Powerline Adapters disrupted by 1 kitchen appliance

nanite2000

Distinguished
Nov 8, 2011
8
0
18,520
Hi,

I have a pair of D-Link DHP-P621AV powerline adapters (http://support.dlink.ca/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DHP-P621AV) that connect a cable modem router downstairs directly to my desktop computer upstairs via ethernet.

Most of the time, the connection is fine: ping response times average around 20-25ms, and occasionally (i.e. 1 out of a 100 pings) stutter up to 300ms. Acceptable performance for a powerline adapter.

The problem is that every time I run my dishwasher (and only the dishwasher), the powerline adapter experiences frequent dropouts. I get 50% packet loss from pings and the successful pings are anywhere between 500ms and 3000ms, until the dishwasher finishes it's cycle.

Does anyone know why this might be happening, and what the easiest solution would be? All other appliances run fine, so it's something specific to the dishwasher - either the power outlet, or the appliance itself.

I know people say not to use surge protectors on Powerline Adapters, but could putting a surge protector on the dishwasher help alleviate this issue?

Any suggestions would be greatly received.

Thanks!
 
Solution
it turns out the D-Link DHP-P621AV powerline adapters were at fault.

After failing to isolate the cause the issue in my house, I bought a pair of TP-LinkAC1200 TL-WPA8630 adapters, and they've worked perfectly for 4 days. Not a single dropout.

Either the D-Link adapters are overly sensitive, or they were faulty. Whatever the reason, the new adapters work fine, so I'm going to return the D-Link adapters and get a refund.

Thank you for all your help everyone!

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
Agreed, don't use any surge protection on the dishwasher. But you may be able to attenuate the noise that it causes using a short extension cord for the dishwasher.

I've had success with using a 4-6 foot extension cord on several large electric motors that were causing noise issues with PL adapters. However you need to use a large gauge, at 6 feet 14 gauge should be fine and they run about $7 on Amazon.

No guarantee, but I've had success on 3 out of 4 such problems.
 

nanite2000

Distinguished
Nov 8, 2011
8
0
18,520


Unfortunately, I've tried all practical alternative outlets, and they all exhibit the same behaviour. :/
 

nanite2000

Distinguished
Nov 8, 2011
8
0
18,520


It's worth a try. Does the appliance need to be moved physically further away from the power socket too? Or is the simple addition of an extension cord sufficient?

Will longer extension leads provide greater attenuation?
 
I had a very similar issue with powerline units. A single ceiling fan when it ran on medium in a room not even close to the powelines would kill them. Eventually replaced it with a identical model and the problem was gone. There sometime is no practical way to avoid it. You are already using the newer powerline units which were not available when I had my issues.

I have a shop vac that will kill powerline units any place in the house also.

Maybe set the dishwasher to run in the middle of the night if it has that option.
 

nanite2000

Distinguished
Nov 8, 2011
8
0
18,520


I tried the extension cable, but it didn't help.

Upon further testing, it appears the dishwasher may not be the culprit after all. We usually run it every evening around the same time, but we didn't need to run it last night and the problem still occurred.

The problem seems to occur around a certain time of day (evenings), and I'm trying to isolate what it could be. We have switched off every electrical item in the house apart from the computer, cable modem and powerline adapters - and the problem was still there!

This is so bizarre.

We're in a semi-detached house. Is it possible our next door neighbours could be using an appliance that would affect us? My gut instinct says no, since their electrical wiring is completely isolated from ours, but I'm willing to consider any possibility now...
 


From what I have read, a breaker box does not stop the signal or interference. I have heard of people being able to connect to their neighbors power line adapters.

I was surprised when you said the dishwasher ... the most common culprits seem to be devices that convert AC to DC, dimmable LEDs being high on the list.
 

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
It is uncommon to be able to get a usable signal across multiple breaker boxes and old fused boxes are even worse, I've tried dozens of times on different homes and only got a mediocre signal one time with an AV2 MIMO adapter pair.

There are MANY things that can cause line noise and interfere with PL adapters, although the newer adapters do much better. Devices with large motors are among those devices and the OP initially thought that the timing coincided with his dishwasher.

Do more actual work with the devices and you will find that much of what you read is only sometimes close to correct and that many things can cause issues. Two homes will have different issues often even if they are nearly identical (same model/same subdivision/same appliances) -- and one would think that they should have the same solution. They quite often do not, or one will have issues and the other gets great speeds without any problems.

 

nanite2000

Distinguished
Nov 8, 2011
8
0
18,520
it turns out the D-Link DHP-P621AV powerline adapters were at fault.

After failing to isolate the cause the issue in my house, I bought a pair of TP-LinkAC1200 TL-WPA8630 adapters, and they've worked perfectly for 4 days. Not a single dropout.

Either the D-Link adapters are overly sensitive, or they were faulty. Whatever the reason, the new adapters work fine, so I'm going to return the D-Link adapters and get a refund.

Thank you for all your help everyone!
 
Solution