My little ESP8266 out in the garage was failing to open the garage door sometimes..
Whenever there was a pause in Alexa's execution acknowledgment, the door failed to go up..
It rarely failed, but when it did fail a few weeks ago, I checked the network and didn't see the ESP8266!
It wasn't connected. I used a phone app to check the wifi signal level at the
box..
It was around -70 db.. Which is pretty weak, considering the ESP8266 antenna is very tiny..
The "box" is a standard old water resistant plastic electrical outlet box..
I removed the plastic cover plate (with it's rubber gasket) and noticed it was pretty thick.
I installed a coroplas (plastic cardboard) cover. It seemed to have worked..
Because of the way the ESP8266's antenna is sitting right near the cover,
I believe the thicker plastic cover was de-tuning the antenna and making it drop the wifi router..
Especially with the strong wifi signal next door, on the same channel..
I have also moved my router up to a higher channel, which has a little less traffic..
Using Alexa with the ESP8266 to open the garage doors is now working at 100%. No failures.
(Unless someone sneezes while you are saying the command)!
