UPB Noise problems!!

[Deane Johnson]

What frequency does Z-Wave use?

 

[LightenUP]

900 MH I beleive

 

[tenholde]

The SA noise filters have not received UL approval yet, so therefore are not available for sale. When they receive UL approval, they will be very public.

UPB is a great technology, and I wouldn't consider ever removing it, but nobody should assume that it will work perfect with absolutely no debugging. In my house I had to use 3 bridges to get the signal up to an acceptable level. I've heard of another case where a PIM had to be used on both phases with a special joining cable to get the signal high enough. Its going to take some time to get all the bugs worked out, especially with the wide diversity of all the things you can plug into a powerline.

Post problems and solutions here, but also contact SA, PCS, or HAI and let them know your problems so they realize the problems.

Did you see significant improvement each time you added a coupler?

 

[ano]

The SA noise filters have not received UL approval yet, so therefore are not available for sale. When they receive UL approval, they will be very public.

UPB is a great technology, and I wouldn't consider ever removing it, but nobody should assume that it will work perfect with absolutely no debugging. In my house I had to use 3 bridges to get the signal up to an acceptable level. I've heard of another case where a PIM had to be used on both phases with a special joining cable to get the signal high enough. Its going to take some time to get all the bugs worked out, especially with the wide diversity of all the things you can plug into a powerline.

Post problems and solutions here, but also contact SA, PCS, or HAI and let them know your problems so they realize the problems.

Did you see significant improvement each time you added a coupler?

I'm not sure I would call it "significant" but it is some. With one coupler, the minimum signal on a few lights was 3. This is very unreliable. With a second coupler, I got it up to about 5. Better, but I added another to be sure, and the third coupler got it up to about 6 or 7. That works reliable.

I've heard that the PCS couplers are a bit stronger than the SA ones, but don't know if this is true.

 

[fcwilt]

Just FYI using UPStart to determine signal/noise levels I tried several brands and configurations of couplers. I found that the inverting kind (SA if I recall correctly) actually made things worse in my case.

 

[gacevich]

Just FYI using UPStart to determine signal/noise levels I tried several brands and configurations of couplers. I found that the inverting kind (SA if I recall correctly) actually made things worse in my case.

interesting, my experience is exactly opposite. i was having a huge problem with my network and AO recommended putting in the pulsworx ppc-1's. i put them in and things got worse. as my system is based on ~100 sai upb devices, i called sai tech support. they were great. long story short--i now have two sai phase couplers and a sai pim. system now works.

 

[fcwilt]

Just FYI using UPStart to determine signal/noise levels I tried several brands and configurations of couplers. I found that the inverting kind (SA if I recall correctly) actually made things worse in my case.

interesting, my experience is exactly opposite. i was having a huge problem with my network and AO recommended putting in the pulsworx ppc-1's. i put them in and things got worse. as my system is based on ~100 sai upb devices, i called sai tech support. they were great. long story short--i now have two sai phase couplers and a sai pim. system now works.

Yes I have heard that before. I wonder what make the difference? The important thing is that it can be made to work, even if the specific solution varies from home to home.

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

I think the difference comes from the distance between the transformer and your house.

 

[fcwilt]

I think the difference comes from the distance between the transformer and your house.

Well the transformer is about 25 feet from a large box on the outside of the house. The electrician said the setup he installed was needed for 600 amp service, something about the electric meter maxing out at 400 amps and needing current transformers to mediate between the limits of the meter and the 600 amp service. The two main breaker panels in the house connect to this large box on the outside of the house. There are two sub-panels off of the main panels.

In any case the HAI couplers worked better then the SA couplers. I tried the couplers on the panels in various arrangements (panel 1, panel 2, both panel 1 and 2, etc) seeking the best results.