FCSP networking not following DHCP rules

[K6CCC]

Made an interesting observation with my newly installed Ford Charge Station Pro. It is not following the networking rules for DHCP operation. Once I set it up to use one of my WiFi SSIDs, it connected and requested a DHCP IP address from my DHCP server - as expected. The FCSP was assigned 192.168.206.192 with a 3 hour lease time. What is supposed to happen with a Dynamic IP address is that when the address lease has reached 50% of the lease time, the client device (the FCSP in this case) should request that the lease be renewed from the DHCP server. That is not happening. The DHCP address was assigned is apparently being retained by the DCSP presumably until it is power cycled.

Does anyone have enough networking knowledge and the ability to see what your DHCP server is doing to confirm this?

The problem with this is that assuming the DHCP server (your router in most cases) assigns an address to the FCSP and then the FCSP never renews the DHCP lease, eventually the DHCP server will put that IP address back into it's available address pool and it couple be assigned to some other device. Having multiple devices on a LAN with the same IP address generally does not work well.

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[bmwhitetx]

An easy fix is to go into your router settings and set a reservation for the IP address - assigned to the FCSP. That way whenever the FCSP wants to connect again it gets a consistent IP address - while other devices are blocked from getting that reserved address.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I set the lease on the IP address for the FCSP and my wireless printer as RESERVED IP, the lease for these devices never expire, while the remaining devices stay with DHCP.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

I set mine for a reserved DHCP address right away so didn't notice if it was being stupid. That said, unsurprising. Totally unsurprising.

 

[K6CCC]

Yes, I also have all known and expected devices have DHCP reservations. However, the devices are still supposed to follow the DHCP rules and renew the assignment. Remember that the DHCP client device has no way of knowing that the address that it receives is a reserved address in the server. All it knows is that it was assigned an address (and subnet mask) with a specified lease time, and usually the gateway and DNS server IPs. OK there are a few other things that it can optionally be given - for example option 42 specifies the IP of a NTP server to use.

Also remember that for the average user, they know none of this.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

Yes. The thing was clearly a rushed product with minimal testing to identify the many problems with itself and the HIS integration. My first one was DOA and needed to be replaced, which took two weeks of arguing with Ford. So not surprising you are having that issue. IDK if it is widespread, or you got a unique snowflake.

 

[K6CCC]

IDK if it is widespread, or you got a unique snowflake.

I assume they are all that way - hence my request for anyone who has the ability to tell the difference.

 

[Heliian]

I've had mine hooked up for more than 2 years with no issues. It seems to be connected reliably and have never had any conflicts.

 

[Kakaratto]

Wow I never thought I‘d learn something about my primary profession from this forum. I didn’t realize that DHCP hosts renew their addresses once half of the lease time has expired! Thanks K6CCC!

 

[Scott Libre]

I set static addresses for hosts that have web interfaces and that I use often, such as my QNAP NAS storage devices. Then I assign DHCP exceptions for those addresses. I set a range at the high end, like .240-.253

 

[Whammy Bar]

I've had mine hooked up for more than 2 years with no issues. It seems to be connected reliably and have never had any conflicts.

You probably have an Emporia with a Ford sticker on it then... ?

 

[bmwhitetx]

I know we're not answering your question but you are further down in the weeds so to speak than we are.

I guess most/all routers are smart enough to not assign a duplicate IP address to a device that is "not following the rules" but still active.

On my eero, when a device goes inactive, it shows as a previous device. A new device could get its old IP address (and has). Then when I turn the inactive device on again it gets a different IP than before.

I have a built a lot of homebrew IoT devices with built-in web pages (ESP8266, ESP32) and suspect none of them follow the rules either. And if I forget to assign them a reserved IP, I have to go hunt for the new webpage address when I plug them in again.

 

[Heliian]

You probably have an Emporia with a Ford sticker on it then... ?

It's a fcsp. The secret is having a strong WiFi signal, my ap is 3 meters away.

 

[Aminorjourney]

I haven't experienced this myself - but I will say I've also defaulted to running our FCSP on its own network plan with its wifi base station across from it on a nearby chicken coop. (Yes, my Chickens have wifi and cameras )

FCSP's networking stack is a nightmare, and Siemens recently announced it would be dumping Level 2 charging station development in favor of focusing on DC fast chargers, so I don't expect a whole lot of software stack improvement from that part of the unit

 

[K6CCC]

ok, could you please explain these terms because i was actually having issues last night when i got home after the Qmerit certified installers finally installed my FCSP.

For the short answer, DHCP is short for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It is the process that assigns IP addresses to devices on a network. In a typical home network, the DHCP function is handled by your router (functioning as the DHCP server) - but it can be other devices. Typically the DHCP server will have a pool of addresses that it will draw IP addresses from, and you can in most routers assign a specific device to always get the same IP address (generally called an IP address reservation). For devices that you will need to access, it is generally preferred to have that device always get the same address.. Depending on the router, a DHCP reservation may or may not be in the address range of the pool of available addresses - I normally use addresses outside of the pool of addresses.

For the longer answer, here is some reading. Warning, it gets into pretty serious details that are beyond what most of you will want to read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol

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