Kohler Electric Generator Oncue issues

[bdegnan]

I have Verizon FIOS (TV, Internet) with an Actiontec router.  I also have an Kohler generator with Oncue software.  Oncue allows remote access to monitor and control the generator. Oncue is an application that runs on a PC.

The issue I am having is the generator seems to be able to send emails (i.e. outbound) but Oncue cannot connect to the generator.  This is despite the fact that the generator passes the router connectivity test.  Oncue is also able to connect to the Kohler Oncue server.  It seems like the router will not allow an inbound connection to the generator's controller.  This is the case with software firewall (McAfee) turned off and Actiontec security set to lowest setting.  Required ports are forwarded properly.  Verizon tech guy confirmed this.

Kohler says the issue is the Actiontec router and that other Kohler customers have resolved the issue by replacing the router with a Netgear router.  This requires the other router to be in front of the Actiontec I believe.

I am looking for someone that has FIOS and a Kohler generator with Oncue who has gotten Oncue to work.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[tns2]

Double check the documention for Oncue.

Almost all routers default to blocking incoming connections.  Most software is aware of this and many actually do outgoing communication to some site instead. 

Your doc probably either mentions using UPnP to configure or gives you some ports to forward.   UPnP will work as long as you check and make sure that UPnP is still enabled (the default for actiontec.  If you need to manual configure look for some Verizon's help pages, or search this forum for detailed help.

On a few routers they have hidden UpNP.  For all  actiontec routers you should be able to use UPnP  Menu after first logging on to the router

http://192.168.1.1/index.cgi?active%5fpage=900

[Anti-Phish1]

You've left out some important information.

• How is the generator connected to the router (wired or wireless)?
• How is the PC connected to the router?
• What hardware revision of the Actiontec do you have (A-I)?

Is the generator able to obtain a DHCP lease?  i.e.  Can you see it on the router's main status page?

Can you ping the generator from the PC?

[bdegnan]

You've left out some important information.

• How is the generator connected to the router (wired or wireless)?  It is wired with CAT5 and we get a good signal.
• How is the PC connected to the router? Wifi.  I am able to access my webcam remotely over the internet.
• What hardware revision of the Actiontec do you have (A-I)?MI424WR-GEN31

Is the generator able to obtain a DHCP lease? Yes.  Router recognizes it with DHCP lease.

i.e. Can you see it on the router's main status page? Yes

Can you ping the generator from the PC? Yes

[tns2]

One quick thing to check since you have things on wired and wireless is that you have turned off IGMP proxy.

I believe its hidden on your router so you may have to use the hidden menu page

From an earlier post of mine

"This sounds like the problem that occurs when you have IGMP Proxy set to yes.

Logon to your router.

Look at advanced options and see if you see IGMP Proxy. If you do click on it and check that IGMP Proxy is disabled.

Note on some of the newer routers they, at least temporarily, have screwed up the options and IGMP Proxy is not shown under advanced options. For these you can use a jump, which will get you to the now hidden page to turn off IGMP Proxy.

Originally posted by BIGDADDY on DSL REPORTS this jump to gets you to the IGMP proxy page. Many have had success when they turned off IGMP proxy.

http://192.168.1.1/index.cgi?active_page=6059  "

[tns2]

"This sounds like the problem that occurs when you have IGMP Proxy set to yes.

Logon to your router.

Look at advanced options and see if you see IGMP Proxy. If you do click on it and check that IGMP Proxy is disabled.

Note on some of the newer routers they, at least temporarily, have screwed up the options and IGMP Proxy is not shown under advanced options. For these you can use a jump, which will get you to the now hidden page to turn off IGMP Proxy.

Originally posted by BIGDADDY on DSL REPORTS this jump to gets you to the IGMP proxy page. Many have had success when they turned off IGMP proxy.

http://192.168.1.1/index.cgi?active_page=6059  "

[tns2]

Originally posted by BIGDADDY on DSL REPORTS this jump to gets you to the IGMP proxy page. Many have had success when they turned off IGMP proxy.

http://192.168.1.1/index.cgi?active_page=6059  "

[bdegnan]

Thank you.  I will try that and report back.

[PCMacTechnician]

I am having  avery similar issue on 2 Generator installs with 2 Fios Actionteks - the weird thing is , the company I work for installs these all week long, same generator, and plenty of fios customers. 

This issue - the only thing unique is that the fios customers have an Ethernet connection from their ONT to their Actiontec, and and we are not having this issue with clients connected via COAX. 

I have played with all of the port forwarding, I have been in contact with both verizon and our Kohler support rep.  Just today I tried IGMP proxy disable - and it was not helpful at all. 

Our specific sympton is that we can not add the generator to OnCue, during "Reading Initial Configuration" I get a device disconnected, and it kicks the generator off the network, it then takes about 40 seconds for the generator to reconnect to the fios router and then it starts over again.

Would be very grateful if anyone else finds a solution to this problem.

[jking519]

I too am having trouble with OnCue connectivity and I also have FIOS.  When I first installed OnCue, everything connected and appeared to be working fine (or so I thought).  After a few days, it stopped connecting and OnCue says the "device is not connected...".  Occasionally, I get lucky and it connects but about after 30 seconds, it drops the connection.  I have verified the Generator status display shows "Connected"  when I am able to connect and and then it shows "Disconnected".  I've tried multiple network cables and don't know what else to do. 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Joe

[bdegnan]

I started this thread and am a bit relieved to see that others are having this issue and it is not just somthing that I have overlooked. 

Kohler is saying the Actiontec router is the issue and that at least one other FIOS user resolved the OnCue connectivity issue by replacing the Actiontec router with a NetGear 600 router.  To do this, I would need to place the NetGear router in front of the Actiontec, connect cat5 from the generator to the NetGear router and then connect the Actiontec router to the NetGear router.  I have seen some guidance on the internet regarding the specifics of how this is done.  I will post URLs to this information in the next day or so and report any progress that I am seeing.  Would like to know if anyone has tried this approach.

I will also ask Kohler for any specfics they can provide regarding OnCue customers who overcame this issue.  It is ridiculous to me that people have to struggle with this without much support and apparently need to reinvent the wheel over and over again.

[gs0b]

Since you have FiOS TV, you have a coax connection to the ONT.  Verizon won't enable Ethernet for the WAN if you have TV service. The Actiontec router connects to the WAN over coax using MoCA.  It also creates a MoCA LAN for the set-top boxes.  It's difficult to replace the Actiontec router, as it really needs to be at the center of your network.

There is hardware out there that will bridge MoCA to Ethernet, however you'll be creating a setup that isn't supported by Verizon.  There are posts here and on other sites that describe this setup.  Note that Verizon won't support such a setup.

From the outside looking in, it looks like to me that Kohler assumes a completely open connection to the internet.  This is a bad assumption and I think this is their fault.  It may have to do with the back-end software they are running on their web site.  If so, it's unlikely to change until they are willing to spend (a lot) more money to fix it.

One last thought; have you tried setting the generator as a DMZ host?

Good Luck.

[tns2]

---

@gs0b wrote:

Since you have FiOS TV, you have a coax connection to the ONT.  Verizon won't enable Ethernet for the WAN if you have TV service. The Actiontec router connects to the WAN over coax using MoCA.  It also creates a MoCA LAN for the set-top boxes.  It's difficult to replace the Actiontec router, as it really needs to be at the center of your network.

There is hardware out there that will bridge MoCA to Ethernet, however you'll be creating a setup that isn't supported by Verizon.  There are posts here and on other sites that describe this setup.  Note that Verizon won't support such a setup.

From the outside looking in, it looks like to me that Kohler assumes a completely open connection to the internet.  This is a bad assumption and I think this is their fault.  It may have to do with the back-end software they are running on their web site.  If so, it's unlikely to change until they are willing to spend (a lot) more money to fix it.

One last thought; have you tried setting the generator as a DMZ host?

Good Luck.

---

This is incorrect.  They will enable Ethernet connection.  In fact for the fastest two tiers, 150 and 300, They must.  Yes you still need a Verizon router in the configuration if you have FIOS TV.  With the basic one they give you, you end up with both MOCA (lan) and Ethernet enabled.  The TV's, and any other devices that support moca, still connect to the router over the coax.  The router then uses the wan connection over the Ethernet cable to the ONT. 
 

[gs0b]

Thanks for the correction.  I know that Verizon prefers coax over Ethernet whenever possible; I didn't realize they finally admitted Ethernet can be used with the TV setup.  This makes sense, as the new speed tiers are faster than MoCA.

The bottom line is even with an Ethernet connection to the ONT, it is difficult to replace the Actiontec router as the center of the network and keep all FiOS TV functionality.  Another thread posted links that describe various options.  The one that removes the Actiontec as the gateway to the internet requires three total routers and is fairly complex to setup and administer.

http://forums.verizon.com/t5/FiOS-Internet/Planning-to-use-a-different-router-rather-than-ActionTec-...

From the descriptions about the Oncue issues, this appears to me to be a problem with the design of the connection between the Oncue server and the generator.  It appears not to be setup to handle any NAT that can get in the middle; which is a bad design for a consumer product.  In my opinion, it should work with through the Actiontec router.

Enjoy.

[Justin46]

---

@gs0b wrote:

Thanks for the correction.  I know that Verizon prefers coax over Ethernet whenever possible; I didn't realize they finally admitted Ethernet can be used with the TV setup.  This makes sense, as the new speed tiers are faster than MoCA.

.......

---

Just a historical note: I had FiOS TV installed in Sept. 2005 and I have always had an ethernet connection from the ONT to the router, still do. Of course there is also a coax connection to the ONT for the TV. Originally the router used, a D-Link, did not have a coax connection at all, so there was an additional box, the Motorola NIM-100, that provided the coax-ethernet interface to support the Guide, VOD, etc.

But fore sure these days, Verizon prefers to use coax-only to the ONT for most installations, saves installation time and cost.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, 25/25 Internet, and Digital Voice user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9.1
Keller, TX 76248 (VHO 1)

[jking519]

Thanks for all the info.  Let me share some other info that I have regarding my problem:

1) I have a lot of trouble just pinging the generator.  It will work for a while and then just stops.  I get Timeouts sometimes and other times I get  "Destination host unreachable".  I tried both Static and Dynamic IP and same results.

2) I tried bypassing the Verizon router by using a Switch to connect my laptop to generator.  This too had inconsistent results.  I got a lot of ping timeouts.

3) I know 2 other people with FIOS - 1 of them has never had any trouble at all.  The other could not even get OnCue to connect to the Generator.  He replaced that FIOS router and his trouble appears to have gone away (so far).  I know 5 other people that do not have FIOS and have no problems.

4)  I purchesd then  new version of the ActionTec Router- REV I.  I'm having the same trouble.

5) I tried forwarding all applicable ports - no difference.  I have the 20RESL DC2 model. This has different instructions than what was posted a few posts ago.  There is supposed to be no configuration, port-fowarding, etc required. The doc can be found here if anyone is interested.

It really seems like it is an issue with the Generator, but I just don't know what I can do.

Thanks.

[bdegnan]

Yes, I tried DMZ.  it does not work, much to my surprise.  I thought it was supposed to force the device to be fully accessible over the internet.

[jking519]

bdegnan,

Can you tell me what model Generator you have an what is the OnCue firmware version?

I have the 20RESL DC2 running firmware 5.2.0 (the latest).  My 2 friends with Fios are running without any problems are running firmware 4.7.1.   Just wondering if these issues have anything to do with the firmware version.

Thanks.

[jmschnur]

Has this issue been resolved? If so how. I have 5.2 firmware with a Kohler, fios, and actiontect I. I am considering on cue.

[bdegnan]

Not resolved.  I gave up and am checking to see if a new version of Oncue might fix the issue.

[JoeyD1973]

I'm having all the same issues reported in the previous posts....The kohler dealer came on-site and had Verizon Fios tech support on the phone......A lot of finger pointing and ultimately swiched out my Verizon Actiontec router with a neighbors Verizon Router and bingo Oncue connected-  In the interim I had Verizon send me out one of the new routers (red and black Actiontec)-  I installed the new router and all worked flawlessly for 5 days and then bang...no connection.  I'm convinced it's a verizon issue.....  I ran a 300' ethernet cable from my generator to a neighbors comcast router.....funny, it connected without issue...

[bdegnan]

On a whim tonight, I started Oncue.  In 2 years, it has never worked for me.  It did tonight!  I have changed nothing with the router and have not upgraded OnCue (not even sure there is an Oncue upgrade).  The only thing that has remotely changed with my network is that I installed a couple of Samsung Smart TVs, which have internet connectivity.  Not sure if they somehow changed some setting in the router.  All I know is Oncue is working.  I keep restarting Oncue to see if I am dreaming.  I am not.  It is working and I am psyched!.  I just hope it keeps working.  My guess is that some FIOS firmware upgrade got downloaded and that made the difference but not sure.  This stuff is total black box to me.  There are so many variables, so who knows.

I have the Actiontec MI424WR-GEN3I router firmware version 40.21.10.3

Would be interested to learn if others now try again and have the same luck.

[viafax999]

it would appear that possibley OnCue may be using port 502 for external access abd that you would need to forward that port to the generator bridge for remote access

See page 19 at this link

http://www.apelectric.com/v/vspfiles/pdf/t1486g9.pdf