How to set up Tenda Nova mesh for wired backhaul - MW5, MW6, etc.

[fznuk]

Been having loads of issues with the Tenda MW6 4 node setup over the years i have had it - mainly dropouts on Wifi.

I decided to lookup LAN backhaul and stumbled upon this great thread and followed the best instructions on how to setup 3 of the 4 nodes I use.

I also just had FTTP fitted at 300mbps so needed to get the best out of it to spread over 3 flats within a real old grade 2 listed building (foot thick no cavity walls)

I have LAN cables travelling to most ends of the building so a LAN backhaul would be fantastic...so i thought!

I have a Plusnet Hub 2 with the Internet supplied via the WAN port and the Hub WIFI switched off, it now just a DHCP modem.

LAN 1 from Hub is connected to 1st Primary Node via is WAN port.

Primary Node LAN port is connected to a 25 way HP unmanaged Gigaswitch.

Gigaswitch ports go to all my WIRED equipment + 2 secondary nodes connected to the nodes LAN ports (a third node is WIFI only).

The 1st issue was that sometimes WIFI devices from those nodes were at 200gb and then it was down to 60gb....... sometimes dropping to as low as 20mb??

what I noticed is that my Plusnet hub (IP 192.168.1.254) was showing up on the Tenda app on random WIRED nodes??! - BUT NEVER on the Primary...and to be honest WHY is it showing up at all on a Node?? 

The SLOW speeds via wifi was usually when the ROUTER wasnt on the Node I was connected to? VERY STRANGE??

I have tried different setups but NEVER swapped out the primary node to see if its at fault? or is this a bug? 

The Nodes with LAN show the <..> symbol to say its LAN and never Wifi so its using the LAN?

Firmware is the same on all Nodes: V1.0.0.20(9972)

does anyone else know whats happening or should I just get a TP-Link M9?

cheers guys