Ray T

Do the above work ok if plugged into a "extension block" with other appliances? or do they need to plug direct into a wall socket? also are they mains pass through to plug another thing in.

farmerwrx

they work ok in an extension block.the one just off my router is plugged into an extension block and the other works in every socket in the house

Iain Young

They may work, but you will see a drastic reduction in network speed if you plug them into an extension block. Tried mine directly in the wall, and via a block, and they run about 4-5 times slower in the block.

ChrisB

We've bought & sold some Solwise "Piggy" pass-through Home Plugs:

Home Plug AV Push Button / SecureSync Mains Passthrough Piggy

Not tested them myself but they've not come back to us yet...

farmerwrx

how do you go about testing them for speed ?

Ray T

Cheers, those piggyback ones look like a good solution.

Coffin Dodger

Should be fine in a block just so long as it isn't a "surge protected" (sic) one or similar.

Iain Young

By plugging my laptop in one end, the desktop pc on the other, transferring a large file between them, and timing it. You can monitor bandwidth with certain freely available utils as well.

MrShades

Yup - agree 100% with Iain on this.... I've got some 200Mbps AV ones - which synced at about 20Mb when both on extension blocks, about 50Mb when just one was on an extension block and a full 135Mb when both were directly plugged into wall sockets.

They really need to be directly in the wall... as Iain says, they'll work on extension blocks but at a significantly lower speed.

Shades

IanW

You still not tested them

ChrisB

Not yet. We've only got one left of the first batch we bought, so it's a bit hard to test...

Geezer

I have the Solwise piggy back AV (200mbps). The one in the lounge runs at 190mbps, but the one in the dining room struggles to get to 100!

Crap wiring, same happens when I swap them.

You get a utility with them that you install on your PC that tells you what speed they ar running at.

Interestingly, when we had our conservatory built, they took the feed for the power from the outside light (which has gone but would have been inside the conservatory). WHe I plug the Homeplug into a socket in the conservatory, it cannot see the others. Anyone know why this would be?

Geezer

Iain Young

If the power line to the outside light goes through a different fuse, (or adiitional level of rcd protection), then that will likely block the signal.

farmerwrx

just tested it by transferring a large file,my god what a differance it's loads faster!!!

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

Would you notice a difference in Internet speeds whether they're in an extension block or not? I'm ashamed to admit my pc and xbox homeplugs are plugged into a surge protected extension block (the one to the router is direct to a socket).
I'm sure I tried the pc direct to socket before but didn't notice any difference online?

Iain Young

Depends what you are doing. If just web browsing then probably not. If you watch streaming video, or download files etc, then you probably will.

bluefirs

I purchased a twin Homeplug set to connect my computer in my shed to the internet via the router attached to the house computer.

The homeplugs work well on the same ring main and on a spur from the same ring main but will not pass through the RCDs on the Consumer unit. The Power Supply to the shed runs from the House Consumer unit the units cannot detect each other.

I do not want to bypass the RCD's.

Any ideas?