Create a range extender or let us use a second bridge...
Comments
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@tado - what do you think about this? Why is it working? can I add more bridges?0
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I can't really speak to the "why" part - but my guess would be that a tado bridge will just blindly transport any information seen on the wireless channel to the tado backend - and the tado backend doesn't care about from which bridge it was received…
So to answer your question "can I add more bridges?": Yes, as shown by other people in the community, you can set up more bridges in your home - but No, you cannot "connect" them to your tado account. They'll have to always just be there in limbo with no direct association with your tado home.
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What you guys describe here in a literal way; take a 'virgin' second internet bridge and just plug it in, this cannot work. I don't see how it could. The new bridge is not paired to anything. If this were to work, you would also be able to access tado devices from your neighbour.
HOWEVER, looking at User22x's account, I see something additional that has happened. Namely, the replacement of a bridge with a new one. A bridge replacement following the replacement steps in the app. What happens then is that the paring information and all that are copied from the old bridge to the new one. That way they become kind of like clones of each other. Now plugging that second bridge back in can have an effect.
Moreover, when you take a (radiator) thermostat that is not assigned to a tado account and pair it to the cloned 'old' (as in: also not in an account anymore) bridge, and only then add the thermostat or radiator thermostat to the app, it should work.
So why are we not promoting this? Because it is not designed for this, we didn't test for it, you need extra hardware (the second bridge) plus a location to plug it in for wired internet and we cannot predict what happens when the internet connection itself fails. The latter is not all that interesting when you only have radiator thermostats, but is interesting when you have a wireless receiver connected to the boiler that needs to be controllable by a thermostat. Also when the internet is down.
All this is something you can experiment with. I am sure it will help some people. However, as we have no insight in what happens our support department cannot support it and it requires the kind of user who is willing to test things. It requires trial and error. If you can accept all disclaimers I wrote, please do try and report back.
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@SteveIreland Exactly. Unplug the registered bridge, wait at least half an hour, check connection status of the heating devices.
Doing some research (as in; talking with some devs) told me that communication between heating devices is unknown. I especially mean rooms being able to call for heat at the zone controller. To what extent that will still work with the unregistered bridge is unknown. It probably will work, but will it work reliably? That is something we are sceptical about. Especially when the zone controller is connected via bridge A and the room device via bridge B. That's the main reason this second bridge topic is not something we actively propagate. Had it been so simple we would be able to sell more hardware, which is obviously in our interest.
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So I did nothing more than plug in 2 more bridges without formally adding them or turning off the first registered one. It seems to have solved the connectivity problems I have had. It’s been the summer so not tested calling for heat yet, but it does seem that new TRVs have to be added in close range to the registered bridge.
I am happy to experiment as otherwise my whole system isn’t reliable. I now need to get past the ten room limit (the other big drawback) and so will wire a wired thermostat in parallel and see what happens.1 -
Just been emailed by Tado to be active in the community forum so here I am on the most glaring failure in their system. Range! My solution involves two access points two iPhones on different accounts that is two systems. I am sure locking a couple of programmers in a room for a day would all the app to run two networks so I didn’t have to have two phones. Come on Tado why have a community if you don’t listen?4
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Agree with @RichTea an extender would be great (notwithstanding @FFM's slightly snarky comment about people in our position - I bought the system in good faith and Tado never said "your house might be too big for our system to function properly"). But anyway, @RichTea I'm interested in your solution using two phones, can you elaborate? My problem is that no matter where I put my bridge, there's always one radiator it can't reach. How have you got around this using 2 phones?
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I bought an internet bridge off eBay. I wired that bridge into my network. Then I connected the radiator thermostats for a part of the house to that bridge using a second email and iOS app on the second phone. So it is two separate systems as far as Tado sees them. I only run Radiator controls but see no reason why other units couldn’t be added.
Others have been able to link the two bridges via Apple HomeKit so they can see on one phone.
My problem isn’t just the size of the house but also the construction I have many metre thick dividing walls and one that is 3 metres thick which divides the house in two. I cannot get all my radiators to link despite the two bridges.
I have a wired Ethernet system with 4 mesh nodes which works well , I would buy more bridges if needed but more phones is too much. I don’t understand why Tado cannot find a more elegant solution than my bodge. I would buy another 5 thermostats and look at boiler control if they sorted the range problem.1 -
I have been looking at equipping all my rads with V3+ thermostats, principally to obtain remote sensing and override control. I have a Viessmann weather-compensated CH system that is normally considered incompatible with Tado, but I am not expecting 'smart' behaviour from Tado. There are 26 emitters (19 of them rads) over 3 floors in a sprawling old thick-walled building whose iron slag-rich bricks act like a Faraday cage.
So it is of more than passing interest to me to know what the transmission limits for Tado are and whether the network formed is a star configuration (with the wired bridge at its centre) or a mesh between all the rad stats. If the former, location of the bridge will be crucial and even then, multiple repeaters may be necessary to reach all the stats. Whereas a mesh network will need the signal to pass at most through only one wall/floor to 'see' another component and this is a plausible possibility.
This seems a pretty vital design consideration to me and yet more than an hour's research on the Tado website & with google failed to turn up any pertinent information.
But in this community I have quickly found that I would have wasted more than £1k had I relied only on the marketing material: it is a star configuration with no provison for repeaters. I see multiple gripes over range having been made over a long period without any response from Tado. Do those of you in closer touch with the development path and the company philosophy have any expectation that things will change?
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Tado is missing a huge marketplace by being unable to cater for larger homes, old homes with multiple floors, thicker walls etc. Their 'bridge' is a very poor solution which only works in smaller homes and I would guess perfectly in their little test laboratory. Sonos persisted with a 'bridge' system for years, but unlike Tado they took notice of the flood of complaints (admittedly it has much greater reach as a consumer product than Tado ever will have). They scrapped the bridge and made their system work directly from the end users wifi. Instantly the problem was solved, Sonos sales grew.
It's about time Tado acknowledged their shortcomings and fixed this once and for all.
I am once again dreading the approaching winter constantly having to waste my time trying to find some sort of compromise which gets most of my system working, some of the time.
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I feel everyone’s pain. It has been 4+ years of silence from Tado. The Sonos parallel is very apt as after several years of studiously being ignored, Sonos took the plunge. I will be off Tado whenever I can find another supplier that solves the issue. However, I shall probably die as a Sonos customer.0
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This is working 100% for my setup which is very simple with no boiler control and simply multiple TRVs.
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Here is a solution that may work for some. Tado are clear that they don't support it officially but if, like me, you have a simple setup with just TRVs there isn't really anything to go wrong. In a more complex setup where the boiler is also controlled by Tado I can see that it might be unreliable:
All you do is add a replacement bridge and then plug the old one back in. Effectively they are clones of each other. Details (and Tado's caveats) are in this thread.
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@Tado Team
Feel free to comment in this thread. This is a crucial problem for many users, myself included. The absence of any response from Tado is troubling0 -
@FarUpNorth they obviously answered with their new commercial product range, Tado° X.
It now has the wonderful ability to use bridges to expand the communication range … at the expense of a whole new system as this is not compatible with their first generation of products 😓
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The workaround that @User22x found, and @Rob (Admin from Tado) confirmed August 6 2024, is working very well in my situation.
I first tried just adding a virgin 2nd internet bridge, which did not nothing in my situation. Bridge is not commissioned, and did nothing meaning full in the network.
Then I replaced the original bridge with new bridge by "adding new Device" in the App and scan the QR code of the virgin new bridge.
That triggers an update procedure in the App that can take up to 45 minutes. That new bridge could not find all radiator valves within the 45 minutes, as was expected, but still commissioned them.
2 days later I connected the original bridge (to power and ethernet) without adding the bridge to the App. The original bridge is located at a strategic location to cover the area with connection issues. Within minutes the unconnected radiator valves were showing good connection in the App.
So, this is a nice, unsupported workaround, to create a clone bridge that serves as a range extender.3 -
I wish I'd seen this thread before spending £1200+ on 16 TRVs and other related Tado devices.
I have a large, old house with thick stone walls - exactly the kind of place that would benefit the most from a smart heating system.
Having paired all the TRVs by placing the bridge high up in the attic, over the last few days 5 of the TRVs have dropped off line.
The system really isn't fit for purpose. Can I return the whole lot to TADO for replacement with their new X system? Or a refund under their "guaranteed energy saving" scheme? Or do I have to take them back to my poor local retailer who will not be happy to have to issue a refund?
In the meantime, what Google groups etc are best to warn other potential purchasers about this range problem?0 -
@Peasmold
To return your tado° devices, you need to contact us via chat within 30 days from the day you got them. This 30-day return policy applies only if you bought your devices from the tado° webshop. If you bought tado° from one of our retail partners, please check their return policies for more information.
If you contact us via chat, one of our agent will also be able to guide you if you wish to make a tado° X purchase.0 -
Hello all. I also had the same problem. One of my devices did not connect to the bridge. I now pasted som tinfoil on the wall (just behind the device) and miraculously it now connects… looks very ugly but it does the trick…. I guess we can also use something else but need to check. Keeping my hand in between the wall and the TRV also does the trick.0
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Hi @Emcee ,
Thanks for the reply.
This is the exchange I had via messaging. Not very helpful:
"I have the Tado V3 system which isn't working in my house (several device will not connect). I'd like to purchase the Tado X system. When will it be available in the UK? I need to return my V3 system to the retailer in the next 2 weeks, so need something asap!!"
Reply:
<<The tado° X system will be available in the UK starting from September 2024. Specifically, the Wireless Smart Thermostat X - Starter Kit will be available from September 2024. In November 2024, a UK-specific version called the Wireless Smart Thermostat X - Starter Kit [incl. Programmer with Hot Water Control and OpenTherm] will replace the initial version. This new kit includes a Wireless Receiver X and a Wireless Temperature Sensor X.
Source>>
So apparently the Tado X system has been available in the UK since September, but I can't find anyone (Including Tado) who sells it!!
When will the system be available, please? I need to know whether to reconnect my Nest system.0 -
Thank you. I'll look forward to it.
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@Hobbelman thanks for sharing your experience with the description. I've tried the same. When I connect the original bridge back on the network, the pairing led starts blinking and in the tado app it's showing an unfinished installation. Did you have the same? Did you just ignore it?0
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I’ve been looking for a work around the range issue for over year. I live in a converted barn which is very long and no matter what I tried could never get a stable connection on all devices. Then I stumbled on this and it works 100%.
I have v3. Get a v2 bridge and add it as a device. It will not interfere with the v3 bridge and will not try to replace and update it. Then place it where you have no or weak signal (my v2 is over 20 metres now from the wireless receiver and v3 bridge.)It runs off my Wi-Fi mesh pod. Now delete the devices that would not connect or kept dropping out and add them back in again. (Worth doing a hard reset taking the batteries out). And Bobs your uncle, my two wired stats and TRV that wouldn’t connect all working now. No issues. No flashing faults on wireless receiver. All devices show up on the app and controlled via the app. After spending a fortune on 9 stats and 2TRV’s I’m now a very happy bunny. So get a V2 bridge then just plug and play.3 -
So here we are, 6+ years later and they still have not fixed this. Even if the new product now resolves this I won't be upgrading. The complete disregard for customers is completely unacceptable. There's nothing like customer recommendation, or the opposite. As is the case for us all! No notable new features in the app for this whole time. What have they been doing?-1
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I was interested to learn that the V2 bridge can be used as an extender. I've still got mine and will be listing it on Ebay today, in case anyone here is still looking for one.
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That didn't last long, sold in minutes. Hope someone here got it.
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I have a radiator in a detached garage (but close to the house) and the connection to the V3 Bridge is very intermittent.
As part of the kitchen renovation, I have a spare radiator and TRV which I would like to add to the garage as I have an office set up there. Reading the above post, I decided to first give the additional V2 Bridge method a go in the hope it would provide a more stable connection. I have internet via a TP link powerline so an online connection was no problem.
I bought a new V2 Bridge off eBay, added to my Tado account and can confirm both bridges are listed in the app (same as photo above).
I deleted/reset the current garage TRV and re-added next to the V2 Bridge. The TRV connected fine, responds instantly via the app and no lost of signal (so far).
The downside is that the V2 Bridge does not seem to communicate with the Wireless Receiver (at the boiler). So, while I can open/close the garage valve via the app, the heating/boiler will not activate if this is the only room selected.
I will try to reposition the V2 Bridge closer to the house but expect only one Bridge can be connected to the Wireless Receiver.
It does allow me to remotely open the Garage TRV but will get heat only when another radiator is active in the house.
I feel this is better than the dodgy connection so I’ll give this workaround a couple of weeks and if all remains stable, I can add the additional radiator and TRV to the garage.0 -
Any update on your method @Saker ?
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Mine has been working flawlessly now since adding the V2. No drop outs etc. It does also activate my boiler.
Just need to find old stock of V2 Bridges and get this fix out there. I bet Tado knew about this but could never admit that an older piece of hardware could fix a problem.1
