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Forum Discussion
powerline to detached garage
I have a detached garage about 75' from my house and I'm trying to find out if a powerline network would be a good solution to expand my dsl connection since my wifi signal from my router doesnt quite...
Having a large number of breakers is not necessarily an issue - in fact - assuming the breakers to be in good working condition, it's not an issue at all.
There are a lot of misconceptions about powerline networking and the number of breakers and or circuits is just one of them. There is no requirement or maximum number of breakers that you can have between powerline devices, and there is no requirement for them to be on the same circuit.
In a traditional power distribution system, where there are multiple homes being fed from a single transformer, powerline devices will work between those homes, so you're talking main breakers, sub main breakers and then the individual circuit breakers in each home. You can have devices separated by half a dozen breakers and several hundred feet of wire and they will still communicate with one another - in fact - this is so common that powerline devices have to be built with encryption so that users can prevent their neighbours from getting on their network.
The biggest problem with powerline networking, the one that makes it so unpredictable (and yes, unreliable), is it's susceptability to interference - and that's where you luck out by having a dedicated transformer.
Think about it from this angle - your powerline device is essentially a radio transciever which uses the powerline instead of an antenna - all electrical appliances connected to that powerline generate some level of EMI/RFI (electromagnetic interference/radio frequency interference) which is being "wired" directly to your radio transciever - it doesn't take much interference to completely obliterate the desired signal.
There are a lot of misconceptions about powerline networking and the number of breakers and or circuits is just one of them. There is no requirement or maximum number of breakers that you can have between powerline devices, and there is no requirement for them to be on the same circuit.
In a traditional power distribution system, where there are multiple homes being fed from a single transformer, powerline devices will work between those homes, so you're talking main breakers, sub main breakers and then the individual circuit breakers in each home. You can have devices separated by half a dozen breakers and several hundred feet of wire and they will still communicate with one another - in fact - this is so common that powerline devices have to be built with encryption so that users can prevent their neighbours from getting on their network.
The biggest problem with powerline networking, the one that makes it so unpredictable (and yes, unreliable), is it's susceptability to interference - and that's where you luck out by having a dedicated transformer.
Think about it from this angle - your powerline device is essentially a radio transciever which uses the powerline instead of an antenna - all electrical appliances connected to that powerline generate some level of EMI/RFI (electromagnetic interference/radio frequency interference) which is being "wired" directly to your radio transciever - it doesn't take much interference to completely obliterate the desired signal.