More Puck EspruinoHub & MQTT

I am far from a pro here but I can manage a way around. I have EspruinoHub on a rPi zero W and its seeing my puck - the puck also shows up on the bluefruit app. I can change a variable in the puck code from 0 to 1 and add that to the mfg data and i can see that in the bluefruit app. I have a few problems Im hoping to get help with; first, I cant seem to get mqtt explorer on mac to connect to EH even though Im using the same ip address that my browser is getting connected with. Ive tried ports 1888 and 1883 form the explorer and its not connecting. Second, the mac address for the puck seems to show up twice in the EH status data - why is that? I've added the first mac address to the config.json as per the thread posted by MaBe and still not getting joy. I am using my own UUID (0x0A42 and trying x0590) on the puck so maybe i need to config that somewhere in EH? Third, Im not sure i understand how to do what i have in mind. I want to send state change data for when its moving so i did this: I set a service and characteristic:

 NRF.setServices({
    0xBCDE : {
      0xABCD : {
        value : 0,
        maxLen : 1,
        notify: true
      }
    }
  });

When the puck changes state, I modify it:

function UpdateNewServiceValue (val){
  NRF.updateServices({
    0xBCDE : {
      0xABCD : {
          value : val,
          notify: true
      }
    }
  });
}

I know the state changing code works because i can see the mfgdata in bluefruit. I am trying to find reading material or any help to figure it out. I guess I was expecting to get the EspruinoHub up and would be seeing the mfgdata change with state and be able to subscribe to the service and characteristic? How would a person send the mqtt data to AWS or io.adafruit?