How to Shut off the WIU WI-Fi signal/light

Assuming that you want to cut out the WIU altogether, disconnect the WIU from the TIU or unplug the Ethernet cable.

Susan, the WiFi radio can be disabled in the LuCi Interface. There is a tab which allows you adjust all sorts of the WiFi setting for the HOME or MTH modes. Everything from the Wireless channel, SSID, and encryption password.

When I get access to my WIU I'll take some screen shots and post them for you.

Susan,

When plugged in via Ethernet how can Wi-Fi be shut off?

Out of curiosity, why do you desire to disable the WIU's WiFi capability?

Leaving WiFi turned on allows, I believe, a guest to access the trains using their smartphone or tablet without giving them your network password.

H1000 posted:

When I get access to my WIU I'll take some screen shots and post them for you.

H1000. that would be much appreciated.  I went through the LUCI steps with 2 of my 4 WIUs and the light is still on.

Thank you

Barry Broskowitz posted:

Susan,

Out of curiosity, why do you desire to disable the WIU's WiFi capability?

When talking to 4 WIUs through the dedicated train router I would like to remove any possible bugs that might occur double feeding signals (wireless and Ethernet) to the WIUs.  The gremlins I've been chasing since Christmas have finally surfaced and I don't need any more possible gremlins.

Susan,

I would like to remove any possible bugs that might occur double feeding signals (wireless and Ethernet) to the WIUs.

I've been running 4 WIUs for about a year with all 4 on Ethernet, along with a DCS Explorer also wired to the same network. All of the WIUs are in MTH mode and are accessible via WiFi, as well.

I have yet to see any issues at all from that configuration. Since each phone or tablet can only be connected to either the Wifi network or directly to any of the MTH WiFi units, but not to both simultaneously, there's no possibility of "double-feeding" of WiFi-based commands.

Okay Susan, here is how to disable the wireless radio on the WIU:

1) Log into the WIU LuCi web console
2) From the "AP Mode" drop down menu, click on "Wireless"
3) Under "Device Configuration" click on "Advanced Settings"

You will then be presented with different options under Device Configuration:

4) Check mark the box next to "Disable Wireless"

5) Click on "Save & Apply" at the bottom of the window and reboot (power cycle) the WIU.

This should disable the wireless radio in the WIU and also turn off the Wi-Fi light. The WIU can only be accessed via the ethernet port at this point and will now rely on a wired connection to a wireless router or access point to communicate with the app on a phone or tablet.

Disabling the wireless radio in the WIU does improve boot up time slightly and makes the WIU ready for use a bit quicker.  It also helps to assign static IP addresses to each WIU on your network and disable the DHCP (automatic IP assignment from your router) if you are looking to improve boot up time. This is a bit more technical to do and will require some understanding of computer networking, I'd recommend it only for those comfortable with computer networking.

H1000, thanks much for taking the time.

With H1000's information for disabling the wireless on the WIU, I was able to disable the Wi-Fi on my four WIIUs connected with Ethernet to my dedicated train router (PlayTrains with no internet access).

As soon as I logged into the WIU LuCi for each WIU I just followed H1000's instructions.

     Find each WIU's IP address:

Connect Laptop or PC to PlayTrains network router.

Open Train Router interface.  My Netgear router - IP Address 192.168.11.1  (changed to be different from the household router connected to the internet.)
      go to Attached Devices

Copy and paste the IP addresses to a text  list.  Close Router window.

The text list of Attached Devices:

 #  IP Address  Device Name   MAC Address
1 192.168.11.49 MTHDCS-3954 00:0A:52:27:39:54
2 192.168.11.52 LAPTOP-MQ4FE43P E4:02:9B:C2:06:78
3 192.168.11.54 MTHDCS-24B8 00:0A:52:04:24:B8
4 192.168.11.55 MTHDCS-2424 00:0A:52:04:24:24
5 192.168.11.56 MTHDCS-22D4 00:0A:52:04:224

Open Explorer browser window to access LuCi for WIU editing.  (Root password is mthdcs)
Open  each WIU IP Address one at a time and Disable Wireless under Advanced.  After all WIUs have been "Apply and Saved", recycle all power.