powerline adapter stopped working

[anonymous-user]

I connected a powerline into a socket in the garage with very little expectation that it would work

But it did! Perfectly. For a week.

Then it suddenly stopped working - the network light isn't coming on

Have tried it in the house and it works perfectly and tried another one from the house that also failed in the garage

What could have happened in the week to knacker the job up and is it likely to be something I can easily fix?

[Bikerjon]

Did you enable the encryption function on your powerline adaptors?

[anonymous-user]

Not knowingly

What difference could doing so make?

[Bikerjon]

It's just an unscientific observation really, as powerline adaptors seem to work better for me with encryption disabled. Most have buttons that you hold down to encrypt the connection and "pair" it with another.

Has anything else been plugged in to the garage electrical supply recently?

[anonymous-user]

Nothing else plugged in / out in there - just the laptop and the adapter

Lights have been switched on / off a few times of course and the electric car charged every day, but that happened in the previous week too with no issue

In reality I am more surprised that it worked in the first place than that it failed, but it did and it is, therefore, disappointing that it stopped!

[CraigyMc]

JPJPJP said:

What could have happened in the week to knacker the job up and is it likely to be something I can easily fix?

Most odd.

I've put those in for myself and for other people and found them really reliable. I've not had one die out of about 20-odd of the things, over several years of use.

You may have to pair them again if for some reason one has forgotten the network it was participating in, but if the one that was living in the garage has died completely (like, not lights etc) then it might be environmentals (cold/damp etc) that have killed it rather than a glitch.

I'm interested by the effect an electric car might have on your house power network. If it causes spikes, that theoretically might blow the powerline adapter electronics.

Craig

[sgrimshaw]

+1 for "re-pairing".

Back in October I replaced all mine with newer faster ones, and initially all was well with simply plugging in and letting them sort themselves out.

After a week or so, one stopped working, so paired them all up using the button and since then they've been fine.

[anonymous-user]

the one from the garage works in every socket in the house

others from the house, that also work in the house, don't work in the garage

I have done the re pairing part, but no change...

I have no idea what the car charger does to the electrics - it is the same rating as an electric shower / oven, so it shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary

[malks222]

very strange, it sounds like its something to do with the electrical circuit more than the unit. if it works in the house and the other ones also dont work out there, is the internet signal getting out to the garage plus socket? but if the socket still works for power out in the garage, why would the signal not get there?

[anonymous-user]

malks222 said:

very strange, it sounds like its something to do with the electrical circuit more than the unit. if it works in the house and the other ones also dont work out there, is the internet signal getting out to the garage plus socket? but if the socket still works for power out in the garage, why would the signal not get there?

Exactly that.

When I first plugged it in, I was surprised that it worked - it is behind its own 'consumer unit' of sorts

But it did work and I was a happy bunny

Then it stopped working and it is worse having something taken away than not having had it at all!

[jesta1865]

JPJPJP said:

malks222 said:

very strange, it sounds like its something to do with the electrical circuit more than the unit. if it works in the house and the other ones also dont work out there, is the internet signal getting out to the garage plus socket? but if the socket still works for power out in the garage, why would the signal not get there?

Exactly that.

When I first plugged it in, I was surprised that it worked - it is behind its own 'consumer unit' of sorts

But it did work and I was a happy bunny

Then it stopped working and it is worse having something taken away than not having had it at all!

oddly enough i have had this before in a house of someone who i knew a couple of years back.

he did a lot of woodwork as a hobby.

the powerline type adapters worked for him for a couple of weeks, then stopped. he had a 2nd board for power in his garage, but they worked for a couple of weeks then just wouldn't. nothing we did got them or other sets working again.

we had to set-up a new wifi ap to get him a half decent signal out there with all the stuff he had.

no idea why they worked in the first place, i would have said they shouldn't with another unit in the way.

[malks222]

JPJPJP said:

Exactly that.

When I first plugged it in, I was surprised that it worked - it is behind its own 'consumer unit' of sorts

But it did work and I was a happy bunny

Then it stopped working and it is worse having something taken away than not having had it at all!

hmmmmm the only thing i can think of is something in the way the second consumer unit is installed its not creating a full loop/circuit with the base unit/at the router. for example the instructions tell me that any powerline adapter should be plugged straight into a wall socket and not via an extension (4 point type thing) cable.

some do work, but some dont, and ones with a surge protection def effect the internet signal. as they dont allow the data to flow up and down the circuit in the manner it needs. so does the second consumer unit have a surge protection on it? was there some other plugs on previously that allowed the full flow/loop circuit to connect up?

i know your frustrations tho! i actually just bought some of these last week, installed in 5mins and very surprised with how good the results have been for how simple it was.

[jesta1865]

malks222 said:

JPJPJP said:

Exactly that.

When I first plugged it in, I was surprised that it worked - it is behind its own 'consumer unit' of sorts

But it did work and I was a happy bunny

Then it stopped working and it is worse having something taken away than not having had it at all!

hmmmmm the only thing i can think of is something in the way the second consumer unit is installed its not creating a full loop/circuit with the base unit/at the router. for example the instructions tell me that any powerline adapter should be plugged straight into a wall socket and not via an extension (4 point type thing) cable.

some do work, but some dont, and ones with a surge protection def effect the internet signal. as they dont allow the data to flow up and down the circuit in the manner it needs. so does the second consumer unit have a surge protection on it? was there some other plugs on previously that allowed the full flow/loop circuit to connect up?

i know your frustrations tho! i actually just bought some of these last week, installed in 5mins and very surprised with how good the results have been for how simple it was.

having spent a bit of time on google to look at it again, surge protection does seem to be an issue, they apparently don't like extension leads (i've used one in one before and it worked), did you buy another new electrical item? seems that some people have issues with fridges and washing machines causing problems and dropouts. i would say a fridge type device (on all the time) would be the better contender for interference.

just a thought.

[anonymous-user]

can't think of anything that changed between it working one evening and not working the next morning

nothing that hadn't happened the previous 6 nights anyway

might take the time to go round switching a few things off to see if that revives it

or might just make do with the radio only in the garage :-(

[anonymous-user]

Lo And behold today it works

Three different plugs working in house and garage....

How so I wonder?

And for how long?

[anonymous-user]

well today it isn't working....

I wonder if it could be to do with how wet the ground is? The cable to the garage is underground. I have no idea of how well / if at all it is ducted. Could the ground being wetter cause a reduction in the ability of the cable to carry the signal?

straws clutched and all that...

[CraigyMc]

JPJPJP said:

well today it isn't working....

I wonder if it could be to do with how wet the ground is? The cable to the garage is underground. I have no idea of how well / if at all it is ducted. Could the ground being wetter cause a reduction in the ability of the cable to carry the signal?

straws clutched and all that...

Doubt it, but worth checking.

It may also be some noise that is being caused on the local power grid by a neighbour's noisy (in HF terms) piece of equipment: fridge, heater, washing machine.

Have you tried measuring the signal strength via the powerline pairing tools? I don't know precisely your model, but Intellon based ones usually will tell you how strong the connection is between each of the adapters, if you are plugged in via one of them.
I think your pair might be on the limit, but if they arent then you can potentially rule out the wiring and it'll likely be noise.

I have a washing machine which puts a lot of RF noise out while it's on a spin cycle, for example. It makes wifi unusable for a few minutes.

Craig

[anonymous-user]

We have various bits of TP Link powerline kit. This particular one is a TP-Link TL-WPA281 V3 AV200

These intermittent faults are always the most annoying aren't they?

I tend to agree that, for whatever reasons, the garage sockets are right at the edge of the performance capability of such a device.

Maybe I will discover the specific reason(s) behind it not working sometime. Maybe not.

In due course, the house will have a full rewire and the issue will be fixed properly at that point with a run of Cat 6 (or 7 given how soon I might get round to it)...

[CraigyMc]

JPJPJP said:

We have various bits of TP Link powerline kit. This particular one is a TP-Link TL-WPA281 V3 AV200

These intermittent faults are always the most annoying aren't they?

I tend to agree that, for whatever reasons, the garage sockets are right at the edge of the performance capability of such a device.

Maybe I will discover the specific reason(s) behind it not working sometime. Maybe not.

In due course, the house will have a full rewire and the issue will be fixed properly at that point with a run of Cat 6 (or 7 given how soon I might get round to it)...

Total aside: Cat 7 is a dead duck.

After Cat6a, Cat 8 is the next popular standard. Cat 7 isn't a recognised standard for various boring industry compliance reasons.

the more you know

[anonymous-user]

CraigyMc said:

Total aside: Cat 7 is a dead duck.

After Cat6a, Cat 8 is the next popular standard. Cat 7 isn't a recognised standard for various boring industry compliance reasons.

the more you know

by the time I get round to it, we might be on to CAT 9... :-)