Added HOMEASSISTANT.md with migration steps and configuration details.
Home Assistant config copied to R5C at /srv/homeassistant.
**BLOCKED**: podman installation fails on R5C due to extreme network latency
(1000+ ms Starlink connection) and DNS resolution failures. Package downloads
fail consistently.
Migration can proceed once R5C network is stable enough for apt-get to complete.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Added podman to REQUIRED_PACKAGES for running homeassistant and esphome
containers on R5C.
Created docker/start-containers.sh script to start both containers with
persistent /srv volumes for configuration.
Ready for migration of homeassistant + esphome from 10.42.0 to 10.42.1.
Configs can be copied from old vanrouter at /srv/homeassistant and
/srv/esphome, then containers started on R5C.
Ports:
- Home Assistant: 8123 (accessed via --network=host)
- ESPHome: 6052
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
systemd-resolved listening on port 53 (even localhost-only) blocks
dnsmasq from binding to port 53 globally, causing DHCP to fail on reboot.
Created drop-in systemd-resolved-disable.conf to prevent the service from
listening on DNS. dnsmasq becomes the sole DNS+DHCP server on bridge br0.
Critical fix: without this, clients don't receive DHCP after reboot.
Verified: 5+ active DHCP leases, clients receiving 10.42.1.x addresses.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Moved all packages from OPTIONAL_PACKAGES to REQUIRED_PACKAGES:
- rsync, mosquitto, python3-paho-mqtt
- mobile-broadband-provider-info, zerotier-one
- gpsd, gpsd-clients
Deploy will now fail if any package is missing, ensuring all
van-* services have their dependencies available.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Fixed two issues in nftables.conf:
1. Unsubstituted placeholder @GATEWAY_NETWORK@ - hardcoded to 10.42.1.0/24
2. Missing semicolon on masquerade rule
NAT now working - clients can access internet through R5C gateway.
Masquerade rule: traffic from 10.42.1.0/24 not destined for br0 is NATed
to the outgoing interface (Starlink/Ethernet uplink).
Verified:
- R5C gateway: 10.42.1.1/24
- Dual-band WiFi: 5GHz (ch 149) + 2.4GHz (ch 6)
- DHCP: 3+ active leases
- Internet: R5C can ping 1.1.1.1, clients ready for internet access
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Fixed hostapd-2g.conf to properly specify interface wlx3c3332002066 (D-Link)
for 2.4GHz AP. Both APs now operational:
- 5GHz: wlp1s0 (MT7925E), channel 149, 802.11ac/ax
- 2.4GHz: wlx3c3332002066 (D-Link), channel 6, 802.11n
Both bridged to br0 (10.42.1.0/24), served by dnsmasq DHCP.
D-Link interface usb-modeswitch now working properly (no CDROM mode).
DHCP clients can connect to either band and receive addresses in
the 10.42.1.10-254 range with gateway 10.42.1.1.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Fixed three critical issues preventing DHCP from working:
1. Config file rendering: Placeholders (@GATEWAY_IP@, etc.) weren't being
substituted. Using direct heredoc writes instead of sed for reliability.
2. Service dependency blocking: van-br0-setup was blocked waiting for
hostapd.service to start, preventing bridge members from being added.
Changed to only depend on systemd-networkd so boot completes.
3. Port 53 conflict: systemd-resolved was listening on port 53, blocking
dnsmasq from binding. Disabled DNS in systemd-resolved config.
R5C now operational:
- 5GHz AP on channel 149
- Bridge: 10.42.1.1/24 with enP2p33s0 + wlp1s0
- DHCP: 10.42.1.10-254 (4+ active leases)
- van-ap-dnsmasq service: running and serving DHCP
- hostapd-2g: disabled (interface wlx3c3332002066 not available)
Disabled hostapd-2g.service until D-Link RTL8188GU is fixed (stuck in CDROM mode).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Updated hostapd.conf to run 5GHz AP on channel 149 with MT7925E (mt76 driver).
Now supports full 802.11ac (VHT) and 802.11ax (WiFi 6) capabilities.
Also fixed deploy.sh rendering issue that left unsubstituted placeholders in
network configs, causing Ethernet flaps. Configs are now properly deployed.
- hw_mode=a (5GHz), channel=149
- VHT and HE (WiFi 6) capabilities enabled
- Proper bridge configuration with gateway IP 10.42.1.1/24
- DHCP range 10.42.1.10-254 verified working
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
RTL8188GU WiFi adapter (0bda:1a2b) ships in CDROM mode on initial connection.
Install usb-modeswitch package and config to automatically switch to network
mode on boot.
Required for 2.4GHz AP to function when using D-Link DWA-171 or similar
RTL8188GU-based adapters.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Move python3-gps, python3-bleak to REQUIRED_PACKAGES (needed for van-li3-battery,
van-gps-owntracks). Add modemmanager to REQUIRED_PACKAGES (provides mmcli for
van-sms-* services).
Deploy will now fail if these packages are missing, preventing silent failures
when GPS or SMS services are needed.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Replaced RTL8822CE with Mediatek MT7925E PCIe WiFi card. The mt76 driver
(MT7925E) properly supports AP bridge mode, unlike rtw88 (RTL8822CE).
R5C is now PRODUCTION-READY:
- 5GHz AP on channel 149 with 802.11ac/ax support
- WiFi clients bridge properly and receive DHCP
- Ethernet failover fully functional
- NAT/routing configured
RTL8822CE limitation: bridging in AP mode not supported by rtw88 driver.
MT7925E solution: mt76 driver stack supports full bridge forwarding.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
dnsmasq was failing to start or staying inactive because it was starting
before the bridge members were added. Updated van-ap-dnsmasq.service to
depend on van-br0-setup.service, ensuring the bridge is ready before
dnsmasq binds to br0.
Fixes: DHCP not provisioning addresses on boot.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
systemd-networkd Bridge= directive wasn't reliably adding interfaces to br0
on Armbian. Created persistent systemd service to ensure enP2p33s0 and wlp1s0
are added to the bridge after boot, maintaining 10.42.1.0/24 network.
This ensures the gateway bridge stays configured even after R5C reboots.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Upgrade R5C from Debian to Armbian 6.18 fixes RTL8822CE 5GHz limitation
- Updated deploy.conf with Armbian's systemd network interface names:
- wlan1/wlan2 → wlp1s0 (single WiFi chip; both APs on same interface)
- eth0/eth1 → enP2p33s0/enP1p17s0 (MAC-derived naming)
- 5GHz AP now working on channel 149 with 802.11ac/ax support
- DHCP functional: devices receiving IPs from 10.42.1.10-254 range
- One test device successfully provisioned with lease at 10.42.1.66
Status: R5C AP operational, ready for production failover role
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
FriendlyElec R5C RTL8822CE WiFi chip does not support 5GHz AP mode.
Both wlan0 and wlan1 locked to 2.4GHz-only (mode 2) by firmware/driver.
Tested:
- Channel 149 (5GHz): fails with 'mode (2) not found'
- Channel 36 (5GHz): fails with 'mode (2) not found'
- Both wlan0 and wlan1: same limitation
- Regulatory domain persistence doesn't change mode
Solution: Configure hostapd for 2.4GHz (hw_mode=g, channel 6)
- VanLink2 now on wlan1, 2.4GHz channel 6
- VanLink2-2G still on wlan2, 2.4GHz channel 6
- Both working stably
R5C not recommended for 5GHz AP use; consider Pi 5 or other board
if 5GHz dual-band AP is required.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Problem: wlan1 regulatory domain not set on boot, defaults to 2.4GHz-only mode,
preventing channel 149 (5GHz) from being available. hostapd fails on startup.
Solution:
1. Modified regdomain.service to:
- Run BEFORE hostapd/hostapd-2g services (Before= directive)
- Run earlier in boot (After= sysinit.target)
- RemainAfterExit=yes to persist setting
2. Added 80-regdomain.rules udev rule:
- Triggers on regulatory device changes
- Executes 'iw reg set CA' automatically
3. Added hostapd drop-in config:
- Explicitly requires regdomain.service
- Adds Wants= to ensure it starts
This ensures the regulatory domain is set BEFORE hostapd attempts to use
channel 149, fixing the boot-time AP failure loop.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Problem: RTL8822CE driver caused kernel panic (watchdog hard LOCKUP) when
hostapd tried to use VHT 802.11ac with 80MHz channel width on channel 149.
Root cause: Driver/firmware instability with VHT capabilities on this chip.
Solution: Disable VHT, use HT40+ (802.11n) only.
- Removes ieee80211ac (VHT), ieee80211ax (802.11ax), and 80MHz channel width
- Keeps HT40+ with Short GI for reasonable performance
- Stable operation on channel 149 (5745 MHz)
This allows the 5GHz AP to start and beacon without lockup on R5C hardware.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Problem: R5C spontaneously rebooted due to hardware watchdog timeout
Cause 1: van-gps-owntracks in infinite restart loop (MQTT connect failed)
Cause 2: mosquitto only listening on localhost, so clients couldn't connect
Solution:
- Add restart limits to van-gps-owntracks and van-li3-battery services
(max 3 restarts per 5 minutes prevents infinite restart loops)
- Configure mosquitto to listen on all interfaces (0.0.0.0:1883)
- Deploy mosquitto listener config via deploy.sh
- Restart mosquitto during deploy to apply config changes
This prevents the system from hitting the 11-second hardware watchdog timeout
when services crash and systemd auto-restarts them indefinitely.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The system dnsmasq.service from the Debian dnsmasq package conflicts with
van-ap-dnsmasq.service on port 53 (DNS/DHCP). Explicitly disable the system
service during deploy so only van-ap-dnsmasq (bound to br0 for AP DHCP) runs.
Fixes DHCP failures where clients connect to the AP but don't get IP addresses
because port 53 is already in use.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Check for required packages (hostapd, iw, nftables, dnsmasq, systemd-resolved)
at deploy start and fail if any are missing. Also warn about optional packages
used by specific components (rsync, mosquitto, gpsd, python3-paho-mqtt, etc.).
Missing required packages halt deployment with clear error message. Optional
packages generate warnings that are captured in deploy-warnings.json for the
router-status MQTT dashboard.
This prevents silent failures when the R5C or other hardware doesn't have
expected dependencies installed.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Clarify that WIFI_5G_IFACE=wlan1 uses the built-in RTL8822CE chip on
FriendlyElec R5C with rtl88x2ce driver, not the RTL8852BU from the Pi 5.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Add GATEWAY_IP, GATEWAY_PREFIX, GATEWAY_NETWORK, DHCP_RANGE_START, and
DHCP_RANGE_END variables to deploy.conf. Update ap/21-van-br0.network,
ap/van-ap-dnsmasq.conf, and ap/nftables.conf to use @TOKEN@ placeholders
for IP configuration instead of hardcoding 10.42.x addresses.
This allows deploying the same configuration to multiple routers on
different networks (e.g., Pi 5 on 10.42.0.x and R5C on 10.42.1.x) by
simply editing deploy.conf before running ./deploy.sh.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
andreas
