downinitjr
Level 4 (1,435 points)

Q: 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

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

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  • by cruisingjack,

    cruisingjack cruisingjack Jul 11, 2012 2:33 PM in response to downinitjr
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 11, 2012 2:33 PM in response to downinitjr

    I have two WiFi networks in my home, both 2.4 GHz.  The main wireless router is a Verizon FiOS unit (unkown manufacturer) and the other is a Apple Time Capsule version 7.6.1 configured with the Airport Utility.

     

    The Nest thermostat, installed two days ago, would not consistently stay connected to the Verizon WiFi network, but has been operating for over 24 hours without any issues on the Time Capsule WiFi network even though the Nest is much further away from the Apple router.

     

    So far no compatibililty issues with the Apple Time Capsule wireless router.

  • by Nicholas Sayer,

    Nicholas Sayer Nicholas Sayer Jul 15, 2012 10:10 AM in response to downinitjr
    Level 2 (179 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jul 15, 2012 10:10 AM in response to downinitjr

    I can confirm this with my Nest and the new 3rd gen Express. My old AirPort Extreme worked fine for months, but the Express is killing the Nest's battery.

     

    I switched to the Express to gain AirPlay in the room where the AirPort is, but now I'm wondering if that was a bad move.

  • by Nicholas Sayer,

    Nicholas Sayer Nicholas Sayer Jul 15, 2012 10:11 AM in response to cruisingjack
    Level 2 (179 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jul 15, 2012 10:11 AM in response to cruisingjack

    My old Extreme also worked fine with my Nest for ages. I believe this issue is only with the new 3rd gen Express.

  • by downinitjr,

    downinitjr downinitjr Jul 15, 2012 10:34 AM in response to downinitjr
    Level 4 (1,435 points)
    Jul 15, 2012 10:34 AM in response to downinitjr

    Nest now lists the current Apple simultaneous dual band routers with the the current firmware as incompatible.

  • by JCheong,

    JCheong JCheong Jul 16, 2012 11:06 PM in response to downinitjr
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 16, 2012 11:06 PM in response to downinitjr

    Same issue - had 1st gen Airport Extreme Base Station and a Nest working without a hiccup for 6+months. Switched to Airport Express Base Station for Airplay and dual band. Within 1.5 days, the NEST would disconnect from the network repeatedly with "low battery" - after intermittent use over 4 days - switched back to 1st gen Airport Extreme - NEST is working great but no dual band or guest network :-(

     

    Hoping for a software patch or upgrade for compatibility - no sign of such on either Apple or NEST site

  • by John Nachbar,

    John Nachbar John Nachbar Jul 17, 2012 10:19 AM in response to downinitjr
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Jul 17, 2012 10:19 AM in response to downinitjr

    Same issue. Here is a link to Nest that lists Apple routers explicitly

     

    http://support.nest.com/customer/portal/articles/593751-some-wi-fi-routers-can-c ause-nest-to-restart-frequently-or-unexpectedly

  • by nowakezone,

    nowakezone nowakezone Jul 21, 2012 3:37 PM in response to downinitjr
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 21, 2012 3:37 PM in response to downinitjr

    Same issue.  Does the new Airport Extreme work?

  • by Nicholas Sayer,

    Nicholas Sayer Nicholas Sayer Jul 21, 2012 4:30 PM in response to nowakezone
    Level 2 (179 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jul 21, 2012 4:30 PM in response to nowakezone

    I had a 5th gen Extreme with the latest firmware and had no problems with it and my Nest. The 3rd gen Express is the culprit, I think.

  • by HACKINT0SH,

    HACKINT0SH HACKINT0SH Jul 22, 2012 5:52 PM in response to Nicholas Sayer
    Level 5 (5,774 points)
    iLife
    Jul 22, 2012 5:52 PM in response to Nicholas Sayer

    First of all, you stop saying 3'rd Gen Express. Currently the 3'rd gen is still under design, and only the 2n'd Gen Express is available.

     

    The culprit, is the 2nd' Gen express.... the one with 2 ethernet ports & ATV profile.

  • by Nicholas Sayer,

    Nicholas Sayer Nicholas Sayer Jul 22, 2012 9:17 PM in response to HACKINT0SH
    Level 2 (179 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jul 22, 2012 9:17 PM in response to HACKINT0SH

    Um, no.

     

    The first two Expresses bore a resemblance to each other, but the first one was 802.11b/g, and the 2nd was 802.11n. The one that looks like a small ATV is the third generation.

  • by enriquefromtampa,

    enriquefromtampa enriquefromtampa Aug 2, 2012 9:48 AM in response to Nicholas Sayer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 9:48 AM in response to Nicholas Sayer

    This is how I solved this problem, I revered back to 7.6.0 on my Airport Extreme current generation AP and Nest has been happy ever since, of couse the AE isn't happy that it's a revision behind, however, everything is back to normal and working fine. When I performed a packet capture between the 7.6.0 and 7.6.1 I could see much more traffic to the Nest from the AE so I'm guessing the Nest isn't acustomed to being up and active on WiFi all the time so the constant power drain from the AE queries run the battery down.

     

    It's  not an elegant solution, but hey it works.

  • by Nicholas Sayer,

    Nicholas Sayer Nicholas Sayer Aug 2, 2012 10:09 AM in response to enriquefromtampa
    Level 2 (179 points)
    Mac App Store
    Aug 2, 2012 10:09 AM in response to enriquefromtampa

    That's great, but it doesn't help those of us with the Airport *Express* 3rd gen.

  • by downinitjr,

    downinitjr downinitjr Aug 21, 2012 1:36 PM in response to downinitjr
    Level 4 (1,435 points)
    Aug 21, 2012 1:36 PM in response to downinitjr

    Its been two months since I reported this to Nest, and no resolution in sight.  Their assurances don't mean squat to me at this point.  Two months for two cutting edge tech companies to get together and make their products which are designed to work together, work together, is too long.

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Aug 21, 2012 7:15 PM in response to Nicholas Sayer
    Level 10 (105,398 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 21, 2012 7:15 PM in response to Nicholas Sayer
    That's great, but it doesn't help those of us with the Airport *Express* 3rd gen.

     

    Once again.....there is no such thing as a 3rd Generation Express......yet.

     

    The "newest" Express, introduced in mid-June with dual band wireless is the 2nd Generation AirPort Express. The 1st Generation AirPort Express was the 802.11n model introduced in 2008.  The older "b/g" Express devices did not have a "generation" designation.

     

    Call Apple if you need to verify this, or check this recent support document regarding the newest 2nd Generation version of the Express.

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5211

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