently
that could have caused that problem?
Yes, of course it has.
The customer has recently signed up
to a fantastic new all fiber broadband offer
and as a result the supplier has sent
out a new internet router.
So therefore this old router's been disconnected
that had all the wifi settings in there and the password
that all the smart devices in this home were connecting
through and can no longer be accessed.
So, you're thinking I'm gonna have
to open up all those individual apps
for the thermostat, for the lights, for everything
and put in those new details.
Well, here's a great hack that can get this system up
in really quick time.
So here's the hack that could save you hours
or the customer could even do it themselves
by watching this video.
I'm gonna take the wifi credentials of this,
so that's its network name
and the password that was previously used
and transfer it to this new router here.
So do that by logging into the webpage
of the router itself, through the IP address.
If I look in the instructions here that is given as 192.
This is a sky router we're going into here.
192.168.0.1,
and that brings us into the page itself.
And then we're looking
for change the wireless network name.
Log into there now.
It's now because you're gonna send to me critical asking
for the password.
This will change depending
on the router that you've particularly got.
But tells me the instructions here
that the username is admin as most of them are
and the password is sky.
You can of course change that if someone's gonna sneak
into your house and log into your internet router.
So sign in
and then you can see we've got some options there.
So there's the 2.4 gigahertz
and the five gigahertz wireless settings.
Now here's an interesting thing when it comes
to smart home tech.
Most smart home tech tends
to use the 2.4 gigahertz wifi settings
because you're not so bothered about the speed
which is what you get from the five gigahertz setting.
It's all about the range.
So the products themselves
may be some distance from the router itself.
So they use that network.
So on this case, I'm just gonna change the network name
for the 2.4 gigahertz
cause the client may have already hooked up some devices
to this new one.
And it's really just a case of navigating down to find the
obviously the network name or the SSID and the password
which we can see on this page here.
So I'm gonna take the option here
to basically call the different networks,
different settings.
So I'm gonna set up the 2.4 gigahertz as it's old,
as the old device here
and keep the new five gigahertz settings.
You could of course change them all.
That's personal preference.
So it's real easy.
Find that setting.
So I'm just gonna put in the old name
and password for this device, which you normally find
on either a little card on the back of the router
or underneath it, making sure it's always case sensitive.
And again for the password.
And then just apply that to the router
and we should be back up in business.
So these details have now been changed
in the router and it's rebooted.
And the smart devices in the property now have thought
they're now connecting to the old wifi network
with the same password and ID they have stored in them
but it's now being delivered by this new router here.
So we can now control the lights with the app
and a thermostat for the app even if we're remote
from the property.
And just to be clear, lots of smart devices will continue
to operate without wifi access.
It's just if you want to use the app, particularly remote
from the property that you will need to access them
through the wifi network.
And that's what a lot of people get used to doing
particularly with things like heating controls and security
especially smart doorbells
and cameras do need the wifi network to keep operating.
If you lose that, you lose your security.
But thinking of losing security, come and have a look
at this.
So it's fantastic now
that our smart doorbell is operating again
and I can see what's going on at the property remotely
for when that all important delivery turns up
from that well known online retailer
who does next day free delivery.
But what if I had other purposes?
What if I was totally reliant upon this for security?
I've got a smart security system installed,
I've got other cameras.
Is there an easy way to disable them if I was a burglar
for instance, or would you want to protect
against that happening?
Well, there's a problem and it's in this meter box here.
Most properties these days have an external meter box
and a lot of them have
inside them a double pull isolator switch.
And if I flick that, it's game over for all
of those smart devices.
So if you need to protect against that, you might want
to think about somehow locking this door
so no one can trigger that switch
or adding an uninterruptible power supply
to your wifi router and the circuit feeding some
of those critical smart security devices.
So that's one problem solved and another one created
that perhaps we can look at in another video.
But for now, we can leave this property safe
and secure for the owner who's away on business.
And I've been promised a box
of Turkish delight for solving this problem
in double quick time on a Friday afternoon.
If you're interested in solving problems, check out
how we solved the problem of integrating the solar PV
into the gas hot water system in this property.
But I'll also leave a link for all
of the smart home products that we've previously installed.