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[Orriole]

Hi all,

I have a bit of a confusing one.... I use mains networking by means of a pair of NL-HP200DL homeplugs. One connected downstairs to the router and one upstairs to my computer. For about 8 months everything has been working absolutely fine.

Suddenly, mid youtube video, my connection fails. Did a bit of hunting and found that the data light on the upstairs homeplug was out, but all three lights on downstairs one was on... turning off and on, reset button etc didn't do anything to help. Nothing has been plugged in or changed around the house.

But here's the odd bit; the plug in my housemates room doesn't work either, but the plug in my other housemates room does.... so there's no issue with the homeplugs, or the data transmission from downstairs to up or the electrics (I think).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as at the moment I have an ethernet cable running across the landing and wires across my housemates room which he's not impressed about.....

Thanks

[roseway]

Hi and welcome,

Two things occur to me:

1. Do all the electrical sockets work properly?
2. Are you in close proximity to neighbours? It's just possible that a close neighbour could be using similar homeplugs and they are interfering with yours, and the layout of your electrical wiring is such that this only affects some of the sockets. Rather grasping at straws, this one.

[Orriole]

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

In answer to your questions;

1. Yes all the sockets are working fine and I have plugged other things in to test them

2. We live in a detached house so I don't think neighbours will be interfering with them. And if this was the case I don't understand why it would be just a couple of sockets and not the one in my housemates room or the ones downstairs :S

[broadstairs]

2. We live in a detached house so I don't think neighbours will be interfering with them. And if this was the case I don't understand why it would be just a couple of sockets and not the one in my housemates room or the ones downstairs :S

I doubt being detached is much to do with it unless you are quite some distance from your neighbouring house noise of interference is still a possibility if they also use Homeplugs and are on the same phase, also if you have someone on the same phase as you using some beefy (industrial?) electrical equipment close by that could cause a problem.

Stuart

[Orriole]

Hi Stuart

Thanks for your reply.

The plug that I am currently using (in my housemates room) is less that 2m from my sockets (almost the opposite side of an internal wall) and that is working without any issues. The sockets I have tried downstairs also seem to work without any issues. The socket in my room has been working absolutely fine for the past few months and suddenly stopped 3 days ago...

Unfortunately no way to check with neighbours if they have changed anything but no industrial equipment.

[silversurfer44]

Could you please explain as to what works where. Are you saying that your duff plug works in another house-mates socket, or that your house mate uses their own network?
You say you have tried other things in the socket that doesn't work, what sort of things have you tried?
It is perfectly possible to have a poorly connected socket and yet still operate low power things, but when you plug in your homeplug it picks up interference or fails to connect because of the poor connection.
If you swap the upstairs and downstairs homeplugs, does the one that was upstairs work in the downstairs socket. If it does then there is a problem with your wiring. If it fails to work in either socket then it is the homeplug that is duff. They can and do fail. Cheap capacitors that fail.

[jeffbb]

Hi
quote but the plug in my other housemates room does....
if no definite solution yet found ,another thought !
can you run an extension lead from the above house mate socket   with your HPlug working in that extension socket in that  room then trail it to your room and see if it still works

Regards Jeff

[djr]

PLT adapters radiate their signal beyond the consumer unit (fuse box) and out along the mains distribution network, despite manufacturers claims to the contrary.

This renders them susceptible to interference from, and causing interference to, any PLT pairs downstream of the substation on your phase of the mains network.

In additon they are susceptible to any interference generated accidentally, dodgy connections in wall sockets, plugs, extension leads, whatever. Which may only be short range. Anything with a switch-mode power supply (laptops, scanners, mobile phone chargers) can be a cause of enough interference to upset PLT.

It also introduces a security problem. Unlike wifi where they'd have to sit outside your house to break into your system, they can be in a nice warm house anywhere locally.

IF you are the only person in the area with one, a PLT device will outperform wifi, but because wifi signal attentuate with the inverse square rule (double distance = half signal) but PLT device signals are only attenuated by resistive losses, the range at which PLT devices can interfere with one another is significantly greater.

[roseway]

IF you are the only person in the area with one, a PLT device will outperform wifi, but because wifi signal attentuate with the inverse square rule (double distance = half signal) but PLT device signals are only attenuated by resistive losses, the range at which PLT devices can interfere with one another is significantly greater.

I need to correct you on both those points:

The inverse square law means that double the distance = a quarter of the signal.

PLT signals are attenuated far more by reactive effects (capacitance and inductance) than by resistive losses. In fact resistive losses are probably negligible because of the low resistance cables used. This is the same effect as ADSL losses in a telephone cable - the cable is being used at a much higher frequency than it was ever intended to be used for.

I've got no hard information to quote, but I doubt that PLT signals propagate very much further than WiFi signals, and there shouldn't be a big security issue if the homeplugs are encrypted with strong passwords.

[djr]

ok, so typo on the inverse square law thing. but the correct answer makes the problem with adjaceant PLT systems that much more convincing :-)

I have seen a demo of a PLT pair providing a rock-solid link between houses several doors away from each other. Unless you put up external aerials wifi wouldnt provide that, and hence adjaceant systems wouldnt be capable of deteriorating the performance of your wifi so badly as your PLT.

In addition, the newer PLT devices can interfere with FM & DAB radio reception. Previous generation only wiped out short wave spectrum.

Incidentally, that happens because the reactive components you suggest will limit the range of PLT signal actually make things worse. ADSL comes down what is (almost) a balanced pair. The mains network is anything but balanced and that is why PLT radiates from the wiring rather than being pretty much confined to it.

Setting aside the grief it causes to radio users, despite the attempt at 'notching' the output spectrum (which fails in the real world because of those pesky reactances) an aerial works both ways. Incoming signals of all kinds can affect the performance of PLT.