My Smappee monitor is showing a red LED. What to do? (Network issues)

A red LED, continuous or flashing, means your Smappee monitor cannot reach the internet. Start with the situation that applies to you.

The monitor keeps measuring while it is offline. As soon as the internet connection is available again, it reconnects to our servers by itself and sends the stored data through. In most cases that happens within about 5 minutes.

Do not reboot or reset the monitor while the internet is down. The data measured during the outage is stored in the monitor and has not been sent yet. A reboot or reset deletes that data permanently. First get the internet connection working, then give the monitor time to reconnect on its own.

Start here: is there internet at the location?

  1. Check whether other devices at the location have internet access.
  2. If not, this is a modem, router or provider problem, not a monitor problem. Resolve that first. The monitor reconnects on its own afterwards.
  3. If other devices do have internet access, continue with the section below that matches your situation.

Nothing has changed at the location

This is usually a temporary interruption, for example after maintenance by your provider or a modem that restarted.

  1. Confirm that the internet connection is working again.
  2. Give the monitor about 5 minutes to reconnect by itself.
  3. If it is still red after that, reboot the monitor. Disconnect the RJ10 cable from the monitor, wait a few seconds and plug it back in.
Note: A reboot causes a short gap in your measurement data. That is normal and does not affect data from before the reboot. On a Smappee Genius, it can take somewhat longer after the reboot before the LED changes, so give it some time.
A new installation over Wi-Fi

The monitor cannot reach the Wi-Fi network or is being blocked on the way to our servers. Check the following:

  1. The monitor and the router are within range of each other. Keep them within 10 metres, especially when there are walls or floors in between.
  2. The Wi-Fi network meets the requirements of the monitor (see the list below).
  3. The router or modem does not block the connection to the Smappee server. Common causes are MAC filtering, port blocking, a firewall or a parental control setting.
  4. If all of the above checks out, run the installation again from the Smappee app.
Wi-Fi requirements for a Smappee monitor
Requirement Details
Frequency band 2.4 GHz. A 5 GHz network is not supported.
IP address DHCP must be active. A fixed IP address cannot be entered during installation.
Encryption WPA or WPA2. An open network without encryption is not supported.
Network name (SSID) Must be visible. A hidden network cannot be selected.
MAC filtering Must be switched off, or the monitor must be added to the allow list.
Firewall Outgoing connections must be allowed. No incoming port forwarding is needed.

Full firewall rules: How should my Network (Wi-Fi and firewall) be configured?

Something changed on the Wi-Fi network

The monitor cannot pick up new network settings by itself. It keeps trying to connect to the network it was configured for, which results in a red LED. This happens most often when:

  • the network name (SSID) or the Wi-Fi password was changed
  • the modem or router was replaced or reset
  • the monitor was moved to another location

The fix is to run the network setup again for your product:

Product How to reconfigure
Smappee Infinity, Connect series In the Smappee app: Settings > Smappee monitors > Infinity modules > select the monitor > Change your setup. See also Reconfigure the Wi-Fi of your Smappee Infinity (Connect series)
Smappee Infinity, Genius series How do I change the Wi-Fi settings of my Smappee Genius monitor?
Smappee P1 or S1 module How do I change the Wi-Fi settings of my Smappee P1 module?

Connected with an Ethernet cable

  1. Check that the Ethernet cable is fully plugged in on both sides, at the monitor and at the modem or router.
  2. Check the activity LED on both Ethernet ports. A blinking green LED indicates activity on the port.
  3. Try a different Ethernet cable, or test the cable with a cable tester. A cable that was pulled through a wall or a conduit can be damaged without this being visible.
  4. Unplug the cable from the monitor, plug it into a laptop and confirm that the port gives internet access.
  5. Check your firewall and router settings. Outgoing connections must be allowed, with no port blocking and no MAC filtering.
  6. Reboot the monitor by disconnecting and reconnecting the RJ10 cable, then check the LED again.
Note: A green continuous LED is a different situation. It means the monitor did get an IP address but still cannot reach our servers, which usually points to the firewall. See My Smappee monitor is showing a green continuous LED.

Connected with a 3G/4G dongle

  1. Check the status LED of the dongle to see whether the dongle itself has a mobile connection. See the table below for a Smappee Huawei dongle, or the manual of your own dongle.
  2. Check that the SIM card has an active data subscription and is compatible with the dongle.
  3. Plug the dongle into a laptop and confirm that it gives internet access.
Huawei dongle LED colours
LED Meaning
Green, blinking twice every 2 seconds Starting up
Green, blinking once every 2 seconds Connecting to a 2G network
Cyan, blinking once every 2 seconds Connecting to a 3G network
Blue, blinking once every 2 seconds Connecting to a 4G network
Green, solid Connected to a 2G network
Cyan, solid Connected to a 3G network
Blue, solid Connected to a 4G network
Still showing a red LED

Contact your installer or submit a request. Include the serial number of the monitor, the connection method used (Wi-Fi, Ethernet or dongle), whether anything changed on the network recently, and which of the checks above you already carried out.

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