YALE alarms do not work with Eero

[STEPHENMAK]

My Yale HSA 6610 alarm worked perfectly for years until I installed Full Fibre 500 with an Eero router a few days ago. I have spent hours with Talktalk customer care and web chat who seem oblivious to the problem and Yale are adament that it is due to the Eero router. I have followed all the advice including changing the DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. I have opened the ports 5222 and 8765. I have tried Legacy mode even though it is an ethernet connection not a WIFI connection to the alarm hub. I have reset the Eero, I have reset the alarm hub.

It's incredibly frustrating as well as annoying. Why isn't there a fix for this. It has been going on for years and Yale say it is a compatibility issue which can be overcome. I feel letdown by talktalk.

[STEPHENMAK]

Hi I have sent you some pms

[ferguson]

Thanks for mentioning that. Have you searched for "Yale alarm orange beeping" at all? It does throw up some pointers.

[KeithFrench]

Thanks @STEPHENMAK Please can you PM me (to protect your privacy) screenshots from the eero app of your port forwarding, so that I can check them for you. I will also prove if the eero is actually forwarding those ports.

What does the orange light signify in the alarm system? Without knowledge of how the Yale system works, which I would expect to be confidential anyway, then there is only one way to find out why this is happening. That would be to put a protocol analyser on the Ethernet port, which would require a PC running Wireshark with expensive extra hardware to monitor the TCP (most likely) session to see why it fails after this time period. Whilst technically that is easy for me to do, a site visit from me will never happen, as I am just a volunteer.

[STEPHENMAK]

Yes the Eero app shows the Yale alarm as being connected, but after a few hours the alarm hub orange light comes on and it beeps. Not sure whether the Eero app still shows it as being connected. I will check.

I understand your reply but have already opened 2 ports with the recommended settings from Yale.Also why does it start to beep after a few hours  with the orange light coming on.

[KeithFrench]

Thanks for the info @STEPHENMAK .

From your description, it would seem that the alarm's Ethernet connection to the eero is fine, it is that the alarm cannot communicate with Yale online through the eero. I did ask if you had checked in the eero app to see if it reported the alarm as a connected device. Perhaps you can quickly try that for me, as it is a vital diagnostic step. 

If I understand correctly, in the Yale app you can set the alarm remotely if all is working OK. That would imply to me that you are communicating with some Yale server, perhaps via mobile data if you are out & about, which then sends a command back to your home, through the eero and onto your alarm. If that is the case, this would normally require port forwarding to be configured in the eero to forward the incoming session from Yale through the eero to your alarm.

Only the Yale support people will know how their system works, please can you ask them if I am right & if so, which TCP or UDP ports need to be forwarded in the eero to make this work? I can then tell you how to make these changes, which is easy enough to do.

[STEPHENMAK]

Sorry, forgot to mention, yes in the Eero app it shows the Yale alarm as being connected. I will need to check what happens in the Eero app when after a few hours, the alarm hub starts beeping and the orange light comes on.

[STEPHENMAK]

Hi, 

So firstly let me explain my Yale HSA 6610 alarm set up. I have an alarm hub which is mains powered and can only be connected to the internet via an ethernet cable. All the other components to the system are wireless PIRs, Door sensors and External siren. They all run on batteries.

As well as this I have a Yale app. This can be used to set the alarm, switch it off etc. It also tells me when a battery needs to be replaced and which device it is in.

The system was working perfectly fine for years whilst connected to the Talktalk part fibre 65.

On the morning of 17th January it was was working and in the Yale app a periodic test had been done to show this. Then at about 11:00am the engineer came and installed Full fibre 500.

From that point onwards the alarm will not work.

So at the beginning, when I plugged in the Ethernet cable to the Eero, the alarm hub would just keep beeping and the green light on the hub would not switch on to indicate that it was connected to the internet. I tried many times, switching things on and off and rebooting etc. 

Sometimes the alarm would connect and the green light would come on . However the alarm still did not work. For instance I couldn't set the alarm so it wasn't connecting to the Yale app. Also the alarm keypad wouldn't set the alarm. Finally if I took a battery out of a PIR, the app couldn't detect I had done this and it said all batteries were fine.

As well as this after a few hours the alarm hub would disconnect and it would start beeping.

I spoke to a Talktalk representative because Yale are aware of compatibility issues with Eero. They suggested changing the DNS setting to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as well as making ports 5222 and 8765 were open. He assured me that he did this. However on my Eero app it was still showing default settings and nothing had changed with the ports. 

I have since changed the settings to the ones Yale recommended.

The problem is the same, the alarm hub connects, and the green light comes on but the alarm doesn't work and the hub doesn't communicate with the app. Before I would receive notifications about low batteries, intruder notifications etc. 

Also the hub only stays connected for a few hours and then switches off , the green light switches off and the alarm hub starts beeping.

At the moment my alarm is disconnected as the beeping is irritating and the alarm isn't working anyway.

[KeithFrench]

Hi @STEPHENMAK 

I am trying to help another customer with issues involving a Yale alarm & an eero and this makes me wonder if this a common problem. I am waiting on that customer to confirm (I have no idea if it is the same model number of Yale alarm) if this is an Ethernet (like yours) or a WiFi connection. However, from the gist of a quick read of your thread (sorry if I have missed anything) your alarm will not connect to your eero Pro 6 over Ethernet. 

It is extremely uncommon to find any two devices that fail to connect together via Ethernet these days. Quite a long time back I did find a few vendors whose Ethernet connection failed due to auto-negotiation issues, but not these days. So please can you clarify, does the Yale refuse to connect to the eero itself or does it connect OK, but is unable to connect to a Yale website through the eero? In the eero app is it classing the Yale as a connected device or not?

Depending on your answers here I have some other questions, but I want to keep the length of this thread reasonable.

I have checked the main eero support knowledgebase and there is no match on "yale" at all. I have already asked TalkTalk in advance of their return to work tomorrow, to refer yours and this other person's thread to the TalkTalk Devices team for their attention. If I cannot resolve this myself, I want to ensure they have as much detail as possible, to help you more quickly.

The information below is provided by TalkTalk, for confirmation please contact @Debbie-TalkTalk or@Michelle-TalkTalk.

KeithFrench is one of our valued Community Stars and can help with a range of issues related to wireless and networking. At times he may ask you to send him test results via a Private Message to help analyse/diagnose an issue. Although Keith does not work for TalkTalk, he very kindly shares his time and knowledge to help with others.

If you need further help or, if we need to take any details such as personal information about your account like phone numbers, account numbers etc. one of the TalkTalk team will jump in and help out.

[Gliwmaeden2]

@STEPHENMAK, your initial post automatically escalated, but until you completed your forum profile details staff couldn't see your account and they needed you to post that you'd done it.

Community stars can do / see further escalations and I see that one was done for you on Thursday.  I did it again today, but it can't be picked up anyway before Monday. 

As I said, keep your place in the queue by NOT posting further till staff reply. The workflow is automated and each new post means the system thinks it's been answered. So you do have to wait. 

[STEPHENMAK]

Hi, 

Thanks for your reply and informing me that it has been escalated. How am I supposed to know that it has been escalated ? If I had some indication that somebody was looking into it then it would be helpful. 

[Gliwmaeden2]

There are no staff members on at weekends, @STEPHENMAK.

Your thread was re-escalated on Thursday and I will do it again today. 

To keep its place in the workflow, don't follow up before they reply.

[STEPHENMAK]

So nobody seems to be interested in this issue. I was promised some advice from Michelle but so far nobody from Talktalk has responded. If this is not resolved in the next few days I will have to make some decisions.

My Full fibre was installed 8 days ago during which my Yale alarm has not worked. We have had burglers  twice in the past 20 years and take home security seriously.  If Talktalk is not able to resolve the issue I will have to consider either leaving talktalk and keeping the present system or buying a new alarm ( in which case I will probably still leave talktalk as their customer care is poor and I wouldn't want to go through this all again).

Yale are still in touch with me and today sent me an email asking if the issue had been resolved. They maintain that my alarm is not faulty as it worked on the day my full fibre was installed.

Not sure who reads these posts but are there any Talktalk customers out there with a working Yale HSA 6610 ethernet connected to the Eero that is in full working order with Talktalk's full fibre 500.

I am going to reply to Yale today to say nothing has been resolved, I feel this issue is going nowhere and maybe should have just stayed with the part Fibre 65 package where the internet speed was acceptable and the Yale alarm worked.

[ferguson]

Don't give up, I see you have done it now. Give Michelle a chance to get back to you again, I doubt very much you will get far by contacting them by phone.

[STEPHENMAK]

Sorry, I give up, this whole community posting system doesn't work. I am trying to get help from Talktalk, and all I am getting is comments about not updating my community profile instead of advice. How would an elderly pensioner who is not computer literate ever cope with such a process. I will go back to telephoning them.

[ferguson]

OK, but I cannot see the appropriate indicator below your username, nor your confirmatory post? 

[STEPHENMAK]

I updated my profile yesterday and confirmed at the same time.

[ferguson]

And Michelle is waiting for you to update your community profile and confirm when you have done so. 

[STEPHENMAK]

Hi , You mentioned maybe I was being a little harsh with Talk talk. Let me update you. 2 days ago I sent Yale an email. It was sent to the same person who has been helping me for the last few days. Each time I contact Yale, I am able to speak to him personally. He is polite and sends me emails with instructions and updates. The latest is he will escalate the issue to a higher technical level of support when all other avenues have been exhausted by Talktalk. Yale have not washed there hands of the matter. All they are saying is that the alarm is not faulty.

They have also offered me a substantial reduction in price for a new different Yale Alarm if the issue cannot be resolved.

Contrast this to Talktalk customer care : 2 long sessions on the chat helpline, one long phone call, and an attempt to speak to Eero only to be cut off because by then it was nearly closing time.

I was also told by the Talktalk operator that as all my other devices were working, then there was nothing wrong with the Eero. Only when I mentioned escalating the issue, did she attempt to put me through to the Eero Technical Team.

In the process I have spoken to about 4-5 different people each time having to explain the problem from scratch.

The last I heard was a message from Michelle at Customer care who said she was waiting for advice from a colleague. As of today I am still waiting for further advice from her.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi @STEPHENMAK 

Can you please update your community profile to include your:

• Name
• Telephone number or Account number
• Alternative contact number

We'll then look into this further. Please do not post this information on this thread. Once you've updated your profile please post in your topic to confirm it's updated.

Thanks

Michelle

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

I've asked one of my colleagues for advice and I'll post back as soon as I receive a reply.

Thanks

Michelle