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Level 4

1,435 points

Airport Express (simultaneous dual band) incompatible with Nest thermostat.

After purchasing the new dual band airport express, I have learned that it is currently incompatible with the Nest thermostat. After months of using the thermostat with an older airport express, I switched to the airport express to run a simultaneous dual band network. Within a couple of days I realized that my thermostat was no longer accesible from the internet. After checking the thermostat it was reporting that its battery was low and could not make a network connection. So to solve that problem I upgraded the wiring for the thermostat to include a "common wire" to supply power to the thermostat. After the battery reached an acceptable level I was able to at least rejoin the wireless network. Then I realized that the thermostat was not only randomly disconnecting from the network, but was also randomly rebooting itself. Nest has a list of routers that are currently known to be incompatible with the thermostat, but this router is not listed yet. Hopefully this helps anyone else who is trying to figure out what is going on after switching routers. Seeing as they had been selling this thermostat in Apple stores, along with the new airport express I hope they can iron out the incompatibilities between the two quickly.

Posted on Jun 24, 2012 4:48 PM

24 replies

Aug 22, 2012 5:57 AM in response to Nicholas Sayer

So when Apple does introduce a product named 3rd Generation Express in the future, you will refer to it as the 4th Generation?

Did you check your sales receipt for your third generation product that you have now to verify that you received a 3rd Generation product?

Aug 22, 2012 7:26 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Is the tablet they're currently selling as the iPad not the third one?

Is the iPhone 4S not the fifth one?

Is the AirPort Express they're currently selling not the third one?

Aug 22, 2012 7:41 AM in response to Nicholas Sayer

Either Apple or you are wrong.

If you really want to know what model you have, open AirPort Utility and check. Your screen will look like this:

You will see that you have a 2nd Generation product.

If you want to see a 3, instead of a 2, you can always make believe.

downinitjr Author

Level 4

1,435 points

Sep 1, 2012 7:52 PM in response to downinitjr

Nest thermostat has been updated to software 2.1.3, which according to Nest should resolve problems with the newest airport express.

PG MAC

Level 1

0 points

Oct 30, 2012 5:26 AM in response to downinitjr

I believe the issue with the AEBS and the Nest occurs if you have the AEBS in Bridge mode. The Nest needs a constant internet connection, and when it goes to sleep it stops being active, resulting in a "TCP" timeout. (I just learned this by talking with Nest.) In order to correct this the AEBS should be set in "DHCP only" mode, and an IP address needs to be given explicity to the Nest...

NOW...my question is: Does anyone know how to do this? I keep getting an error that reads:

sharing a range of IP addresses using only DHCP only requires manually configuring your WAN IP address. If your ISP gives you a range of static IP addresses you should manually configure your base station with the first IP address, and distribute the rest via DHCP

downinitjr Author

Level 4

1,435 points

Oct 30, 2012 4:23 PM in response to PG MAC

Pretty much any isp is going to give you a dynamic ip address. You can configure your base station to give a local static ip to the thermostat. This should not be necessary though seeing as nest has already fixed the issues regarding the new base stations and its thermostats. If for whatever reason you do want to give your thermostat a local static ip address you would do this under the Network>DHCP reservations: tab from the airport utility. Once again though this is a none issue seeing as the original incompatibilities have already been corrected with the newer nest firmware.

G_FS

Level 1

0 points

Nov 21, 2012 5:43 PM in response to downinitjr

I have the latest AirPort Base Station. After multiple failed attempts to get Nest to connect to my secure Wi-Fi server, I took the advice from the Nest Support site: I turned off Wi-Fi encryption. The Nest found the network, connected and download the latest software. After it finished updating, I turned Wi-Fi encryption back on. This time upon entering the password... success. Just thought I'd share.

Jan 1, 2013 6:16 PM in response to downinitjr

Hope this little tidbit might help someone else. I just built a house and had two NESTs installed (for each floor). They are 2nd gen running the latest firmware (I think 3)...I have a 1st gen Apple Time Capsule and it was running ok for the first day. Then after that, they kept disconnecting for some random reason. I rebooted my TC and also rebooted each thermostat and that did not seem to help. I then unchecked my "hidden" network setting and things have been running smoothly since. Hope this helps someone else...

jasaggie

Level 1

9 points

Oct 31, 2013 11:19 AM in response to downinitjr

How to revert back to 7.6.0 firmware?

Airport Express (simultaneous dual band) incompatible with Nest thermostat.