{"id":1388,"date":"2018-06-13T16:37:43","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T21:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gr8n8tr0n.wordpress.com\/?p=1388"},"modified":"2018-06-13T16:37:43","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T21:37:43","slug":"how-to-connect-your-2-4-ghz-smart-devices-to-a-tp-link-deco-m5-mesh-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.virtualnate.net\/wordpress\/2018\/06\/13\/how-to-connect-your-2-4-ghz-smart-devices-to-a-tp-link-deco-m5-mesh-network\/","title":{"rendered":"How to connect your 2.4 Ghz smart devices to a TP Link Deco M5 Mesh network"},"content":{"rendered":"

I decided to write this article due to the experience I had around upgrading my home wifi to a newer mesh setup.<\/p>\n

\"-tp-linkdeco-ac1300-500x500\"<\/p>\n

I chose the TP Link Deco M5<\/a>\u00a0system for three reasons: cost, internet backhaul over ethernet, mobile device management.<\/p>\n

The challenge I ran into was around some smart home devices not being able to connect to my new WiFi network due to the way the app and device pairing steps require both devices to be connected to a 2.4 Ghz WiFi network.\u00a0 I have an iPhone X and it tends to connect to the 5Ghz band now that I have WiFi all over the house.\u00a0 Thanks to the great support staff at TP Link, I was able to use this process to change the firmware on my device that allows a little more management capabilities to turn dials on and off to allow me to make some progress on smart home connectivity. \"tp_link_mesh_network_4\"The Deco M5 comes with 3 units with the package I ordered from Amazon for around $230.\u00a0 Overall, the connectivity in my house, all the way into the back yard now is good enough to use the WiFi calling features on my cellphone, so I’ve been pretty happy thus far.\u00a0 The added features of QOS and built in Anti-virus and parental controls (comes in handy with kids who are gamers from hitting the wrong sites) made my choice pretty easy with the exception of getting my home smart devices reconnected.<\/p>\n

Let’s get to the details, I purchased a set of Wiz Color LED<\/a> bulbs from Costco for a steal at $25 and didn’t want to just not use them anymore.\u00a0 \"ScreenThey come in handy during the holidays when I ask Alexa to turn the Christmas lights on and off with colored themes inside.\u00a0 \"IMG_0229\"Pairing the lights requires your phone to have bluetooth enabled and connected 2.4 Ghz Wifi.\u00a0 They were paired and working prior to me ripping and replacing my home wifi with the new Deco M5 setup so I needed to figure out a way to get these paired and working again (because my wife actually likes these smart devices).\u00a0 They have 16 million color combinations to choose from, way overkill for my needs and can work with the basic color combinations and holiday color pallette<\/p>\n

Now, how to actually get the Deco M5 to only broadcast on 2.4 Ghz wifi.\u00a0 Although the Deco only has a mobile app to manage, I do kind of miss my older Web interface to my older wifi router to configure things so I was struggling with how to get this to work.\u00a0 Come to find out that our TP Link Support people have great instructions they’re more than happy to share on how to access the device with telnet and\/or SSH.<\/p>\n

Step 1<\/b><\/p>\n

Connect a Windows computer to the Deco network wired or wirelessly. Then download the beta<\/strong> firmware from the link below:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/support.tp-link.com\/f\/e727490665\/?dl=1<\/a><\/p>\n

After dowloading the file, extract the zip file to a folder on the Desktop of the PC.<\/p>\n

Step 2<\/b><\/p>\n

Open Command Prompt<\/b> on the PC. (not to hard so far)<\/p>\n

Step 3<\/b><\/p>\n

Copy and paste the following command in the pop-up windows and press Enter<\/b> key to execute the command line:<\/p>\n

for \/l %a in (1,1,254) do @start \/b ping 192.168.0.%a -w 100 -n 1 >nul<\/b><\/p>\n

Note: Here 192.168.0. is the IP range of your Deco network. That’s the default IP range for the Deco.\u00a0 This is an interesting ping command to pull only active devices on the network, more importantly, to help identify all the Deco devices that aren’t the main unit which uses your default gateway address of 192.168.0.1 After that, just type in the following command and press Enter<\/b> key to execute again:<\/p>\n

arp -a<\/b><\/p>\n

You will find a list of Internet Address & Physical Address. Please find the physical addresses that matched with your Decos. You can login the Deco app, tap Internet<\/b> and tap every single Deco unit and you will find their physical addresses.<\/p>\n

Then write down the internet addresses of the Decos. There should be three, Main Unit 192.168.0.1, mesh extension units 192.168.0.X, 192.168.0.Y.<\/p>\n

Step 4<\/b><\/p>\n

Open the unzipped folder, click the address bar and copy the path.<\/p>\n

Here the path is: C:\\Users\\myusername\\Desktop\\Deco M5<\/b><\/p>\n

Go back to Command Prompt box, then type in \u201ccd\u201d, enter a space, and then paste the path. For example:<\/p>\n

cd C:\\Users\\myusername\\Desktop\\Deco M5<\/b><\/p>\n

Then press Enter<\/b> to execute the command.<\/p>\n

Step 5<\/b><\/p>\n

Note: 192.168.0.X & 192.168.0.Y means the IP address of the Deco units that we check in Step 3. For example, 192.168.0.100, 192.168.0.101, etc.\u00a0 The tricky part here was matching up the IP addresses with the mac addresses in my setup.\u00a0 The Deco mobile app will list the mac addresses for each device to make it easier to match up.\"IMG_0231\"<\/b><\/p>\n

If you have more than 3 Deco units, you need to find out the IP address of each unit and upgrade them one by one as well. The main Deco usually has an IP address of 192.168.0.1, just leave it as the last one to upgrade the firmware.<\/b><\/p>\n

Copy and paste the following command:<\/p>\n

tmp-upgrade.exe -u 192.168.0.X -U myusername@mytplinkaccount.com<\/a> -P mytplinkaccountpassword\u00a0m5_beta_180525.bin<\/b><\/p>\n

Here please replace TP-Link ID with your registered email address, replace password with your password set to login the Deco app.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After that, press Enter<\/b> to execute the command. The command prompt box will reply with \u201cError code=0<\/b>\u201d if the upgrade process goes smoothly.<\/p>\n

Then copy and paste another command:<\/p>\n

tmp-upgrade.exe -u 192.168.0.Y -U TP-Link ID -P password m5_beta_180525.bin<\/b><\/p>\n

Wait until it replies an \u201cError code = 0<\/b>\u201d, then paste the last command:<\/p>\n

tmp-upgrade.exe -u 192.168.0.1 -U TP-Link ID -P password m5_beta_180525.bin<\/b><\/p>\n

Wait until it replies an \u201cError code = 0<\/b>\u201d<\/p>\n

The LED on the Decos will become pulsing blue and green which indicates that it has begun the update process. Just wait for about 2 minutes until the LED recovers to solid green.<\/p>\n

Step 6<\/b><\/p>\n

After that, please login the Deco app, tap Internet and tap every single Deco unit and check if the firmware version has been successfully updated.\u00a0 The mobile app will show the full firmware version now installed at the bottom (see screenshot above around mac address resolution)<\/p>\n

Step 7<\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Enable Telnet Client feature on the Windows computer at first.<\/li>\n
  2. How to: https:\/\/techhelpkb.com\/enable-telnet-in-windows\/<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Tap the Start<\/b> menu on the Desktop, type in \u201ccmd<\/b>\u201d in the search bar, then launch \u201cCommand Prompt<\/b>\u201d. A black window will pop up.<\/li>\n
  4. In the black window, type in the following command line:\n