Smart TV Powerline Adaptor

[heart-of-wessex]

Hello all,

Anyone used a Powerline Adaptor to link up a Smart TV with a router? Are they any good for their price? I've not heard of it until today and looking at some YouTube videos, mostly seem to be American ones, it says it sends the signal through the electrical wires, but it can have a downfall if plugged into a surge protected power extension, which is what I have, not sure how true that would be though?

I got a JVC Smart TV for Christmas and set it up in my room upstairs, and the router is downstairs, and the TV does have WiFi but it looses the signal after 5 minutes and pretty much goes forever until I reset the TV. It obviously isn't getting a good signal, and was contemplating on getting Virgin Media out to set up another system upstairs, but having seen advice on Curry's it suggests that the problem would be solved by using one of these power adaptors.

I was looking online and looks like can get one of these TP Link systems for £24 off Ebay

TP-Link TL-WPA4220 Powerline Wi-Fi Extender 2 Ports for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for TP-Link TL-WPA4220 Powerline Wi-Fi Extender 2 Ports at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

Not sure if it comes with 2 Ethernet cables, can't zoom into the picture to see what cables are included.

Would this be worth a try or is it best to get Virgin out to install another Virgin Media box upstairs?


Any help is most appreciated!

James.

 

[DelayRepay]

I used one for a couple of years for a BT TV YouView box (although it's been replaced with one that has WiFi now). Didn't have any problems. Mine were BT branded ones. You have to plug them into the wall socket, but mine have pass through socket on the front.

I also used one upstairs when I converted my spare room to an office when the pandemic started, because the Wifi didn't reach there. No problems there either although I don't use it any more as I've extended the Wifi now.

I'm not sure mine work in the same way as the one you've linked to though - you connect one adaptor into your router and the other to the TV via ethernet cables. They don't touch the WiFi at all.

 

[dgl]

Used a few of them, my Auntie had no other way of getting internet in her Summerhouse reliably (it was proper brick built affair and contained her baby grand and was a nice place to sit out) and getting Wi-Fi in the dining room could also be tricky due to the thick walls, the same setup is also providing Wi-Fi to what was my Grans Summerhouse so that when I stayed over last winter I could go out there if I wanted a change of scenery.
I know shortwave users don't take to kindly to them but for most users that shouldn't be an issue.

The unit's I have experence with are the cheap TP-Link units, both the Ethernet only and the ones with a built in Wi-Fi access point, the later models of which can mirror your main Wi-Fi AP so that there is seemless switching between the AP's without the need to enter any more passwords or to have to manually connect to the new AP.

Of course they have one massive advantage over "mesh" Wi-Fi solutions as the distance between any units can be much longer, great if power is difficult to come by for a mesh/repeater access point.

For Smart TV use the lowest speed 200Mbit/s will probably be more than fast enough, it's only if you want to use it as a wireless display (miracast) that you might want to switch to the higher speed units.

Also if no Ethernet leads are in the box then they are cheap enough, the Wi-Fi powerline units by TP-Link do have two Ethernet sockets if you have multiple devices to connect, although if more than two devices are needing to be connected then simply adding an Ethernet switch will surfice.

 

[Bayum]

Yes. Have no issues with it whatsoever.

 

[Hadders]

I use a BT branded powerline adapter for my BTTV box. Works very well.

 

[david1212]

The routing of the house wiring and location of the distribution board can affect performance.

While not relevant to most domestic applications do beware both mains sockets must be on the same phase. Places more likely to be caught out are halls, churches & similar with electric heating so have a three-phase supply.

 

[A Challenge]

While not relevant to most domestic applications do beware both mains sockets must be on the same phase. Places more likely to be caught out are halls, churches & similar with electric heating so have a three-phase supply

Presumably relevant in more places would be that I guess they need to be on the same circuit breaker as well?

 

[Nym]

Surge protectors use Metal Oxide Varistors that can interfere with some methods used for power line adaptors. So long s you can achieve around 30Mb/s to the TV then it shouldn't need any more than that, even for streaming 4K.

The TP Link ecosystem is generally good unless you're trying to do anything advanced with it, which 99% of home users will not be doing, so long as you have a 'normal' distribution board system and not an excessively large number of capacitive dropper supplies installed (generally used in cheap LED luminaires and less than legal equipment purchased from China) then there shoudn't be too much of an issue.

Of course, if you want a fully reliable connection, you can run Ethernet cables throughout the house, and to improve the WiFi, install multiple WiFi access points. Simply positioning the existing modem/router/access point/switch in a more advantageous position would be able to help significantly. But being Virgin Media it will have the minimum possible length of cable to the wall for the incoming connection, and changing this cable out can result in minor issues of needing 'retuning' on their end.

 

[Ediswan]

Presumably relevant in more places would be that I guess they need to be on the same circuit breaker as well?

I sent out a few TP-Link powerline kits for WFH. They seemed to work fine between different circuits.

It is worth noting that the current breed of powerline adapters are a lot better than the original. Some of the 'will not work with' advice stems from the older systems.

 

[ABB125]

and not an excessively large number of capacitive dropper supplies installed

What issue(s) do these cause?

 

[Nym]

What issue(s) do these cause?

Signal reflections and quite bad RF injections depending on what's downstream of them.

 

[david1212]

Presumably relevant in more places would be that I guess they need to be on the same circuit breaker as well?

I don't think that matters. After all while the ring main split in houses varies ( e.g. downstairs & upstairs or front & rear ) there is a high probability a location with a poor signal from the router will be supplied from a different breaker.
I'm sure it has been shown that Powerline adaptors will work between houses on the same phase.

I don't know if Earth Leakage breakers ( ELCB ) generally have a significant effect. Some will say otherwise but to me luckily I still have wire fuses then an ELCB socket in the garage for the mower, power tools etc plus a portable ELCB. I can't find the whole house off so the freezer off because of some spurious ELCB trip.

As already stated surge protectors and items with capacitive power supplies will have an effect, particularly several of the latter. I have a set although not in use that did not work when one unit was plugged into the same multi-way block as the router and home phone base unit.

 

[najaB]

Presumably relevant in more places would be that I guess they need to be on the same circuit breaker as well?

I have experience with them working across circuits on different consumer units/distribution boards (within the same building)! So they definitely don't need to be on the same breaker.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Thank you guys, I just realised now what I linked was a WiFi Powerline Extender, I was more thinking of the ones where you just plug in the ethernet cables at each plug, though I'm sure the WiFi extender one still does the job. I see this review for the linked TP product though:

"Works fine, but not all that great as it hasn't managed to clone the network. Works as separate Wi-Fi. They advertise you can use it with another one but unfortunately you cannot use it as intended as it does not clone network. Just creates separate wi-fi."

 

[najaB]

Works fine, but not all that great as it hasn't managed to clone the network. Works as separate Wi-Fi. They advertise you can use it with another one but unfortunately you cannot use it as intended as it does not clone network. Just creates separate wi-fi.

I've used the one-port version and it was able to clone the existing network details. In the end I split it onto a separate network though as my mother's phone wouldn't roam from the main router to the extender and would just sit on the very poor signal. If you turned wireless off and back on again it would then connect to the extended network. My dad's phone would switch between them quite readily.

 

[contrex]

Anyone used a Powerline Adaptor to link up a Smart TV with a router?

I bought a Samsung UE32ES5500 smart TV (no wi-fi, only Ethernet) in December 2012 and did not fancy forking out £85 for a Samsung wi-fi adapter, so I got a pair of TP-Link 300 Mbit/s powerline adapters for £25 in Maplin (RIP), one to connect via Ethernet to the TV, and one to the VirginMedia cable router. Both on the same floor of the house. Never had a single problem or issue. of course I could use all the smart TV apps built-in (Youtube, etc). I found I could change TV locale to Spain using a code entered on the remote, which was handy as I was learning Spanish and could use RTVE's streaming TV catchup service. The TV has DLNA client functionality and I had a Seagate GoFlex Home NAS drive with DLNA server ability. This was connected to the router by Ethernet cable. Worked a treat streaming 1080p material from MKV files stored on the NAS. The GoFlex bit the dust about 2 years ago (operating system on a soldered flash chip which went read-only) but I replaced it with a Raspberry Pi 4 plus 2 TB USB-3 external drive which does all the same things. I later got a Panasonic Freeview Plus HDD recorder and that has wi-fi built in and that works fine too.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Still haven't got anything yet, whole thing has been put on hold as my car was written off by some dingbat who drove into the side of my car last week

Anyway just curious aside from these powerline adaptors, will a WiFi range extender also work, if it was plugged into the ethernet port in my TV?

TP-LINK RE315 WiFi Range Extender - AC 1200, Dual-band

Boost your WiFi signal further; AC 1200; Dual-band (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz); One Ethernet port; Plugs into a spare plug socket

www.currys.co.uk

 

[dgl]

Still haven't got anything yet, whole thing has been put on hold as my car was written off by some dingbat who drove into the side of my car last week

Anyway just curious aside from these powerline adaptors, will a WiFi range extender also work, if it was plugged into the ethernet port in my TV?

TP-LINK RE315 WiFi Range Extender - AC 1200, Dual-band

Boost your WiFi signal further; AC 1200; Dual-band (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz); One Ethernet port; Plugs into a spare plug socket

www.currys.co.uk

Yes, if it is in range of your Wi-Fi signal, I have a little Vonets one somewhere for connecting non-Wi-Fi devices that works fine.

 

[najaB]

Anyway just curious aside from these powerline adaptors, will a WiFi range extender also work, if it was plugged into the ethernet port in my TV?

It depends on how strong a signal the range extender is able to pick up.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Hmm probably not worth one of those 0then, especially as the router is downstairs, ill go for the powerline option one of the TP Link wired ones, thank you

 

[heart-of-wessex]

I got one of these today in the post, no installation guide as described just the cables and power plugs

TP-Link TL-PA411KIT 600Mbps Nano Powerline Ethernet Adapter Home Plug Twin Pack

Can't copy Ebay link as it defaults to Ebay app.

Plugged ethernet cable to Virgin router and to the power plug and plugged it in. Connected ethernet cable to TV and to plug and plugged it in, also pressed the pair button on both plugs

Changed the setting in the TV from Wireless to Wired connection, it says 'connected' but the YouTube app doesn't work as there's apparently no Internet connection, and trying the 'test Internet speeds' says no network found, and no Internet.

I'm wondering if its still trying the WiFi somehow or something, or if the ethernet connections don't connect the Internet can't see how that would be, the TV must recognise it as it says connected.

Might have to re-set TV to first time installation

 

[najaB]

Connected ethernet cable to TV and to plug and plugged it in, also pressed the pair button on both plugs

That could be your mistake, most sets come already paired. The steps differ between brands but with mine you long press on one to set it to pairing mode as the controlling adaptor and them short press on the other one to pair as a client.

 

[dgl]

The TP-Link ones do tell you to pair them out of the box, which is a 1 sec press on one and then a one sec press on the other (the powerline light should flash in each case).
TP Link do have an app (PC at least) to configure them and the wireless ones have a configuration web page.

 

[najaB]

The TP-Link ones do tell you to pair them out of the box, which is a 1 sec press on one and then a one sec press on the other (the powerline light should flash in each case).

Okay, fair enough. The last couple of sets I had didn't need pairing, they just worked.

 

[dgl]

Okay, fair enough. The last couple of sets I had didn't need pairing, they just worked.

I think they ask you to do that just in case, they probably have been paired already during testing.

 

[Ediswan]

Is it possible to temporarily move the TV and connect it directly to the Virgin router ? If that fixes the problem, look at the powerline adapters. If it does not fix the problem, either the TV or the conection to the router.

Another thought, if not already done, try disconnecting the TV from mains power for a few minutes, connect Ethernet, then power up. That might cause YouTube to spot the new network configuration.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

I had a chance to try it yesterday, I pressed the pair button for a couple of seconds on each one and the power light was flashing.

Having looked on one of the TP Link guides to what each light means, I have the power light on and flashing which means pairing in progress, the Ethernet light is on which means its registered the connection to the router and the TV, but the powerline light is off, which apparently means its not connected to any Powerline network, does that mean it's not going through the mains?

There is no Internet, the TV says connected but no internet

 

[dgl]

it should be a case of, press the button on one unit for 1 second then press tye same button for one second on the other unit. If that doesn't work then you can configure them manually with software but I have never got that to work properly.

 

[najaB]

Having looked on one of the TP Link guides to what each light means, I have the power light on and flashing which means pairing in progress, the Ethernet light is on which means its registered the connection to the router and the TV, but the powerline light is off, which apparently means its not connected to any Powerline network, does that mean it's not going through the mains?

The powerline light being off does, as you deduced, indicate that they aren't speaking with each other. What's always worked for me is plugging the two units in to sockets within easy reach of each other, pressing the pairing button on one, waiting five seconds or so, then pressing the button on the other. I think sometimes if there isn't a delay between presses both units end up trying to be the 'base station' and neither ends up as a client.

 

[Ediswan]

There is no Internet, the TV says connected but no internet

The fact the IP address begins 169.254 indicates that the TV sees a working Ethernet connection, but not a DHCP server (normally the router) from which to get a useful IP configuration. Hence, it has made up its own IP address.

This does not change the current conclusion, but it might help somebody else trying to diagnose what a device means when it says 'connected'.