Powerline routers - any good?

chris.p · 27. Jan 2010, 08:42 PM

I haven't tried the powerline 'wifi substitute' modem router type yet (the kind that send the data over your mains electric wiring to remote PCs, not via wifi). But - I heard they may not work well if the ring main the remote PC is on is on a different breaker to the one the main unit is on.

These units would be excellent for getting router connectivity out to a remote PC on another floor - but not if this problem is real.

Anyone know?

Jojo Yee · 28. Jan 2010, 02:19 AM

I personally have not tried it, but one of my friends is using it. He says it works well for him.

george · 28. Jan 2010, 01:26 PM

I was also a little reluctant getting one but the situation in my house required one. I am running a PS3 and MacMini in my living room, to far away from the router to pull an ethernet cable and the wireless speed is just to slow.

I bought a Linksys/Cisco PLTK300 and I am totally happy with it. Installation is a breeze. I have high bandwidth (supports up to 85 Mbit) in my living room. It only works though if no power bars are used. Best results are when you plug both ends in your wall jacks. I can only recommend it.

chris.p · 31. Jan 2010, 06:02 PM

OK George, sounds good.

Can you explain a couple of things for me please - what are 'power bars'? (Doesn't translate.) Does this mean the breaker / ring main / mains circuit?

Also, are your rooms on different floors (and therefore very likely to be on a different breaker)?

Here in the UK, mains electricity comes in to the property and is connected to a meter unit then a Consumer Unit, which is a circuit hub with a disconnect switch and that normally has from 8 to 16 'ways' (ie 12-way etc), which are slots for breakers (auto-fuses that can trip out and be reset). We use ring main circuits, that is, the power is wired around the room (or floor) in a circle, being connected to the breaker at both ends.

I heard that the powerline routers don't work well if the router unit and PC unit are on different breakers / ring mains.

Ritho · 31. Jan 2010, 09:12 PM

Power Bar.....

Could be either of the things below.

george · 01. Feb 2010, 12:06 AM

Hmm, power bar, not sure what you guys call it. It is what i on Rithos second picture. A multi-jack bar? Usually those have surge protectors and I couldn't get a connection when I used them. I assume it would have worked with a very simple multiplier with no on/off switch or surge protector.

The rooms are on the same floor. Haven't tried it from one floor to another. The sales person though told me it would work too. He told me it would be able to distribute traffic within your metered power grid. So it would not go through your neighbours power net.

chris.p · 01. Feb 2010, 03:11 AM

Hah!

@Ritho
Yeah funny guy

@George
OK, gotcha now (thanks to Ritho...). What we call a mains extension lead but power bar sounds better I guess.

Funny it doesn't work with those, must be too much resistance with all the joints or something. Or more likely a capacitative or inductive effect perhaps. Or the signal is only good on single cores, and in the 'balanced' twisted cores in an extension lead, the signal gets cancelled.

Still need to know if it works on a different breaker circuit. Oh well.

Ritho · 01. Feb 2010, 08:35 AM

I found a few references to the fact that it is preferable to connect a powerline router or Ethernet bridge to a common circuit breaker panel. (I am not entirely sure what that means though, but I assume it means any wiring circuits connected to different breakers in the electrical "tree" after main should work fine.)

I found this reference on a review for Linksys PLK200 Powerline AV.

Quote:

I was worried about mine living in a apartment building that the circuits may not be linked, but they were. I had no problems plugging in other rooms with different circuit breakers - since they are all on the same control panel. I guess it is possible that this is not always the case - depending on how your house is wired

This white paper (http://atheros.org/pt/plc/downloads/...Crossphase.pdf) mentions the terms "cross-phase coupling" which seems to be related to your question, and seems to address the issue of sending the ethernet over different breaker systems.

I got some pretty good search results using the the query "powerline ethernet breaker panel bridging" in Google search.

I also found these two websites (homeplug.org & upaplc.org) dedicated to "powerline communications."

Hope these help

27. Jan 2010, 08:42 PM	#1 (permalink)
chris.p Foundation Editor Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 1,634	Powerline routers - any good? I haven't tried the powerline 'wifi substitute' modem router type yet (the kind that send the data over your mains electric wiring to remote PCs, not via wifi). But - I heard they may not work well if the ring main the remote PC is on is on a different breaker to the one the main unit is on. These units would be excellent for getting router connectivity out to a remote PC on another floor - but not if this problem is real. Anyone know?

28. Jan 2010, 01:26 PM	#3 (permalink)
george Progradminstrateditor Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Frankfurt, GER Posts: 2,351	I was also a little reluctant getting one but the situation in my house required one. I am running a PS3 and MacMini in my living room, to far away from the router to pull an ethernet cable and the wireless speed is just to slow. I bought a Linksys/Cisco PLTK300 and I am totally happy with it. Installation is a breeze. I have high bandwidth (supports up to 85 Mbit) in my living room. It only works though if no power bars are used. Best results are when you plug both ends in your wall jacks. I can only recommend it. __________________ Best regards, George

01. Feb 2010, 12:06 AM	#6 (permalink)
george Progradminstrateditor Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Frankfurt, GER Posts: 2,351	Hmm, power bar, not sure what you guys call it. It is what i on Rithos second picture. A multi-jack bar? Usually those have surge protectors and I couldn't get a connection when I used them. I assume it would have worked with a very simple multiplier with no on/off switch or surge protector. The rooms are on the same floor. Haven't tried it from one floor to another. The sales person though told me it would work too. He told me it would be able to distribute traffic within your metered power grid. So it would not go through your neighbours power net. __________________ Best regards, George

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28. Jan 2010, 02:19 AM	#2 (permalink)
Jojo Yee Maestro di Search Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 7,944	I personally have not tried it, but one of my friends is using it. He says it works well for him.

31. Jan 2010, 06:02 PM	#4 (permalink)
chris.p Foundation Editor Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 1,634	OK George, sounds good. Can you explain a couple of things for me please - what are 'power bars'? (Doesn't translate.) Does this mean the breaker / ring main / mains circuit? Also, are your rooms on different floors (and therefore very likely to be on a different breaker)? Here in the UK, mains electricity comes in to the property and is connected to a meter unit then a Consumer Unit, which is a circuit hub with a disconnect switch and that normally has from 8 to 16 'ways' (ie 12-way etc), which are slots for breakers (auto-fuses that can trip out and be reset). We use ring main circuits, that is, the power is wired around the room (or floor) in a circle, being connected to the breaker at both ends. I heard that the powerline routers don't work well if the router unit and PC unit are on different breakers / ring mains.

01. Feb 2010, 03:11 AM	#7 (permalink)
chris.p Foundation Editor Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 1,634	Hah! @Ritho Yeah funny guy @George OK, gotcha now (thanks to Ritho...). What we call a mains extension lead but power bar sounds better I guess. Funny it doesn't work with those, must be too much resistance with all the joints or something. Or more likely a capacitative or inductive effect perhaps. Or the signal is only good on single cores, and in the 'balanced' twisted cores in an extension lead, the signal gets cancelled. Still need to know if it works on a different breaker circuit. Oh well.