Extending wi-fi range

Lestratcaster

We had a new RCA fuse box unit fitted and everything is powered off that. So it'd be ok then?

vasselmeyer

That should be fine. Really, it's just plug and go. There are a couple of extra steps if you want they units to encrypt the traffic between the powerline boxes, but that takes a few seconds each box.

Lestratcaster

I bloody well hope so, it cost about £130! From what I see from YT vids all I literally do is plug one into my broadband router with an ethernet cable, then the other in the garage, press a button on both so they sync up and we should have wi-fi access in there within a few minutes.

Lestratcaster

Right, got the Devolo yesterday and went to set up. It connects and there’s WiFi in the garage however the home button on the adaptor connected to the router is flashing red and the other one in the garage also flashes red. Signal is 1-2 bars but Spotify and YouTube ok. Why is the home button flashing red?

Snags

Sounds like the two units may not actually be talking

Check page 15 of the manual

Personally I've only ever used them to extend ethernet, and then put a dedicated AP on the other end. I have profound trust issues with all "push the button and we sort the wifi" devices. Better to have two independent SSIDs that connect you back to the same router (or use explicit mesh-style devices, but those are OTT for most home operations).

Does the wireless end also have an ethernet port on it? If it does, the easy test for communication is to physically plug something in and see if it gets an IP address.

Lestratcaster

Doh! Both adapters were the wrong way round haha.

The larger one with the 2 buttons is meant to go in the garage and the smaller one connects to the router.

The only other concern is the one in the garage gets quite warm. Is it possible for these things to overheat?

TheMarlin

I just went for BT Whole Home. Works a treat. 

Lestratcaster

Forgot to add now the adapters are the right way round it all works perfectly, full signal strength and no blinking red lights!

Snags

Yeah, the new clever ones have a "transmitter" module that has to be at the router end. The older ones were just universal.

They do tend to run warm,  but I've never had that cause a problem. If it's actively hot - as in uncomfortable to touch - I'd be raising that with the supplier/manufacturer.

Lestratcaster

Snags said:

Yeah, the new clever ones have a "transmitter" module that has to be at the router end. The older ones were just universal.

They do tend to run warm,  but I've never had that cause a problem. If it's actively hot - as in uncomfortable to touch - I'd be raising that with the supplier/manufacturer.

I think in the midst of stressing to get it working I didn't pay attention to the instruction manual haha. But it seems to be all fine now no flashing lights. Checked again this morning and its warm but not baking hot I had to pull my hand away. Just concerned its a fire hazard, but I've never seen any cases of it catching fire, plus alot of overheating issues are linked with it being plugged into a power strip? This one is plug into its own wall socket near the door so its cooler.

Snags

Never plug them into a power strip. Not particularly because of heat, but because a lot of power strips are either shit, or the posh ones include surge suppression etc. and that can mess with the frequencies powerline needs to operate.

They do run warmer, warmer than I'd like, but not fire risk warm. Just keep an occasional eye on it.

Lestratcaster

Yeah I purposely asked for many power sockets in there cos I expect to be using alot of devices, there's 12 double sockets so more than enough.

If I was to put a PC or laptop in there and they weren't Wi-fi enable and wanted to run off ethernet, there's 2 USB ports in the adaptor so is it just a simple case of running a cable out of those?

Snags

Check the manual, but if they are USB ports I would expect not - they're probably just charging sockets. What you're looking for are RJ45 sockets (ethernet ports) that will take a patch lead. Kinda of like an old fax connector, but bigger. Or indeed, the same kind of socket that the transmitter uses to connect to the router.

If you have RJ45 sockets on there then you could plug a device direct into that, or if you need more sockets you could plug a switch in, and then other devices into the switch (be aware that you're then going to have contention on the run back to the router, as both the wifi and any ethernet devices will be running over the same link, so performance may drop if you load it up).

Lestratcaster

Sorry not USB ports, I don’t know why I said that, I meant Ethernet ports. I don’t anticipate having any ethernet connected devices any time soon but the option is nice have later on if I choose to get a laptop or something. 

Lestratcaster

Ok so for some reason the adaptor connected to the router keeps blinking with a red light again, in regular 3 second intervals, it was all fine up until now. I even unplugged and reset everything, and it seemed to sort itself out for a few hours, now its repeatedly flashing red again. 

Why is this happening? And why now? Apparently according to the manual there is a connection, just not optimal? Obviously its late and dark so I can't go and check in the garage this moment, when I checked this morning however (as it was blinking again last night) the home button in there was also flashing red.

Lestratcaster

Right, I think I know why the red light is flashing. The router adaptor is plugged into a twin socket, which the other socket has the power adaptor for the Superhub/Router plugged into it. Devolo said nothing should be plugged in next to this, as it can affect its performance. The power strip is plugged into the Devolo adaptor, so that's ok.

I tried moving the power adaptor for the Superhub to the powerstrip but it degrades it performance, and the Wi-Fi went crazy. Both need to have their own outlets, however the other twin socket is 15ft away on the other side of the room and I only have two of these (4 sockets in the entire room).

So I see 2 possible options:

1 - buy a longer ethernet/LAN cable so I can shift the Devolo router adaptor to an isolated socket away from the router power socket.

2 - buy a longer power adaptor for the Superhub, which I can't seem to find, and power that off the opposite side of the room.

Would a longer (15ft) cable degrade the performance of my Powerline?

Snags

15' patch lead will be fine. In a proper structured cabling environment you're 'allowed' up to 10m of patch. Normally described as 5m-90m-5m (90 metre solid core with up to 5m patch at each end) before it's out of spec/performance may drop off.

Just get a half decent quality 5m patch and you'll be fine. Push comes to shove you'll get away with longer.  Trade you're looking at under a fiver but from the high street probably nearer £20 last time I looked - it's the only thing in IT that attracts more than about 2% margin.

Lestratcaster

Well funnily enough when I was resetting my superhub router due to wi-fi issues plus pushing the 4 way powerstrip plug firmly into the socket the blinking seems to have stopped (hasn't flashed for over 12 hours). Strange?

So I might wait it out for a few days to see if it flashes again. When I first installed it almost a month ago it never did this.

But if I am to go down the longer ethernet cable option would something like this be good?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MKDGO-Ethernet-Shielded-Internet-Computer-Black/dp/B07B47PRZ3/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=ethernet+cable+15ft&qid=1555503082&s=gateway&sr=8-4 
Only a fiver but am I better off paying a bit more for this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-11270-Ethernet-Networking-Gigabit/dp/B00QV1F142/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=ethernet%2Bcable%2B15ft&qid=1555503173&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&th=1

Snags

Don't know the brand, and you shouldn't actually need shielded cable unless you're going to run it past/alongside a lot of other leads, electrickery and the like (technically data should cross mains at right angles, blah blah blah).

I tend to buy in bulk from distributors. For one-off items Startech seem to make pretty reasonable quality stuff. If I still had the jacks I'd make you one up and post it - there's a reel of patch sitting in the office rotting because it's not worth the aggro of crimping them anymore

Lestratcaster

Ok, a bit cheaper on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-Cat5e-Ethernet-Cable-Network-Blue/dp/B000067SMM/ref=sr_1_9?crid=334X3P2L4LU9M&keywords=startech%2Bethernet%2Bcable&qid=1555503933&s=gateway&sprefix=startech%2Bether%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-9&th=1

Ah no worries, like I say if I get past the Easter weekend with no more flashing lights I might be alright, seems strange how its stopped after a few resets unrelated to the adaptor.