Ethernet over power

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mailmarshall

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#17465 28-Nov-2007 11:20

Hi

Has anyone got one of these types of devices? What are they like?

I understand how they work but are they safe to use i.e they dont overheat the house's power cables??

The Netcomm NP200AV looks very interesting

Thanks

grant_k

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#97314 28-Nov-2007 11:36

mailmarshall: Has anyone got one of these types of devices?

Experiences with this type of device vary widely:

- Some people find they work reliably with no issues
- Others find the reliability questionable and throughput varies depending on what other devices are plugged in to nearby power sockets
- You really have to try them in your situation and see if they work for you

mailmarshall: ...are they safe to use i.e they dont overheat the house's power cables??

There are no safety issues at all. The amount of current used by the data signal compared to the current used to run an electric heater -- or even a lightbulb -- is miniscule so there is no worry about overheating the cables at all

chiefie

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#97315 28-Nov-2007 11:37

I have been curious to try it but I am not too sure if the signal can work through the power-strip (or multi-power-board or whatever you call that)... I know it won't work with UPS as the signal will be appear as "noise" and get filtered out.

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grant_k

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#97321 28-Nov-2007 11:54

chiefie: I am not too sure if the signal can work through the power-strip (or multi-power-board or whatever you call that)

You are very unlikely to have any problem with power strips.

chiefie: ... I know it won't work with UPS as the signal will be appear as "noise" and get filtered out.

Yep, a UPS will most definitely throw a spanner in the works

xcubed

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#97344 28-Nov-2007 14:01

A UPS would filter the noise from going back into the wall socket, so it would only work if all your carrier-current network devices are also powered by the same UPS, which is unlikely. So there's no real reason for powering the carrier-current device via the UPS as it won't be able to communicate with a remote device when the power goes down, so you may as well plug it directly into the wall.

BTW, I've got a few HomePlug 14Mbps carrier current network devices floating around at home. If anyone's interested in them, PM me. I've got some with USB interfaces and some with Ethernet interfaces.

AllNightNerding

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#98274 4-Dec-2007 22:38

this could have been awnswered allready but. when you refer to the power strip do you mean the circut board so can you run it in between circuits so say if 2 rooms are on differat circuits will it still work to get the signal between them?

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grant_k

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#98279 4-Dec-2007 23:25

AllNightNerding: this could have been awnswered allready but. when you refer to the power strip do you mean the circut board...

No, not at all. By "Power Strip" we were talking about one of those boxes with multiple plugs on it which you can buy from the warehouse for a few $.

When you say "Circuit Board" I guess you are referring to the Switchboard in your house which has all the different Switches and Circuit Breakers on it.

AllNightNerding: so can you run it in between circuits so say if 2 rooms are on differat circuits will it still work to get the signal between them?

Generally it won't matter if 2 rooms are on different circuits so long as they are on the same phase. In the cities it is very unusual for a house to have more than one phase present, but in rural areas it is quite common to see one phase used for lighting, power, hot water etc, and the other phase is used for the stove.

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AllNightNerding

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#98372 5-Dec-2007 17:50

so potentially lan over power could be a very good soloution to voip as you would not have to wire networking cables to everywhere you would want phones to go or potentially want phones to go. could work very well.

grant_k

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#98380 5-Dec-2007 18:15

AllNightNerding: so potentially lan over power could be a very good soloution to voip

Potentially it COULD, but in my experience it is not always so. LAN over Power often suffers from interference and drop-outs which aren't too much of a problem for TCP/IP traffic, it just does a retry, but for Real-Time Protocols like VoIP, it would wreak havoc with the voice quality.

Basically it's a try-it-and-see situation.