@9toejack In addition to that I recommend the use of mqtt explorer (https://mqtt-explorer.com/)....install on your PC, connect/point it to your broker and watch/inspect the topics as they arrive. You can also publish new topics or values if need be for testing.
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Hi William - I've just woken up here in the UK.
Looks like you have made tremendous progress with the help from @hominidae and @craigcurtin
I look forward to hearing more about your project.
Regards, David.
I did run into a problem.
I took the esp8266 to the brewery, however have issues.
- wouldnt connect to wifi.
- I reflashed the board and went through the initial steps of setting up the esp.
however acted like it was connected but couldnt get an ip address.
so for now its almost 1 am here i decided to leave the laptop and the esp at the brewery and sleep on it.
tomorrow ill be fresh at it right when most of you are ready for your night cap!
Cheers.
actually it has been on espn for several years now.
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...when using tasmotizer, make sure that you also check the "erase flash" option, so it will be a two step process. Without, parts of your config of the other location could stick.
If it was working ok at home then you don't need to reflash to change wifi.
Did you put in both wifi connections on network setup page - home / work ?
Depending on settings it may take a little while to try the work wifi, while its still looking for the home one.
Can you look at the router to see if it has connected, and what IP it is at ?
If you know the mac of esp you could setup a static ip on the router for it.
If your esp has an onboard led it should slow blink when waiting for network connection and then turn off when connected. It will also blink faster if it cannot then connect to mqtt server.
If it cannot connect to wifi you can use a mobile phone to connect to its local AP tasmota.xxx then browse to 192.168.4.1 to check the settings, I guess you already know how to do this.
If you are still stuck post on here, given time difference earlier the better 
so not what is going on but ill update the ssid and password, and it will not connect to the wifi at brewery.
i called service provider to assist in trouble shooting.
but it wont connect to my netgear nighthawk network or the comcast network.
so i walked away again. (i didnt want to be down a laptop or a keyboard by smashing it on the floor!)
there is something weird about my wifi that keeps some devices from connecting.
...what version of wifi security is activated at your remote site...maybe different from your local setup...use WPA2-PSK, not -EAP variants for example.
If you cannot change that, a workaround maybe is to enable an AP/SSID on your nearby RPi (while it is using LAN for itself, while hosting mqtt broker and NR) specifically for your service??.
Did you previosuly (with your Arduino sketch) have this connecting to the WIFI at work ?
I would assume you probably have one of the WAPs that is broadcasting both SSIDs as a single name and hoping the clients work it out - so the 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz networks appear as a single SSID and the devices are meant to make their own decisions about the best one - simple devices like ESPs have a problems with some of the implementations of this.
Usually you will have an option on the router/AP to turn off the 5Ghz band temporarily and then setup the ESP to connect, then turn it back on and it is usually OK
The other option which i have seen people stumble over - is the Tasmota flash honours case names in SSID - so if your SSID is all uppercase make sure you have entered that correctly in the Tasmota screen and vice versa.
The other thing to do temporarily is to install teamviewer on your laptop and leave it at work hooked up to the ESP and the WIFI and then you can remote control it from home (assuming you have another PC) - this gives you a lot more flexibility whilst getting this sort of thing sorted out
Craig
yes i did but it took a week.
Yes it has both, however my 2.4GHZ has "-Guest" on the end so i could differentiate between the 2 so there would be no confusion. I also knew ssid's are case sensitive.
I could leave laptop there, it is primarily for the brewery anyway. I have my gaming pc at home and prefer to work on it more then the laptop anyway, 48 inch monitor vs 13 inch lol
can teamviewer be installed on the pi as well? when this is working it will be powered by the pi anyway.
Hell, i should probably just have it send via usb instead of wifi lol
Have you tried using the guest SSID in the esp8266?
In your previous thread you said:
so i had to add another wifi login on my netgear nighthawk.
esp8266 is connected now.
Does that ring a bell?
yes you are correct that's why initially it took a week when i had it programed with arduino ide.
the crappy thing is i have comcast internet and there routers suck.
i added a net gear nighthawk
and i added a 2.4 ghz guest wifi because the 5 and 2.4 still shows up as the same name.
on my comcast wifi i have 5 with one name and the 2.4 with the other. I'm not knew when it comes to networking, hell i still have my house wired with 10baseT in every room and i think that was replaced with rj45 in 95 or 96 lol.
however the comcast router is just jacked. and i have had them replace, reboot, reboot oh yeh and reboot.
honestly at this point im sure i missed some setting on the routers.
but i actually had a hard time connecting to my wifi at the brewery with my laptop sometimes as well.
Are there many motors or other devices there that maybe generating interference with the wifi? I know when our furnace kicks in we can have issues.
How close to the router is the esp8266?
Have you tried putting it very close to see if there is interference
Is it possible there other SSID in the area using the same channel?
so only " motors " are my walk in cooler compressor, up in ceiling above walk-in cooler 20 ft away from main router.
the other compressor is my glycol chiller which is a smaller compressor, sitting on the floor by the fermenters.
to ensure i didn't have an issue with interference i added the net gear nighthawk wifi router/booster.
one of the repeaters for it are 5 ft away from the raspberry pi.
when i was messing with the esp i was also only 5 ft away .
the comcast router i have allows me to place its network on a different frequency then the others in area, there are living spaces above my brewery, and they have caused issues before so i moved to different to not have any crashing or interference issues.
ill go back in and make sure that is not the case.
how ever i haven't figured out how to do that on the nighthawk router.
Maybe i need to re-look at both routers and make sure they are still set right.
its 2 am here now and i will not be back at brewery till sunday evening or monday morning.
ill touch base monday cheers mate's
just a recap, more my own mental note.
1 took a week to get they esp to see the wifi at brewery with in arduino ide sketch.
then in this post trying to figure the sketch itself. i was introduced to Tasmota .
Very awesome ui utility for an esp8266
now still trouble shooting the network.
must ensure the 2.4Ghz has a different ssid then 5Ghz,
need to ensure that the wifi isnt suffering any interference.
must also figure the channel frequency of the wifi's and make sure no other routers that are visable are in same channel as mine.
Also verify and correct if needed on the ipv4 that it is wpa2-psk not -eap.
for everyone helping and watching i will go through the network check list. and then follow up.
I have a few more questions about Tasmota and the one-wire protocal, but ill ask when i have actually read up on the Tasmota and if i still am confused.
so far you guys have taught me a great deal. and have had patience. Thanks for that. looking foward to learning more. and then also learning how to put this project out there for others. (when completed of course)
Reliable and Functional first.
Eye Candy second.
Prost! Cheers, and to your health
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Are they set to only allow connection from a known MAC etc ?
No they aren't, but I also noted the mac address for the esp and had already added as a trusted device and static ip address.
I'm out for the week doing some ocean fishing will be back at it Sunday or Monday
This could well be your issue - most Guest networks on consumer hardware provide isolation between guests and between guests and devices on your other wireless networks
Plus they also in the majority of cases put the guests onto their own DHCP subnet which is different from the main network
Craig
Hi 9toejack
Not sure if you have resolved your issue, but you may look at ESPEasy.
No programming required and you can send the data to Node-RED via mqtt.
