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Forum Discussion

Jasek's avatar
Jasek
Aspirant
Nov 20, 2017

cant get the powerline adapter to work in my out building

Heres the deal, I have an out building that is approximately 100 feet away from the house. I set up the inside unit to the router, and set up the other unit in my out building, It shows that there ...
Installation
clithes's avatar
clithes
Prodigy
Nov 20, 2017

Even though it's the same power supply, do you have a mini consumer unit / isolator in the outbuilding ?  This could be causing the problem

  • Jasek's avatar
    Jasek
    Aspirant
    Nov 20, 2017

    I am not sure what you mean by the mini unit?

    • clithes's avatar
      clithes
      Prodigy
      Nov 20, 2017

      Can you isolate the electricity in the outbuilding as it has it's on circuit breakers?

      • Jasek's avatar
        Jasek
        Aspirant
        Nov 20, 2017

        The Main triplex comes in from the road, goes to the entrance on the house, which then goes to an outside breaker panel, this then splits it to the house and the garage, all of which go overhead.

         

  • Jasek's avatar
    Jasek
    Aspirant
    Nov 20, 2017

    OK, I just looked it up, The circuit panel in the out building is just a plain ole circuit breaker panel with a 70 amp main breaker and 20 amp sub breakers.

    • clithes's avatar
      clithes
      Prodigy
      Nov 20, 2017
      Ok, in your home your circuit breakers are all connected to the main switch, which is why powerline adapters can communicate across different circuits/phases.  As you have another main switch in the outbuilding, with its own circuits/phases I think this is where the problem lies.  By running extension leads you managed to keep all your units connected to circuits/phases of your main home, so this is why it worked.
       
      Not sure there's a solution, certainly not for powerline.  Have you considered a wi-fi booster / repeater?
      • michaelkenward's avatar
        michaelkenward
        Guru - Experienced User
        Nov 21, 2017
        clithes wrote:
        Ok, in your home your circuit breakers are all connected to the main switch, which is why powerline adapters can communicate across different circuits/phases.  As you have another main switch in the outbuilding, with its own circuits/phases I think this is where the problem lies.

        That pretty well sums it up, but it can be more complicated than that.

         

        I also have a separate building with its own fuse box that feeds off the same incoming mains feed. But I can use Powerline plugs that sit on two different fuse boxes. However, the signal is not as good as it is with two plugs on the same box.

         

        In other words, there don't seem to be any hard and fast rules for these things.