I can access the internet via powerline from separate metered supply!

[bernardgreen]

There are no step down in every house.

In many areas outside the big cities supply is from pole mounted transformers like these

In some areas it is one house per transformer

The supplies come on as 3 wire 120 0 120.

In most cases that is true but many houses still have only a 2 wire supply

 

[FrodoOne]

That sounds useful!

Does that mean they have the option of both 120V and 240V supplies, according to wiring?

And some appliances which require 240 V (say, for heating elements) ALSO require 120 V for the control equipment.
Such devices require 4 pin plugs and sockets.
(See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector#/media/File:NEMA_simplified_pins.svg for the "lovely" range of sockets available/used in North America.)

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Not technically speaking. If the two electrical installations are on the same phase then, although there are no guarantees that it will work, it's perfectly possible that the signal will 'cross' in the manner you describe. It might even 'cross' to other houses further down the street.

There's a lot to be said against (be 'concerned' about) Powerline-like technology, and maybe this is one of them. Whether you should be 'concerned' about this is is for you to decide.

Most (all) are protected by a password key/pairing, so no more concern that than the risk of using using wifi.

 

[JBR]

And some appliances which require 240 V (say, for heating elements) ALSO require 120 V for the control equipment.
Such devices require 4 pin plugs and sockets.
(See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector#/media/File:NEMA_simplified_pins.svg for the "lovely" range of sockets available/used in North America.)

With all those very different sockets and plugs it must be inconvenient, to say the least, to have to fit the appropriate plug to appliances, etc, to suit the sockets in your home!

It was probably less inconvenient when we had a choice of 5A and 15A sockets.

 

[winston1]

OP, you should get rid of this power line stuff. Apa

With all those very different sockets and plugs it must be inconvenient, to say the least, to have to fit the appropriate plug to appliances, etc, to suit the sockets in your home!

It was probably less inconvenient when we had a choice of 5A and 15A sockets.

Thete is only one type of general use socket used in homes for 120v appliances and every appliance comes with a moulded plug.

 

[JBR]

OP, you should get rid of this power line stuff. Apa


Thete is only one type of general use socket used in homes for 120v appliances and every appliance comes with a moulded plug.

But what if you buy an appliance that requires 240V or a higher amperage?

I assume that you'd have to have a specific socket installed, along with the appropriate wiring.

 

[ericmark]

I worked for a time in Algeria, in the main in accommodation camps used for workers on the pipe line being laid, but had to some times work with local supplies, the problem was although the supply was 110 volt as single phase, using three phase or split phase changes the voltage so with split phase it was 220 volt across the two supplies, but with three phase it was 190 volt phase to phase.

So stuff from Holland (I was working for a Dutch company) was 220 volt so with split phase worked OK, but with three phase an air conditioning unit does not like working with only 190 volt.

As to powerline units they should be banned, they cause so much interference, however UK rules are strange, with the exception of fire arms and the like, we can buy and sell what we like, even if it is illegal to use it. In Hong Kong to buy a radio transmitter I had to show my licence, that is not the case in the UK.

There are plug in units which turn wifi into hard wired or hard wired into wifi so there is no need to use powerline units. And as things progress likely we will find filters designed to stop damage by transients will stop the powerline units working anyway.

As well as the worry some one can get into your network, also as more and more people use the devices they will interfere with each other in the same was as they interfere with radio transmissions already.

 

[winston1]

But what if you buy an appliance that requires 240V or a higher amperage?

I assume that you'd have to have a specific socket installed, along with the appropriate wiring.

Air cons, cookers yes but installed by suppliers. You just cannot get fast boil kettles.

 

[bernardgreen]

Years ago a power line unit powered from a UPS on battery ( No connection to the mains ) was able to communicate with other power line units. Range was very short and data corruption was high ( switchmode UPS )

An experiment to try

Modify one power line unit to work with a ELV supply from a battery, then connect a couple of metres of Twin and Earth to a 13 amp socket but NOT to any power source,

Plug the modified power line unit into that socket.

Test the system to see if the modified power line unit can communicate with other power line units that are plugged into the mains.

 

[SimonH2]

The supplies come on as 3 wire 120 0 120.

Does that mean they have the option of both 120V and 240V supplies, according to wiring?

When you see their fuse/breaker boards on the TV etc, you may notice that they usually have two columns of fuses/breakers - each column connected to one of the "hot" wires. Something needing 240V would be wired across two fuses.
They also have a way of reducing the cable requirement for radials - taking two hot wires and one neutral to a two outlet socket. Reduces the copper requirement by one neutral. Worst case is one socket in use - neutral current=line current. If both sockets are in use, neutral current is the difference between the line currents.

 

[SimonH2]

An experiment to try ...

There's a video on the Ban-PLT website - I recall seeing it some time ago but can't find it right now. They demonstrate running two units on separate supplies (IIRC one was off an inverter running off a battery) still works if there's a bit of cable to work as an aerial for each unit.