I have a network with a:

• BT Home Hub Router
  • configured so wireless network is turned off
  • Only one port is connected with a cable leading to the switch
• NETGEAR GS116LP ProSAFE FlexPoE Unmanaged PoE+ 16 Port Gigabit Switch
  • The switch is nearly full with 4 POE ports in use (the EAP below)
  • As far as I can tell this should be within the power budgets (POE)
  • The other connections go to various nearby Smart Home hubs (Hive, LightWave) and various hardwired ports around the house (TVs, Game Consoles etc.)
  • Cat6 cable is used
• 4 x EAP 225 Wireless Access Points
  • Mounted in the ceilings and using POE

I have a controller running on Windows desktop that I use to manage the system. I have tried both static IP and DHCP IP addresses.

Once or twice a day I get the following log messages in the events page on the controller:

EAP-HALLWAY was connected.
Dec 05, 2023 09:11:32  pm
The LAN IP address/mask of EAP-HALLWAY were changed to 192.168.1.51/255.255.255.0.
Dec 05, 2023 09:10:50  pm

At the same time I can see on my router that the access point has disconnected:

21:10:48, 05 Dec.
LAN [ADD] ARP 192.168.1.51 with 14:eb:b6:ec:de:c4 from br0(eth0)

21:10:47, 05 Dec.
Receive a DHCP request

21:10:47, 05 Dec.
Receive a DHCP request

21:10:46, 05 Dec.
DHCP device Disconnected: 192.168.1.51, 14:eb:b6:ec:de:c4, EAP225-14-EB-B6-EC-DE-C4

21:10:45, 05 Dec.
LAN [DEL] ARP 192.168.1.51 with 14:eb:b6:ec:de:c4 from br0

21:10:43, 05 Dec.
ARP [del] br0 192.168.1.51 14:eb:b6:ec:de:c4

On this occasion it's back in just a few seconds. Sometimes it takes up to a minute. The problem is that all the devices on the access point are without connectivity during this time. Perhaps a web call is left hanging for a minute. The biggest impact is an issue with a few homepods around the house, and they do not reconnect following this. I have to restart them manually quite frequently to get them to reconnect at all.

What might cause the access points to do this? They've always done this in the year since I've installed them. I have had plenty of other building project issues to cope with so haven't really looked into it until now. I don't think it's cabling because there are four of them and they all do the same thing. Sometimes all four go at once, sometimes they seem to disconnect in pairs. So I think it's either a router problem, a switch problem, a POE problem, or a WAP problem, but that doesn't help me narrow it down much! The switch is unmanaged so I have no other logs to go on to find out what is triggering the issue. The message from WAP seems to be a regular statement when it is connecting, but why it disconnects, I don't know.

I have tried both static and DHCP IP addresses and it doesn't seem to be do with the IP lease renewing. They never stay connected long enough.

Would really appreciate if anyone has any ideas what might cause this or thoughts on how to troubleshoot further? Thanks