Chromecast Audio Disconnecting

[zcacogp]

Guys, first post and new to the group so be gentle .... !

I have a number of Chromecast Audio devices in my house. (They are the older ones, with the 3.5mm jack and TOSLINK outputs.) I have an Android 'phone and control the CCA's from my 'phone. 

They work very nicely, but I am having problems with the connection between the 'phone and the CCA's being lost. I understand the notion that the 'phone isn't sending signal all the time to the CCA's; they sit on the WiFi and are controlled by the 'phone, but there is a constant relationship between the 'phone and the CCA's while the 'phone is casting. (The 'phone 'owns' the cast.) 

However this connection is lost after a period of time and while the CCA's continue to play they are not controllable from the 'phone in the same way. An example of this is when using the BBC Sounds app, and using the 'sleep' function. The app will cast to the CCA's for a period of time (2 hours) when it will stop the cast and the CCA's will be silent. However if the connection is lost within this two hours then the CCA's will carry on playing but not stop when they should because they are no longer being controlled by the app. 

For reference, the 'phone is an old(ish) Samsung and the WiFi is a TPLink Deco mesh system, with very strong signal all 'round the house. Internet is by cable from Virgin. There are five CCA's in the house but only three are commonly used, all in a single group. 

All suggestions as to how to troubleshoot this very welcome. Thanks

[zcacogp]

Anyone? 

FWIW, all the devices are connected to the same WiFi (same SSID) and the problem often happens at night. A typical scenario is that I put BBC Sounds on, connected to the CCA's, and set BBC Sounds such that it will stop after 2 hours. 
I then plug the 'phone in to charge and go to bed. And the Cast connection is lost and the CCA's don't turn off after 2 hours. Also, if the volume control on the 'phone is not down to zero then you will hear the sound start to come out of the 'phone speaker as well. 

All suggestions welcome - thanks. 

[Kimy]

Hi zcacogp,

Thanks for posting here in the Google Nest Community. If the phone (casting source) loses control over the specified Chromecast Audio, chances are it may have switched to a different network. It could have moved to a different band (5 GHz to 2.4 GHz or vice versa), or it may have switched to mobile data. Please be reminded that the Chromecast Audio can only remember one network at a time. So if it was set up and connected to 5 GHz, it wouldn't switch to 2.4 GHz even if it had the same SSID and password (or vice versa). This situation is common when the casting source is moving around. It’s best to turn off the smart switch function of the casting source and to turn off the mobile data when you’re casting. Let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Kimy

[Princesss]

Hello there,

Chiming in to see if you still need assistance with this. Hope the previous post helped. Let us know if you have additional questions, otherwise we’ll be locking the thread.
 

Best,

Princess

[zcacogp]

Hi Kimy and Princess, 

Thanks for your posts. 

Kimy, the problem occurs when the 'phone is on charge and on my bedside table, with a strong connection to a TPLink mesh WiFi system on the 2.4ghz band (we don't have the 5ghz band set up). I doubt it is swapping between connections or between WiFi and mobile data but your ideas are appreciated, thank you. 

As it is, I have discovered that if the 'phone is re-started during the day then the casting works correctly that evening (i.e the sleep function works and turns the radio off after 2 hours). I thought this was coincidence but testing it seems to show it as being reliable, so I have a solution. Next step is to automate the reboot every day, and it seems that the Samsung auto-reboot function doesn't work. 

Princess, given that I think I am making steps towards solving this problem then you probably can close this thread, unless anyone else has some helpful suggestions to make. 

Thanks both of you. 

[Kimy]

Hi zcacogp,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop, and I'm happy to hear that this has been sorted out. I’ll keep this thread open for one more day. If you need further help, let me know.

Cheers,

Kimy