admiles Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 I use my iphone as controller/throttle on my Z21 system. I've recently changed my iphone to a newer model and it steadfastly refuses to connect to the Z21. The previous phone has no issues. I've downloaded the Z21 app onto my ipad and this works fine (though too big to use permanently) so I'm reasonably sure the Z21 is working ok. So far I've tried updating the Z21 firmware from v.1.41 to v1.42. The wi-fi setting on my phone shows it as connected to the Z21 (rather than my home network). It does say under the Z21 wi-fi identifier in setting on my phone "no internet connection" but I'd expect this as the Z21 router is of course not connected to the internet. Anyone got any ideas what this problem could be please? I'm stumped. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Do you have the correct address for the Z21 in the app? By default the Z21 should be at 192.168.0.111 - unless you have changed it, in which case you need to put in the correct address. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
admiles Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 3 minutes ago, WIMorrison said: Do you have the correct address for the Z21 in the app? By default the Z21 should be at 192.168.0.111 - unless you have changed it, in which case you need to put in the correct address. Yes, shows as 192.168.0.111 under "Z21 Settings" in the Z21 app. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 2, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 2, 2023 I had this before and two different methods worked just rebooting the app or shutting it down, forgetting the wifi on the phone and then reopening app and reconnecting. There seems to be a small glitch in the app I guess from connecting to actually firing up the link. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
admiles Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 6 minutes ago, PaulRhB said: I had this before and two different methods worked just rebooting the app or shutting it down, forgetting the wifi on the phone and then reopening app and reconnecting. There seems to be a small glitch in the app I guess from connecting to actually firing up the link. Thanks I'll give this a try later when I'm back home. It's frustrating to say the least. Wondering if it's time to ditch the Z21. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Get rid of Z21? That is being a tad melodramatic I fear 😉 What address does the phone have? It is 192.168.0.x - where x is NOT 1, 254 or 111. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 2, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 2, 2023 17 minutes ago, admiles said: Thanks I'll give this a try later when I'm back home. It's frustrating to say the least. Wondering if it's time to ditch the Z21. The thing is it does a lot very well, I’ve had five systems, LGB-MTS, EZcommand, NCEpowercab, Pikosmartcontrol, Z21 and used a couple of others a fair bit and the Z21 is still the favourite because of its reliability and flexibility. From those the NCE, Piko and Z21 I consider the easiest to use with decent performance. At big shows it weathers the storm of mobile networks fine with phones and tablets, only the toy Reg limited wifiMaus had trouble and once we scanned the networks it wasn’t a particular surprise so we swapped those throttles to wired connections. Only Warley had enough interference to defeat those. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpendle Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 I also have intermittent issues connecting my iPhone to my Z21, which I believe started after an iPhone update which caused the iPhone to start reporting "No Internet Connection" when connected to the Z21 router. Sometimes my iPhone connects without issue, but at other times it refuses to connect to the Z21 itself. Turning the router on and off seems to fix it. I also think there's a correlation between the iPhone switching from my home network to the Z21 router, but I've no hard evidence for that. When my iPhone is connected to the Z21 Wifi, if I use the App to "reconnect to the Z21", I get an "unable to connect" message. I've thought about reporting this to Roco but it only fails when it wants to, I can't reproduce the failure once everything is working! Please don't get rid of the Z21, you'll regret it! Regards, John P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesed Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 The important thing to note here is that this will be an ios problem and not a problem with the Z21 or the TP Link router. The most likely cause is that your iphone connects and then when, after about 20 seconds or so, it realises that there isn't an internet connection then it disconnects and looks for a better network. To stop that happening you need to set your iphone wifi settings to "ask" before joining networks. You may also need to switch "auto join" off on all your saved wifi networks saved in your phone. Check your Z21 app. If the blue bar appears in the top right corner of the screen then you are connected. If it isn't blue (or red if there's a short) then you aren't connected. The other thing that might be worth trying is to set a reserved ip address for your iphone within the TP Link router settings. Then go into your iphone wifi settings and enter that ip address as a static ip for that particular connection. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpendle Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Hi James, My iPhone has no issue connecting to the router, just sometimes the Z21. There is no other signal in my train shed. I'm beginning to suspect that switching both the Z21 and the router on at the same time through a switched extension block may sometimes cause issues. Next time it happens I'll connect my computer to the router and see if that can connect to the Z21. Regards, John P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Have you tried resetting the router and the Z21? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Vecchio Posted March 3, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 3, 2023 21 hours ago, admiles said: Wondering if it's time to ditch the Z21. If you want to get rid of it send me a pm. We could do with a second one in our clubroom... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinofLoxley Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 My relatively new Google Pixel 6a always prompts me when I connect to the Z21 if I want to stay connected as there is no internet connection. I have now selected an option to remain connected to the Z21 internet or not, as soon as I select the source (ie I deselect my home wifi) I'm connected without the questionnaire in between. Obviously the problem is with an Apple device but it might be a similar issue Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 3, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 3, 2023 5 hours ago, RobinofLoxley said: Obviously the problem is with an Apple device but it might be a similar issue I wonder if it’s the phone designers being too clever for our use and maybe prioritising it to choose an open internet wifi over a ‘no internet’ connection that may be trying to hijack details via another device? I’ve had similar issues with the latest phone on the wifi printer and always reconnecting sorts it. I think it’s looking for you to confirm it, I’ve not seen an option to save connection details apart from the usual list. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinofLoxley Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 23 minutes ago, PaulRhB said: I wonder if it’s the phone designers being too clever for our use and maybe prioritising it to choose an open internet wifi over a ‘no internet’ connection that may be trying to hijack details via another device? I’ve had similar issues with the latest phone on the wifi printer and always reconnecting sorts it. I think it’s looking for you to confirm it, I’ve not seen an option to save connection details apart from the usual list. From memory the prompt is of the 'Do this every time' type yes or no Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junctionmad Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 The iPhone does not need an internet connection to remain connected to tcpip this is either a z21 issue or a setting on the iPhone Ip we use the z21 we don’t have your issue. insusoect you have a iPhone setting issue Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
admiles Posted March 8, 2023 Author Share Posted March 8, 2023 Ok, by way of a follow up to this the problem is (for now) resolved. I tried many suggestions all of which my Z21 and phone resolutely refused to respond to. In the end I deleted the Z21 app on my phone and reinstalled it. Simple as that. No idea why this worked as it was the latest version of the app on the phone. The bad bit of course is that I now have to re-enter every bit of loco/decoder data into the app as I have in effect started from scratch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 8, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2023 1 hour ago, admiles said: The bad bit of course is that I now have to re-enter every bit of loco/decoder data into the app as I have in effect started from scratch. Ah you should have exported it as an email first! I backup each layout with an email to myself so if I lose a device, it crashes or I get a new device I don’t need to re enter it. I just send the email to the new device and import it. All in the settings. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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