Second AC1900 used as Access Point or Router causes random loss of fixed IP devices
I purchased 2X Archer A6 V2.0 routers from Amazon. Both have been updated to 1.1.5 firmware.
I have a regular home network with cable Internet with typical 4 person usage - phones, tablets, PCs, etc.
Additionally, I have 34 ESP8266 devices with hard-coded IP, SSID and password information. Reprogramming these would be tedious, and I need to access them on their specific static IPs.
My goal was to have the two routers handling the seperate activies. Router 1 would be the typical home setup. Router 2 would host the 34 ESP8266 devices. I wanted to limit traffic on one router and have the option of only resetting/rebooting one router at a time as needed.
If I configure ONE router to do it all, everything is fine.
If I configure TWO routers as described, 1-4 of the 34 ES8266 devices will experience random and permanent failure to connect. A power cycle of the devices will cause a random number of them to connect. Sometimes the same IPs are lost, sometimes different ones. There are some that drop far more often than others, and there are some that never seem to drop. About 1 out of 20 times, a power cycle results in all 34 devices being able to connect.
The act of adding the second router as an access point or router in the "ONE router to do it all" mode, the drops start immediately. This occurs even with the second router/access point has NOTHING attached to it but the ethernet cable from the other router.
DHCP is ONLY active on the first router, it it is restricted to .3 to .118 addresses. The ESP8266 devices are .201-.234.
Summary of config:
Router 1:
SSID1
IP: .2
DHCP active .3 to .118
4 devices have MAC-ADDR reserved addresses on this router, .3, .42, .114 and .118.
All desktop, laptop, etc. connect to this router.
Router 2:
Access point
SSID2
IP dynamic
34 ESP8266 devices with .201-.234 static IP.
Any suggestions?