I recently bought a Watergate mini solar which I hope to setup at the weekend. However, when it arrived I couldn't resist having a play with the control unit ahead of installing as it arrived with charge in the battery and I was excited.
I've connected the device to my home wifi, and registered it. When it's awake it still broadcasts the unsecured local Harvst setup network. Is there a way to secure this once setup is complete, or is this not an issue? I'm interested in what would stop someone within range from accessing the unsecured network, identifying the IP and playing with my settings.
Not a high priority issue for me, as I don't expect it to be an issue and the unit goes to sleep quickly if I understand correctly, but thought I'd ask out of interest.
Hi Ben - great question. Great to hear you have it up and running. Most people wait until they have put all the pipes in and fixed it to the greenhouse before connecting the wifi, but we recommend doing the tech first indoors.
Yes, it always broadcasts the "harvst-XXXX" network while it's awake; some people run the boxes in "offline" mode, such as on an allotment, and that's the only way to manage settings. In online mode, it also broadcasts that network so you can connect directly, in case there are router problems accessing it on the wifi network IP address.
It does go to sleep by itself, or you can access the device control panel on its wifi network and click "sleep now" if you want to do it sooner.
Chris
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I recently bought a Watergate mini solar which I hope to setup at the weekend. However, when it arrived I couldn't resist having a play with the control unit ahead of installing as it arrived with charge in the battery and I was excited.
I've connected the device to my home wifi, and registered it. When it's awake it still broadcasts the unsecured local Harvst setup network. Is there a way to secure this once setup is complete, or is this not an issue? I'm interested in what would stop someone within range from accessing the unsecured network, identifying the IP and playing with my settings.
Not a high priority issue for me, as I don't expect it to be an issue and the unit goes to sleep quickly if I understand correctly, but thought I'd ask out of interest.
Cheers,
Ben
Yes, it always broadcasts the "harvst-XXXX" network while it's awake; some people run the boxes in "offline" mode, such as on an allotment, and that's the only way to manage settings. In online mode, it also broadcasts that network so you can connect directly, in case there are router problems accessing it on the wifi network IP address.
It does go to sleep by itself, or you can access the device control panel on its wifi network and click "sleep now" if you want to do it sooner.
Chris