I have a successful pairing of PL1200 Powerline extenders. This is providing network connection between the house and the barn (where oddly there are some electronics). I bought a PL1000 pair thinking that they would be compatible and not remembering at the time that I have PL1200s. Now I cannot add the PL1000 to the others successfully.
Before someone reads me the procedure. I have read and done all of it. I finally after and hour and a half of trying combinations got it to work. Then today we lost power and I am back to square one with the PL1200s communicating and the PL1000 SOL.
So I am again trying and trying with no luck to get the PL1000 to show up on the network happily running with the PL1200.
Someone needs to slap the designers upside their heads. The factory reset hole is on the bottom. You have to stick something in there while the unit is powered. Well, generally that means it is pointing to the floor and not easily done. Put that on top next time won't you? Same with the security button. Or maybe on the side or front that if you are going to argue that my outlets are upside down.
So at the moment I don't have much good to say about this product. If you buy a pair they appear to work. Who knows what happens when you want to expand.
It could be a distance/single issue. Powerline devices aren't long range devices and crossing circuits attenuates the signal quite a bit.
The one might just be close enough to reach.
You can try setting them up all on the same circuit to see if they connect. If they do, its not a device issue but more likely a distance/interference issue.
I have a successful pairing of PL1200 Powerline extenders. This is providing network connection between the house and the barn (where oddly there are some electronics). I bought a PL1000 pair thinking that they would be compatible and not remembering at the time that I have PL1200s. Now I cannot add the PL1000 to the others successfully.
When I tried that – a shed office rather than a barn – I found that the plugs could negotiate a connection, but it was poor.
That is probably because, although they are on the same mains out, there are two fuse boxes between the plugs.
As @plemans says, the mains circuit is they key to the connection. Too much switching and the like between the plugs and the powerline signal gets lost.
The difference between the plugs won't make any difference. I have used different models, brands even, and they work just fine together.
The first pair (PL1200) out of the box barn to house worked perfectly. I get all green LEDs as well. Bandwidth appears good. The device out in the barn serves configuration web pages which all reliably and quickly display. I would say that I was completely satisfied with the performance. We are installing a 36KW solar array. The grid connection is at the barn and that is my access point to query the inverters (MODBUS). And so the need for the network out there. It works. Solar is not up and running yet though. Installation is ongoing.
I had wanted to drop a third node in the garage. So I bought the PL1000 pair. Now if I put a PL1000 on the router right next to the original PL1200 and the other PL1000 out in the garage all of the devices come up on the network successfully with all green LEDs. I just cannot get a single PL1000 to join the same network with the PL1200 pair. That I thought is supposed to be possible. I can run two separate network pairings successfully.
The procedure for pairing a third is perhaps too simple. I understand that with the first network operating and the single PL1000 plugged in and ready for use I press the Security button on one of the PL1200s (hold 2 secs) and then the Security button on the PL1000 (hold 2 secs). LED flashes on both but the PL1000 never joins in. I did this with the PL1000 in the same room with the router and PL1200 device.
Then I thought well when you press the Security button the existing pair starts using a new security key. Perhaps time is needed to generate the key and then to renegotiate within the existing pair before the new member can get involved. So I pressed the Security button on the PL1200 and waited over a minute before pressing the Security button on the PL1000. This worked! All 3 devices showed up on the network. So I thought maybe Netgear should outline the procedure that happens behinds the scenes so we would know to be THAT patient.
I unplugged the PL1000 and moved it to the garage and everything (all 3 nodes) performed perfectly. Not forever though.
Remember that we are installing solar. Well the electrician team brought power to the property down to wire things (you know 400A stuff) for about 3 hours. When we came back up I was again stuck with the single functional PL1200 pairing. The PL1000 left the building.
I played the game again being patient and have not been successful in getting the 3 nodes to link. Resetting to factory is a pain as inserting something in the hole while the thing is in the outlet requires acrobatic moves that I normally do not practice. Worse the PL1200 in the barn is buried in a NEMA enclosure which has to be disassembled to access the factory reset or even the Security button.
I've probably tried every combination and walked between all of the node dozens of times. There is something seriously lacking in this product design when it comes to pairing.
I would go get a set of PL1200 if the model difference is the issue. But I am not a Netgear product collector. Nowhere has there been a suggestion that the PL1000 doesn't play with the PL1200.
So am I doing something wrong? Or is this just another part of the general attrition of technology that we have been experiencing over the past two or so decades?
I'd be more betting on the solar setup injecting some type of interference. Powerline is sensitive to interference and if they paired before but not after they setup the current setup, i'd be suspicious of that. I know I have a pretty small solar setup (with a basic/cheap controller/inverter for a pool) and it'll cause interference on a powerline setup. Whenever I test out my powerline adapters, it can't be hooked into the general power system or its connection drops. It could be just that mine is a cheap little 600w setup but its something to be aware of. Especially if you're crossing circuits or the solar inverter/controller.
I would go get a set of PL1200 if the model difference is the issue. But I am not a Netgear product collector. Nowhere has there been a suggestion that the PL1000 doesn't play with the PL1200.
Not exactly a collector, but I have used different models and different brands on the same network. I have even added older generation AV500, plugs to the newer ones. No issue, although that does limit speeds to 500.
