Homeplugs up the submain

[Pete Verdon]

Mike Barnes's post in the hard drive thread above gave me an idea. When I originally built my shed and installed power, one of my mates asked how I was rigging up the network. I thought he was taking the piss (he's the kind of person who has a robotic hoover and a programmable hob) but as he pointed out, for some kinds of work it's useful to be able to hit Google when you're unsure. I do everything in there from carpentry to electronics, and some areas I know less about than others.

If I'd been thinking of this when running the SWA I might have put in cat5 alongside it, but I can't really be arsed to repeat the job. Wireless doesn't work from inside my tin shed.

So, getting eventually to my question. How far "upstream" do Homeplug-type systems work? The connection to my shed comes off a henley block between the meter and the CU. Is this likely to work, or are the Homeplug frequencies blocked by RCDs and the like?

Cheers,

Pete

[Mike Barnes]

It's me again. :-)

I'm not sure what a Henley block is but I can tell you what I have here, which I regard as a pretty difficult environment. One Homeplug goes into a 13A wall socket near the router, via one of those cube-shaped three- way adapters. From there the signal goes along about 8 metres of ring main to the CU, which is fitted with MCBs. From there (via a different MCB as you'd expect) it's about another 7 metres of T+E to the back of the house. Then it's SWA for about 15 metres underground to the garage door, then about 5 metres more T+E within the garage to another CU, with RCD this time. From there 5 metres more T+E to a 13A socket into which is plugged a 2-metre four-way extension lead, into which is plugged the disk drive and the other Homeplug (phew!).

The Homeplugs are "dLan 200"s, and they give an apparently reliable connection, with a reported transfer rate of 58 Mbps, though I suspect that actual throughput is rather less than that. Still, not bad. Nicely secure and a doddle to set up.

[RobertL]

How far is the shed from your wireless router? Suppose you put an aerial (perhaps a little Yagi array) on the outside connected directly to a little stub aerial inside? Would that be expected to work? Robert

[Pete Verdon]

Dunno - but I've ordered the plugs now, so a moot point :-)

Pete