at wits’ end on ghost SSIDs with my ESP8266 modules

[Joshua]

Hello Folks,

Could you provide some insight as to why my ESP8266 continues to publish the SSIDs FaryLink_XXXXXX or ESP_XXXXXX where XXXXXXX is part of the mac address? From my research, I've read where this could be the result of residual code or a hanging variable on the ESP. I can't seem to resolve this problem. It worries me that I can connect and receive an IP (192.168.4.X) due to the possible security vulnerabilities this can cause.

Here are the steps I've taken:

- Trying multiple sketches. I thought the issue may have been with RFLink-MQTT-Gateway However, the problem problem persists with the PupSubClient example code mqtt_esp8266

- Trying previous versions of esp8266 boards package in Arduino IDE

- Trying previous versions of PubSubClient library package in Arduino IDE

- Trying both Arduino IDE 1.6.12 and 1.8.8

- Flashing with Platform.io

It appears that the problem orginates in association with the PubSubClient library. I do not get a ghost SSID using the WiFiClient from the ESP8266WIFI example.

[Joshua]

I fixed it and updated the code to remove the need for credentials.h. Here's the section of the fix with my comments..

You can get the orginal code there. github.com/SensorsIot/RFLink-MQTT-Gateway and what Andreas' video on the gateway here www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYfbEyzT-Gs

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>  
#include <PubSubClient.h>  
//#include <credentials.h>            //Removed to validate the ssid and password lines below


// Update these with values suitable for your network.

const char* ssid = "wifi station";          //usable with credentials.h commented out
const char* password = "wifi pass";        //usable with credentials.h commented out
const char* mqtt_server = "XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX";
const char* MQTT_USER = "";
const char* MQTT_PASSWORD = "";
const char* MQTT_TOPIC_REC = "RFLINK_REC";
const char* MQTT_TOPIC_TRANS = "RFLINK_TRANS";

String hi = "";
bool dataAvailable = false;


WiFiClient RFLink433Gateway;
PubSubClient client(RFLink433Gateway);    //needs to be unique within your MQTT system
long lastMsg = 0;
char msg[50];
int value = 0;

void setup_wifi() {

 delay(10);
 // We start by connecting to a WiFi network
 Serial.println();
 Serial.print("Connecting to ");
 Serial.println(ssid);
 WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);                    //Added to remove ghost SSID
 WiFi.begin(ssid, password);