[SOLVED] Powerline adapter/electrical question

[buol]

Hi. We bought a house with a separate small guest house about 30 yds away, the guest house being added more recently. they are billed for electricity as one bill on the same meter which is on a line pole with a transformer that is near the guest house. the main house has a circuit breaker mains on its board, the guest house has an internal box without a mains on it and a mains on the outside of the house. turning off either mains switch affects only that house. since they are on the same meter, if both mains are on should a powerline adapter work in the guest house? the main house has dsl internet and a wireless router. thanks.

 

[Wolfshadw]

It's my understanding (and I could be wrong) that for PowerLine adapters to work, they need to be on the same circuit box, so your set up likely wouldn't work. Easiest solution would be to get a secondary DSL account for the guest house (note: I said easiest, not cheapest).

-Wolf sends

 

[bill001g]

Maybe but the more complex you get the more problems powerline devices have. Make sure you have the newest technology av2-1000 or av2-2000 devices.
Years ago the need to actually be on the same circuit breaker. That has improved each generation. Now they use the ground wires as well as the current carrying ones. I know they will not pass over a transformer on the street.....even though if the wires for you and your neighbor are connected on the same side of the transformer I have heard people can see/detect the neighbors powerline. The newest electronic meters also block powerline for some reason.

In any case you have a chance because you are on the same side of the power meter. The distance the cables go and how many breakers you have in the path will have a impact. This is impossible to say for sure. It generally works in most houses in your case it is not real clear.

 

[SamirD]

Slim chance they would work, but a better bet would be moca adapters as there is probably only one cable demarc for both houses, right?

 

[buol]

i haven't heard of moca adapters. i'll read up on it. what is a cable demarc? (sorry for my ignorance on this stuff!)

 

[bill001g]

Maybe a simpler question is there coax tv cable in both locations and is it connected together.

 

[buol]

thanks for the replies. both houses have some coax but they are not connected as it looks like they both came off separate roof antennas to bring tv in....little white circular discs. that must've been done about 2001 when some renovations were done to this house and the guest was built. we're very rural, and we used Dish from the getgo. i think i'll inquire as suggested about dsl for the guest house and depending on what i find out maybe try the powerline adapter. i've read you can put a transmitter and receiver through line of sight, but i don't want to do that if possible. i'll report back.

 

[gggplaya]

30 yards is only 90 feet, I would just trench some direct burial ethernet cable to the guest house. It doesn't have to be super deep, just deep enough so no one runs it over with a lawn mower. Get a trench shovel and direct burial cat5e.

I have powerline running to my separate garage about 20 yards from the main house. It has a sub panel that runs to a 100amp breaker in the main house. Powerline works just fine but is limited to about 20-30mbps. Works well enough for when i'm working in the garage and need too look something up or for my security camera. I'm going to trench some cat 6 cable next spring and finish up the network properly. But powerline works just fine if the guest house panel runs to the main house panel.

The third option is to just use a wireless bridge mounted on the outside of both houses, probably the least labor intensive. 30 yards sounds like you'll have line of sight, you don't even need to mount these on the side of the house. You can drop a pole in some cement into a 5 gallon bucket and put them on the ground. As long as you can point them at each other, you'll get a good bridge: https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-LiteBeam-LBE-5AC-Gen2-US-airMAX-450Mbps-2PACK/dp/B0752Y57SB

 

[buol]

the guest doesn't run off the main house panel, so maybe the powerline idea wouldn't work and is slow to boot. i'd have to dig across driveway to the cable, but that is possible. and probably the best idea. but the 5 gallon bucket idea is probably also feasible. i'll take a look at the ubiquiti setup, and i have a phone guy coming next week to take a look. many thanks.

 

[SamirD]

i haven't heard of moca adapters. i'll read up on it. what is a cable demarc? (sorry for my ignorance on this stuff!)

The moca adapters are really great. The 'demarc' is the technical term for where all the cables initially come into your house/property. Usually all the other stuff like phone lines come in there too.

 

[SamirD]

i'll take a look at the ubiquiti setup, and i have a phone guy coming next week to take a look. many thanks.

Don't bother with the 'phone guy'. These morons usually can't even wire ethernet jacks properly moreless design proper networks. You'll get nothing but a bad and overpriced solution that probably won't even work.

Without power or coax cable you're really only left with the option of a wireless bridge. If you're lucky enough to have two facing windows you can probably even just have these facing each other--the ubiquiti locoM2 or locoM5 will work wonders in this application since they're designed for kilometers, and they're cheap too.

 

[buol]

thanks. the coax are definitely separate to each antenna. i found an old phone box on the side of the guest house. the phone company doesn't have a record of it, so it must have been either put in by the previous phone company that served this area in 2000 or by some local person. we have the current phone co's dsl in the main house which works fine, so if there is an old line there that can get dsl, might be easiest. otherwise i'll be trying the powerline to see as they are cheapest. next will be the bridge. may have windows that might work. we already have sub-freezing weather and snow on the ground, so lastly i'd put off digging till spring and run some cable. would either 5e or 6 be ok for this, picked on price alone? thanks.

 

[gggplaya]

Cat5e will be fine, make sure you get UV rated direct burial cable in case you have some exposed sections of cable where it leaves and enters the house.

You can try powerline, but buy it from amazon prime or some place it's easy to make returns if it doesn't work.

 

[buol]

good idea, thank you! i'll report back.
buol