[SOLVED] Problems with Powerline adapters --- is this a mains issue ?

[AlienPsyTing]

Hi there everyone HNY2021 to you all.


I rarely post in this forum, more of a reader digging around for the occasional troubleshooting assistance. but I thought I would run this minor problem by you all. I am a techie for a living, so I see domestic and business customers across most of the London postcodes in the UK,

So today I had a client where I had quite a simple task to perform and that was to move a Netgear router on to a new BT master socket that had just been installed and then connect some power lines to give a bit of a WIFI boost around the house and have some network points that people could plug into.....

With that in mind I set about doing the work

I moved the Netgear router on to the new downstairs British Telecom master socket and it connected ok.
Then I put in the first of the power lines (TP-Link PA-4010) waited for the lights to settle, then put in second and paired them. Plugged the first Powerline into the router and then took the second Powerline upstairs.

I thought it would work straight away but then started to get some quite strange problems on one occasion I had all the middle LED on showing that there was a home network to which all of power lines were connected, but after about 10 to 18 seconds on any of the power lines that I plugged in to any of the sockets the middle (home network) light would extinguish.

Reluctantly I decided to call all TP-Link and run it by then who said to me that it might be something on the mains circuit that was interfering with the functioning of the powerlines.

The only places where are these powerlines function properly and show up the home network circuit light is when they are in a dual socket next to each other when I first configured them.

The power lines in use pa-4010 made by TP-Link there were three in all which I took back to my apartment and plugged and paired each one in turn and all of them showed up a consistent connection to a home network by displaying the middle LED as on so I was wondering if anybody had come across this problem before?

It's quite a modern house I suspect the wiring is ok although being quite a large house there are quite a few appliances on the mains. I suspect, depending on the answers hopefully forthcoming, that the first line in troubleshooting this is to switch off the high load apps like cookers, kettles, fridges tumble dryers etc

Any help, experiences, ideas, suggestions, will be humbly received and considered.

Thanks in advance for any of the above.

 

[Ralston18]

Does the following link provide the applicable User Guide?

https://static.tp-link.com/res/down/doc/TL-PA4010_KIT(UK)_V1.2_UG.pdf

Two immediate concerns:

1 ) Unfortunately this little "note" appears near the bottom of physically number Page 5:

"All powerline adapters and extenders should be on the same electrical circuit. "

I truly do not know how much leeway exists with the powerline adapters being able to reliably work (if at all) across different electrical circuits.

In your apartment were you able to successfully connect across different circuits?

2) Another concern is pairing: You mention three adapters. I am not sure that I understand the overall pairing that you are attempting to accomplish.

Reason - Paragraph 3.1, Page 8:

"You can connect a number of devices on a powerline network, but you can only use the Pair button on two devices at a time. "

First there are "Set-up" instructions.

Second those instructions are followed by a set of instructions to join adapter C to already paired adapters A and B.

Specifically "Within 2 minutes, press and hold the Pair button on powerline adapter A/B for one second. "

Were those set-up and join processes successful within your apartment?

============

Are you able to determine what electrical circuits are being used by each powerline adapter? Both downstairs and upstairs?

Were you able to try "Install and open the tpPLC Utility. " per Answer 3.B. on physically numbered Page 9?

First try the utility in an environment where the powerline adapters are known to work: your apartment.

Doing so will provide both experience with the utility itself plus an understanding of what is reported or otherwise shown in a functioning/working powerline adapter environment.

Take that knowledge and information back to the house environment, install the powerline adapters again, and likewise run the utility there.

Be methodical: test first side by side in dual sockets, then different sockets on the same circuit, and lastly different circuits.

Hopefully, there should be some sort of wiring plan/schematic posted or otherwise available by the main breaker panel.

The schematic should help you map out where the powerline adapters work or do not work.

If no schematic, you will need to work out the house breaker/circuit/outlet diagrams.

Just some thoughts and ideas.....

 

[SamirD]

Those units are the older av500 standard and won't be as universal in working as the newer powerline units. As you know, powerline does depend on the house wiring and sometimes the wiring just isn't great, even when new because of copper clad aluminum wiring versus pure copper as well as a host of other factors. I would simply try the newer tech units as I have both older and newer and the newer ones were not only more compatible, but were also 4x faster.

 

[AlienPsyTing]

Those units are the older av500 standard and won't be as universal in working as the newer powerline units. As you know, powerline does depend on the house wiring and sometimes the wiring just isn't great, even when new because of copper clad aluminum wiring versus pure copper as well as a host of other factors. I would simply try the newer tech units as I have both older and newer and the newer ones were not only more compatible, but were also 4x faster.

Fair answer, I may give it a go, it'll be the fastest way of fixing the problem

 

[AlienPsyTing]

Does the following link provide the applicable User Guide?

https://static.tp-link.com/res/down/doc/TL-PA4010_KIT(UK)_V1.2_UG.pdf

Two immediate concerns:

1 ) Unfortunately this little "note" appears near the bottom of physically number Page 5:

"All powerline adapters and extenders should be on the same electrical circuit. "

I truly do not know how much leeway exists with the powerline adapters being able to reliably work (if at all) across different electrical circuits.

In your apartment were you able to successfully connect across different circuits?

2) Another concern is pairing: You mention three adapters. I am not sure that I understand the overall pairing that you are attempting to accomplish.

Reason - Paragraph 3.1, Page 8:

"You can connect a number of devices on a powerline network, but you can only use the Pair button on two devices at a time. "

First there are "Set-up" instructions.

Second those instructions are followed by a set of instructions to join adapter C to already paired adapters A and B.

Specifically "Within 2 minutes, press and hold the Pair button on powerline adapter A/B for one second. "

Were those set-up and join processes successful within your apartment?

============

Are you able to determine what electrical circuits are being used by each powerline adapter? Both downstairs and upstairs?

Were you able to try "Install and open the tpPLC Utility. " per Answer 3.B. on physically numbered Page 9?

First try the utility in an environment where the powerline adapters are known to work: your apartment.

Doing so will provide both experience with the utility itself plus an understanding of what is reported or otherwise shown in a functioning/working powerline adapter environment.

Take that knowledge and information back to the house environment, install the powerline adapters again, and likewise run the utility there.

Be methodical: test first side by side in dual sockets, then different sockets on the same circuit, and lastly different circuits.

Hopefully, there should be some sort of wiring plan/schematic posted or otherwise available by the main breaker panel.

The schematic should help you map out where the powerline adapters work or do not work.

If no schematic, you will need to work out the house breaker/circuit/outlet diagrams.

Just some thoughts and ideas.....

thank you for your reply and in answer to your points

They work fine in my apartment
They won't work across different circuits but I'm connecting them to the same circuit so that doesn't matter.
When it says only two can be paired it just means you can only pair two at a time but they do pair you just have to pair a to b then a to c etc.

 

[Ralston18]

Give newer units a try per @SamirD.

Certainly worth the effort to get connected across circuits and be faster.

Happier client also.....