[mythtv-users] Power Line Network Connections

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Mon Sep 27 13:01:01 UTC 2010


On Sunday, September 26, 2010 08:53:22 pm John Nourse wrote:
> Having used and developed systems with X10 power line systems, here is a
> little input. In North America house power is divided in two, signals on
> the same half (phase) generally work well but suffer from poor connections
> at plugs and switches.  When crossing phases without any cross over
> hardware the signal must travel to the nearest outside transformer and may
> even be interfered with by a neighbor with similar equipment.  Cross over
> capacitors as advised must be carefully installed to be effective (they
> are often disguised in a black box type of connection).  The biggest issue
> is however brown outs and power surges. Most homes have no protection
> (whole home isolation) from the outside world, this would involve a
> transformer for each house. This means that most equipment is vulnerable
> to power surges. Placing an inline surge protector will interfere with any
> signals on the power line.  X10 switches (the lower cost non-commercial
> type) seem to die after a few years.
> 
> So yes you can make this type of connection work, but you are taking a
> chance with your equipment. Possibly some of the more expensive equipment
> may have built in protection. If you have a forced Air ducting system you
> can buy cat 6 cable that is designed to run in duct work and can be safely
> installed in the return air duct work in your home. This is an effective
> route for retrofitting Ethernet cable since the power on the cable is low
> wattage and there is always a route from lower to upper floors, Attics and
> Basements are often accessible from the return air duct work.

I totally agree that a copper path is the best solution. I have run cables into a lot of "inaccessible" locations, and I'm 
familiar with plenum-rated cables. I have a Diversa-Bit set, and I think I can run a cable just about anywhere.

What I am NOT familiar with is what to do when confronted with a totally illogical "no more wires" attitude from members 
of the opposite sex (no offense to the well-informed ladies on this list). Please note than a lot of men are just as 
capable of silly attitudes, but of course none of them are on this list.

I don't expect anyone here to have an answer to this age-old problem. I'm sure Paleolithic Man had similar problems with 
"No More Rocks" edicts about the home cave.



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