Post by thread:[EE]: HomePlug mains wiring broadband networking

Aims at providing up to 14 Mbps data speeds using mains wiring. Showcase site for manufacturers offering this technology. http://www.homeplug.org/index_basic.html Actual speed available will vary with implementation Reportedly adapters are available from $NZ99? Fairly low info site. Google search for "homeplug" for much more. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

Russel, Homeplug is a great idea, but good luck getting it to work in an actual house. I did a survey of powerline carrier devices a while back. While good ol' X10 works fabulously throughout my house, I had little or no luck with any of these so-called "more robust" protocols that claim to have high data rates, using either Homeplug or several other protocols. I carefully used outlets that were either on the same circuit, or at least on the same leg of the panelboard, tried a number of different outlets, all to no avail. A few calls to some tech support finally brought out the admission: "Well, our devices really don't work too well on any house with *surge supressors*, *touch sensitive lamnps* or *some computers*. Now, find me a house without surge supressors and some computers, and I will show you a house full of people not ready to buy powerline carrier anything because they are on welfare. Now all these manufacturers will show you data and surveys that claim these devices work in 90% or 95% of all houses. I had the opposite experience. Even good ol' X10 is sporadic, and this is well known by the people that use it, they are always buying bridges and so on to boost reliability. A pair of 14 gauge wires connected to brush motors and your neighbor's welder is just a p***-poor coaxial cable, IMHO. I predict any commercail product that marries itself to homeplug will suffer excessive returns and excessive consumer dissatisfaction. Oh, by the way, my company has a bunch of them. I have ordered extra aspirin and some ice packs for the headaches that will start when they hit the shelves. --Lawrence {Original Message removed}

archives.e-insite.net/archives/ednmag/reg/1996/080196/16out11.htm ST7537HS1 - FSK power-line-modem IC This is 1994-1995 technology that would meet my needs in a project I'm working on. Anyone have experience with these? thanks chuckc On Tue, 28 May 2002 09:13:29 -0500 Lawrence Lile <spam_OUTllileTakeThisOuTTOASTMASTER.COM> wrote: Russel, Homeplug is a great idea, but good luck getting it to work in an actual house. I did a survey of powerline carrier devices a while back. While good ol' X10 works fabulously throughout my house, I had little or no luck with any of these so-called "more robust" protocols that claim to have high data rates, using either Homeplug or several other protocols. I carefully used outlets that were either on the same circuit, or at least on the same leg of the panelboard, tried a number of different outlets, all to no avail. A few calls to some tech support finally brought out the admission: "Well, our devices really don't work too well on any house with *surge supressors*, *touch sensitive lamnps* or *some computers*. Now, find me a house without surge supressors and some computers, and I will show you a house full of people not ready to buy powerline carrier anything because they are on welfare. Now all these manufacturers will show you data and surveys that claim these devices work in 90% or 95% of all houses. I had the opposite experience. Even good ol' X10 is sporadic, and this is well known by the people that use it, they are always buying bridges and so on to boost reliability. A pair of 14 gauge wires connected to brush motors and your neighbor's welder is just a p***-poor coaxial cable, IMHO. I predict any commercail product that marries itself to homeplug will suffer excessive returns and excessive consumer dissatisfaction. Oh, by the way, my company has a bunch of them. I have ordered extra aspirin and some ice packs for the headaches that will start when they hit the shelves. --Lawrence {Original Message removed}

Hi, I'll agree with that as far as outlets working or not. Last year I wrote the software for the http://www.nsine.com/HCK900.pdf Home Characterization Kit which was used to characterize a house for signal propagation throughout a house to all the outlets. The detailed results are available to companies that sign up to their program so I can't say too much about that but as I recall, I think competitors to nSINE, like HomePlug suppliers, disagreed with the results or considered them invalid. The powerline is an extremely hostile environment but it is possible to sending MPEG-4 streaming video and that is so cool! It's such a huge market that claims from all manufacturers need to be closely examined. Especially interoperability. For example, if you have $1000 invested in X10 and you buy a powerline modem for your PC does your X10 stuff stop working or does it prevent the powerline networking stuff from working? If your new fridge comes with an embedded powerline module, does it kill your home network because the two companies are both using spread spectrum but have raised the noise floor so high that neither can talk. What about the house next door that is running a competitive network from a different supplier but you are on the same transformer? John Dammeyer Wireless CAN with the CANRF module. www.autoartisans.com/documents/canrf_prod_announcement.pdf Automation Artisans Inc. Ph. 1 250 544 4950 > {Original Message removed}