Homeplugs driving me crazy - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 06:17:56 am
content: I have been using for years those homeplugs to have ethernet around the house. I also have fixed ethernet sockets in most places but not all.Those plugs look like this:http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00QV8DWHS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpageWhat happens is that if someone switches on some electrical device in the kitchen, eg the kettle, then these stop working, and they stay stopped for a long time after the electrical device has been switched off. The easiest example is the kettle - as soon as it goes on bye bye ethernet.The way to fix it quickly after a cutout is to power them off and on again.In the beginning I thought it was the TPLink (cheapo chinese) make I was using, so "splashed" out on these Netgear ones, but they behave almost exactly in the same way.Has anyone else seen this?

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 06:31:10 am
content: Try a new firmware. You can also hack them to run over telephone wire if that's an option.

author: Marco
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 07:39:09 am
content: I've had the same problem ... also they seem to have ~2 years life time for me.Haven't tried the new gigabit one yet (they use the earth wire as well, so might be more resilient). I think I'm just going to drill some more holes now and pull ethernet wire instead though.

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 07:53:40 am
content: There is no firmware available for the Netgear devices. I have not looked at the TPLink yet. They are very unreliable not because they drop the connection, but because they fail to re-establish it afterwards until you power them off and on. This points to a software issue.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2015, 02:30:28 am
content: What's the model number? I have a set of TP-Link TL-PA4010 that seem to run the best with "UPNP beta" firmware.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2015, 02:41:58 am
content: I have a pair of Netgear HDXB101 and I´ve been using it for around 3 years or so and never had a problem with them.My home office is right next to the kitchen but probably not on the same circuit and the wife does run all kinds of things (kettle, electric knife, coffee grinder, can opener, you name it she has it) and never disrupted my network, and the house is over one hundred years old, although it seems the wiring is not from that timeEdit: but her running those things do drive me crazy not the powerline

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2015, 08:32:40 pm
content: I used TP link powerline adapters for years without any problems other than one giving up the ghost after 5 years. Never had any problems with them stopping when loads were switched even if the load was in the adjacent socket. Only stopped using them when I ran Ethernet cable around the house last year.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2015, 07:21:32 am
content: This is a common problem with high speed powerline communications you are not able to fix.Stop using them if it's driving you crazy.Put all frustrations into half a day of wiring some CAT cables, and be happy for years.

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2015, 08:41:21 am
content: I have ethernet cables in the loft and down to many rooms but not everywhere. For those other places I have used the homeplugs.

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2015, 08:52:00 am
content: I'd use WiFi. Microtik sell small and cheap repeaters that are very reliable with a long life both software and hardware-wise.

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2015, 09:41:19 am
content: I lived in a "grand-mothers cottage" for a year or two on a working farm in northern California. Amazing place. The spacing between buildings was over 200ft, so WiFi was a no-go. I tired the DIY antennas - everything. I was about to dig a trench and bury a cable when I found DDWRT. I set put one in the farm house and one in the guest house. Set one as a broadcaster, and one as both a wifi, and a could also use the ports. Worked like a charm. All that with two old belkin w54*** routers

author: TMM
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2015, 11:56:45 am
content: creating a wireless bridge with DDWRT isn't going to be any more successful than any other WiFi solution excepting the fact that DDWRT can enable you to up the TX power level (which may be illegal and/or damage the wireless adapter) and that you can position the routers on each in an optimal position. You don't want to be creating wireless bridges within a single dwelling anyway, that's just silly unless you absolutely cannot run an ethernet cable and want to have your network at least partially wired in two seperate places.

author: m100
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2015, 03:49:51 pm
content: Quote from: george graves on May 11, 2015, 09:41:19 amEasy to work over a few km with a higher gain antenna

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2015, 09:02:44 am
content: Quote from: m100 on May 11, 2015, 03:49:51 pmNot with off-the-shelf consumer hardware you can't. You missed the point.

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2015, 09:27:54 am
content: You can with some frigs. You can get some decent line of sight performance with standard APs and a bodged up Yagi:https://www.ab9il.net/wlan-projects/wifi6.html

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2015, 11:02:25 am
content: I have TP Link power passthru home plugs, have done for the past 3 years, still working well, never had any issues with them, they are 200MBPs ones, but I am going to upgrade to the 1200MBPs ones shortly as I could do with the extra bandwidth and most of my stuff has GB ethernet now.

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2015, 10:31:04 am
content: And wen a bird flys between the two the signal drops out, and has to reconnect?

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2015, 12:26:56 pm
content: Quote from: Wilksey on May 12, 2015, 11:02:25 amI believe the older type TPLinks, those in cream colour with vents and pass through, are more reliable than the modern ones. As a matter of fact the old style had never failed me and then based on that I went out and bought a bunch of the newer ones... Bad mistake...

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2015, 04:59:30 pm
content: Well, if I buy new ones and they fail I shall just return them I will keep hold of my "old" ones.In fact A friend of mine is going to buy some AV500 imminently so I will see how he fares with those before upgrading mine.

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2015, 06:59:51 pm
content: It is the kettle in the kitchen causing issues in my case. Strange thing is it's purely resistive. The washing machine with its spinning motor, or the henry, or my wife's hairdryer, that I would expect to cause problems. But the kettle?

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2015, 08:03:26 pm
content: Is it a cordless kettle - might be the base arcing a bit. Mine did that and promptly turned into a self-extinguishing ball of fire.

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2015, 08:18:37 pm
content: Ah yes it is cordless. The contacts are well hidden, but I will try to file them clean somehow.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2015, 08:27:21 pm
content: Quote from: akis on May 13, 2015, 08:18:37 pmA good spray of contact cleaner and some wiping action might just do the trick.Alternatively, kettles are £5.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2015, 08:58:57 pm
content: I have a cordless kettle, with a round base, Morphy Richards I think, and i've had several kettles which are corded and cordless in the past (including a hot water dispenser which I don't talk about any more, f*cking Breville!) and my current home plugs have stayed strong! Maybe it's just the new ones that are rubbish, well I will be putting all sorts of appliances on when I get my new ones to test, I might see if I can borrow my mates' when he gets his or get him to put some appliances on in his abode.

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2015, 08:10:37 am
content: Morphy Richards was the crap-shifter that made our exploding kettle. Got a cheap Swan one now that seems to be ok (well it has lasted more than a few months now). The old one was a pretty good spark gap transmitter as I could pick up the transmissions on my scope when the better half was making a cup of tea.

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2015, 08:48:21 am
content: Our kettle is Russel Hobbs, surely made in China, I do not think there is anything in the UK NOT made in China... As such I do not think there is a huge Chinese plant making kettles only for Russel Hobbs, actually I think it is just a stamp on some kind of kettle coming out of a factory that makes hundreds of kettles for different European brands.While the kettle (at least) interrupts the homeplugs when it turns on, switch the homeplug off and then on fixes the problem, but if you do not the homeplug will be silently down for hours even.

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2015, 08:54:32 am
content: For the sake of irony, I've got some china that was made in the UK

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2015, 12:05:21 pm
content: I must correct myself I had a quick look when I got home, as I am not a kettle enthusiast, I have a Russell Hobbs kettle now, the Morphy Richards one was the previous one which decided to leak half boiled water onto my kitchen worktop through the base, where the electric runs...

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2015, 05:34:58 pm
content: Russel Hobbs, Morphy Richards, Mystery brand kettle. All are great, provided you buy them, photocopy the receipt, and place this along with the box on a shelf. I find that they typically last 9 months, so I had the not unusual situation of the kettle lasting 5 years before I paid for a new one. Admittedly I had the first repair after 6 months ( they actually replaced the element in the $10 kettle, which I know costs $8 as a service part), then it blew up again regularly at between 8 and 11 months. I had 6 turns of go to Game, go to returns and get a credit note, go buy a new one and make the copy, put on shelf and wait for the bang. The 6th one lasted 1 year 1 week before the bang.As to the kettle causing interference, it probably is arcing inside the element where it is crimped to the terminals, as that is almost always a failure point, which often heats up the integral switch unit till it melts into a charred mess and the thermal fuse ( hopefully it is there and not a wire link) melts.

author: nfmax
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 20, 2015, 10:46:58 am
content: There was a huge fuss in the press a while back about new EU-mandated appliance energy use rules robbing hard-working British housewives (yep - that sort of press) of their high power vacuum cleaners. Being an engineer, I downloaded the original report & browsed it. For kettles, the suggested best approach to reducing energy usage was to increase the lifetime (probably via a mandatory minimum guarantee period) as the difference in embodied energy between kettles that only last 9 months and one that lasts 10 yearsfaroutweighed any difference in energy consumption.

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 20, 2015, 12:31:57 pm
content: Problem is that capitalism is built importing cheap products and marking them up incredibly and stuff that breaks means more cash flow.