core: iRobot Roomba - State stops syncing/Roomba unreachable after initial configuration

The problem

Here’s what I did:

1. Installed the native iRobot Roomba and Braava HA integration
2. It failed to get the password, so I used the roomba.py script to obtain that.
3. After entering the password manually, I get a success message and can see the roomba entity.
4. If I keep “continuous” configuration on (default), I can issue commands to the robot, but its state won’t change (for example and most importantly - its battery level). However, I don’t want my LED always on and other side-effects. So I set continuous to off.
5. With continuous config off, I cannot issue commands to the robot after the initial-connection.
6. No matter the delay period, after the initial configuration the integration always logs a connection refused error.
7. Re-configuring the delay period successfully retrieves the information! (Integrations → Roomba → Configure → Change value)
8. But then data isn’t refreshed, and logs are filled with the error messages attached (debug is turned on).

Any idea? there seem to be at least several issues describing this problem, or something close to it.

The question that comes to mind from a programmer’s perspective is: how is the “configure” call different from the regular “sync” calls, and why does that always “work”? (Again, even a re-configure will update the entities)

What version of Home Assistant Core has the issue?

core-2021.11.5

What was the last working version of Home Assistant Core?

No response

What type of installation are you running?

Home Assistant OS

Integration causing the issue

iRobot Roomba and Braava

Link to integration documentation on our website

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/roomba/

Example YAML snippet

No response

Anything in the logs that might be useful for us?

2021-11-28 16:52:07 INFO (roombapy) [roombapy.remote_client] Connecting to 192.168.1.161, attempt 1 of 3
2021-11-28 16:52:08 DEBUG (Recorder) [homeassistant.components.recorder.pool.RecorderPool] Connection <sqlite3.Connection object at 0x7f09d6617120> checked out from pool
2021-11-28 16:52:08 DEBUG (Recorder) [homeassistant.components.recorder.pool.RecorderPool] Connection <sqlite3.Connection object at 0x7f09d6617120> being returned to pool
2021-11-28 16:52:08 DEBUG (Recorder) [homeassistant.components.recorder.pool.RecorderPool] Connection <sqlite3.Connection object at 0x7f09d6617120> rollback-on-return
2021-11-28 16:52:08 DEBUG (MainThread) [aioshelly.coap] CoapMessage: ip=192.168.1.109, type=periodic(30), payload={'G': [[0, 9103, 0], [0, 1102, 'stop'], [0, 1103, 0], [0, 2101, 0], [0, 2102, ''], [0, 2103, 0], [0, 2201, 0], [0, 2202, ''], [0, 2203, 0], [0, 4102, 0.0], [0, 4104, 6566], [0, 6103, 'normal'], [0, 3104, 58.32], [0, 6101, 0], [0, 9101, 'roller'], [0, 4108, 219.49]]}
2021-11-28 16:52:08 DEBUG (MainThread) [aioshelly.coap] CoapMessage: ip=192.168.1.177, type=periodic(30), payload={'G': [[0, 9103, 1], [0, 1101, 0], [0, 1201, 0], [0, 2101, 0], [0, 2102, ''], [0, 2103, 0], [0, 2201, 0], [0, 2202, ''], [0, 2203, 0], [0, 4101, 0.0], [0, 4103, 42796], [0, 6102, 0], [0, 4201, 0.0], [0, 4203, 0], [0, 6202, 0], [0, 3104, 54.79], [0, 6101, 0], [0, 9101, 'relay'], [0, 4108, 220.57]]}
2021-11-28 16:52:08 DEBUG (MainThread) [aioshelly.coap] Sending request 'cit/d' to device 192.168.1.147
2021-11-28 16:52:08 ERROR (roombapy) [roombapy.remote_client] Can't connect to 192.168.1.161, error: [Errno 111] Connection refused
2021-11-28 16:52:08 INFO (roombapy) [roombapy.remote_client] Connecting to 192.168.1.161, attempt 2 of 3
2021-11-28 16:52:08 ERROR (roombapy) [roombapy.remote_client] Can't connect to 192.168.1.161, error: [Errno 111] Connection refused
2021-11-28 16:52:08 INFO (roombapy) [roombapy.remote_client] Connecting to 192.168.1.161, attempt 3 of 3
2021-11-28 16:52:08 ERROR (roombapy) [roombapy.remote_client] Can't connect to 192.168.1.161, error: [Errno 111] Connection refused
2021-11-28 16:52:08 ERROR (roombapy) [roombapy.remote_client] Unable to connect to 192.168.1.161
2021-11-28 16:52:08 WARNING (roombapy) [roombapy.roomba] Unexpectedly disconnected from Roomba 192.168.1.161, code Unable to connect to Roomba at 192.168.1.161

Additional information

I have tried:

• removing and re-adding the integration
• playing around with the delay values
• inspecting the source code for possible hints

More:

• I’m on a mesh network.
• Roomba is given an IP via DHCP at 192.168.1.161 at the router level, while the app itself is configured with the same IP as static.

I’ve tried to find some directions by inspecting the underlying roombapy library, and roomba-connect [IP] [PASSWORD] never fails for me.