MELCloud linked to Mitsubishi Ecodan air source heat pump lost internet connection- Won't re-connect?

Well I would agree with you that the app is rather “suboptimal” (putting it kindly).  I do have some experience of the toolkit they have used to build the app (cordova) and that’s mostly outdated these days, and it kinda explains the “klunk” factor using the app.

To be pedantic, my point about insight was how data was obtained as opposed to the data itself being insightful. 

By using the browser dev tools you can see how the web page makes requests to get the raw data.  You can therefore write your own tool that makes the same requests and then store and analyse the data your own way.  Trouble is, for a non-programmer, this is not really viable.  I did have a quick try myself but failed on the authentication side of things, but I’m sure it’s possible and will pick it up again at some point.

On the freeze stat point:

• I have switched that off on my system as it has glycol added to it and I was advised it was safe to turn off the antifreeze cycle in that case.  My reason for turning it off, apart from the electricity use, is to reduce pipe noise overnight.
• Possibly stating the obvious, but its supposed to come on when the outside temperature drops below a certain value - that value can be configured via the controller.  So maybe that explains why its only running on certain days.

Useful thread everyone.

I gave also logged onto MELCloud via the web but it only responds to the data transmitted by the ‘dongle’ connected to my heating system, so when that loses connection there is no data to read  

Let’s Hope Mitsubishi can respond to this as @Blastoise186 seems to think it may be a wider problem affecting many users.

I am now away from home for a while and will have to rely on my Tado system and my electrical consumption to monitor if my Ecodan heating is working properly. 

@lycandroid 

There lots of examples of the API being reverse engineered in home automation apps to integrate the melcloud API.

but it seems even the API is half baked. 

I’ve used the node-red version to pull data into a dashboard in an attempt to make it useful. But it’s still fairly dumb without anything to compare it to. 
 

https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-melcloud

But really it’s about monitoring energy which doesn’t  seem to be included in the systems or the API by default. (As far as I can tell)

It looks like you might also be able to use Home Assistant with their MELCloud Integration. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/melcloud/

It’s worth noting however that it’s classed as Cloud Polling, so updates won’t be quite as quick as you might like.

@Hillsides thanks, yes I’m sure there are plenty of attempts out there.  I will probably do it myself just from an interest point of view.

But really it’s about monitoring energy which doesn’t  seem to be included in the systems or the API by default. (As far as I can tell)

In https://library.mitsubishielectric.co.uk/pdf/download_full/2395 it says:

Energy Monitoring Pack 1 (EMP1)
The FTC5 system comes with in-built energy monitoring functionality which does not require any additional hardware.
This provides an estimate of energy usage to nearest kilowatt hour, this energy usage data can be viewed on the local Ecodan Main Controller this estimated energy data is NOT viewable in MELCloud.

So, on the default system, I think we’re out of luck with energy monitoring via the API.

Update: the installer has submitted a warranty replacement request to Mitsubishi for my controller unit claiming it’s the wrong one.  I’m awaiting the outcome of that, although I am a bit sceptical about it.  The install manual mentions a DIP switch that switches on energy monitoring, but it’s unclear if it’s needed to be on if using the built in energy monitor or only when separate monitors are attached.  Does anyone happen to know about that I wonder?

For clarity, when the controller works I’m expecting this to be the only way I can see energy data.  I am not expecting that it will work via the MELCloud app, which will be pretty disappointing.

The EMP2 or EMP3-M energy monitoring packs would be needed to view it via MELCloud .  My installer said this would cost £800 + install cost.

I’m keen to get the thoughts from some other Ecodan members on this, @lycandroid.

@christianedward @hambrook any ideas about energy monitoring?

Just called the Help line at Mitsubishi as I have also had this problem and the phone assistant told me that the MELCLoud is down and its a known problem so nothing we can do until they sort it out at their end 👍🏼

Good to know @BrightonCouple. I haven’t had a response from a support ticket sent 3 days ago. 
 

Pity they couldn’t send out a notification email to save us having to work it out. 

Hi, I have 6 567IF at home in my splits and 1 is getting disconnected from melcloud since 1 week ago. Only way to get It working again is hard reset and reconfigurare... Happy to hear its a melcloud issue...

The connection to my MELCloud has now reconnected. 
This has happened remotely as I am away from home and I simply left the dongle in a failed reconnection state (flashing ERR light).

I am now getting the usage data and the wifi signal strength is displayed. 👍

Yep my started again yesterday roughly 1pm. 

Hi everyone, sorry to jump in on this thread. Our new ecodan was installed yesterday and all seemed fine. Woke up this morning and looked at the report to see it seems to have turned itself off? Wondering if anyone has any ideas. We're away so can't physically look at any of it. Has the WiFi connection with the ecodan just been severed, or perhaps it's a power outage/fuse?

There are a whole bunch of reasons why it might have switched off. Unfortunately it's impossible to diagnose them without seeing the system and controller 

Hello all,

I’d like to find out if any other Mitsubishi customer is experiencing the same issue of mine: the app MelCloud seems to be no longer able to communicate with both units I’ve installed indoor. All was working fine till 2 days ago: nothing changed in my hardware or configuration. The only update I’ve done these days is to bring my router to Fritz!OS version 7.50 from 7.29. Both the units indoor are still visible in my Mesh network devices list and wifi signal is correctly active, in fact also MelCloud app is now reporting perfect Wi-Fi signal strength for the units. 

The issue with MelCloud is: Error “The unit failed to respond to the refresh request”

I suspect this could be an issue with the MelCloud app server rather than my units failure or local lan configuration issue. Thank you!!
 

Mine is still working okay.

Hey @delavega79,

Is this resolved now? 

Hello all,

thank for your answers, let me share with you the following:

1. On Monday the MelCloud support wrote me that no issues are known at their cloud service side. They were giving me long troubleshooting steps to do
2. I did something different faster and easier not mentioned by Mitsubishi Support: power off the electricity in all my house for a minute and on again.
3.  I was happy as it was SOLVED
4. Last night I received again mail notification by MelCloud mentioning same communication error
5. I check the app and this time is slightly different the issue: one unit it’s OK, the other unit shows same issue as days ago
6. Checking my FritzBox 7590 router I can confirm (just like last time) that both the units look like perfectly connected to Wifi 2.4 with 72Mb bandwidth, perfect as always since years
7. I strongly suspect that this random communication issue with MELCloud could be caused by something brought in by the FritzOS 7.50 because with 7.29 I never had any communication issue on the wifi network with any device in the Mesh network. Nothing else at all have been changed so far, everything else is exactly as it was like since years. 
    
8. so now I’d love to know from any of you guys if you are using FritzOS 7.50. In the meantime I will power cycle again and I am sure it will solve.
9.  I don’t think it’s an hardware issue because at the beginning of this story the issue was on both the Wifi units, smell very strange to be suddenly hardware issue on 2/2 from nothing.. right?
10.  I will inform also the support MelCloud for them to be aware and investigate internally within their engineering team and FritzOS team too. Will keep you posted, thank you, regards 

@M.isterW cCould you please tell me if you are using a router FritzBox 75xx with FritzOS 7.50 ?

Thank you

Regards,

Diego

I hate to depend on cloud to control the AC. I tried to put the IP of the AC in the browser just to see if there's any local lan control menu and It requests user/pass, dos anyone know how to get that credentials or any other way to control this in local lan? Thanks

According to Home Assistant, MELCloud supports Cloud Polling only. There is no known local interface i.e. their stuff only communicates directly with MELCloud itself.