UPB Phase Coupler

[nexus99]

What exactly does one of these devices do and how is it installed? How do you know if you need one?

 

[rfdesq]

What exactly does one of these devices do and how is it installed? How do you know if you need one?

On a standard 110 volt AC line there are two wires used, not counting the ground. The white wire is the neutral and the black or red is the hot. There are two hots from the electric company. Therefore you can get 220 volts to your home if you used both hots. UPB devices only use one side, i.e. the black or red hot wire, the neutral and a ground. The phase coupler makes sure that the signal being sent on one phase i.e. the black wire gets sent to the other phase, i.e. the red wire. The device is installed either at the meter or a sub panel in a separate box. You connect both hot wires to the coupler. You know you need one if you have a problem getting a signal to a device and discover that the sending device is installed on the opposite phase. Make any sense?

 

[MikeB]

The device is installed either at the meter or a sub panel in a separate box.

There are also dryer outlet couplers available. While maybe not as good as a coupler installed at the panel, the dryer outlet offers a quicker and easier install. A dryer outlet is typically 220v.

 

[nexus99]

The device is installed either at the meter or a sub panel in a separate box.

There are also dryer outlet couplers available. While maybe not as good as a coupler installed at the panel, the dryer outlet offers a quicker and easier install. A dryer outlet is typically 220v.

That all makes perfect sense! Thanks you for the information. Hopefully everything in the house is pulled off the same "side" of power.

Is an electrician required to install the phase coupler? I've never done any work in breaker boxes.

 

[mustangcoupe]

The device is installed either at the meter or a sub panel in a separate box.

There are also dryer outlet couplers available. While maybe not as good as a coupler installed at the panel, the dryer outlet offers a quicker and easier install. A dryer outlet is typically 220v.

That all makes perfect sense! Thanks you for the information. Hopefully everything in the house is pulled off the same "side" of power.

Is an electrician required to install the phase coupler? I've never done any work in breaker boxes.

everything in your house is not pulled from one side of the power. Typically looking at your breakers every other one will be the other side

1 2
2 1
1 2
2 1
1 2
2 1
ect...

If you have never worked in your box, I would recommend you contact a qualified person to do it for you.

On the bright side, I do not have the need for a phase coupler in my install...

 

[electron]

I just started a poll regarding UPB phase coupler usage, would like to know myself how many people need one.

 

[MikeB]

Is an electrician required to install the phase coupler?

No electrician required to plug in a dryer outlet coupler!

If you have a 4-prong dryer outlet, I have one for sale here:
http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=12004

 

[sjht]

Those dryer outlet units work extremely well!

 

[ano]

You might also need more than one. In my house, it took three inverting couplers to get the signal up to a 5 in the weakest devices.

 

[dBeau]

You might also need more than one. In my house, it took three inverting couplers to get the signal up to a 5 in the weakest devices.

When using more than one inverting coupler, where do they get installed? All at the same place? At each sub panel? What if there are no sub panels?

 

[ano]

I only have one pane, so the answer is, all in the same panel. If I had more, I'd spread them out between panels.

 

[dBeau]

I only have one pane, so the answer is, all in the same panel. If I had more, I'd spread them out between panels.

Did you measure the improvements made by each coupler?

 

[fcwilt]

I only have one pane, so the answer is, all in the same panel. If I had more, I'd spread them out between panels.

Did you try non-inverting types? I tried both and in my case the inverting kind made things worse.

Also I cannot imagine that adding more then one to the same panel does much for you.

 

[ano]

I didn't try non-inverting, but that isn't a bad idea. At the time I installed them, Simply Automated was pushing the Inverting type and phasing out their non-inverting type. I checked their site, and they don't even list non-inverting anymore.

With one inverter, I had signal levels of 3 at some switches. With 2 couplers, it went up to about 5, and with three, my lowest is about 6, which is acceptable.

According to SA, at the time, adding more than one non-inverting coupler doesn't help at all, but adding more than one inverting coupler does help, and it helped me.

 

[bmil]

Has anyone ever tried both inverting and non-inverting at the same time?

I'm in the process of trying all kinds of configs to get my signal levels up on several switches (I have a main plus a sub panel with both Gen I & II devices). First attempt was one SA inverting which actually made things worse. Next attempt was 1 non-inverting which provided some improvement. I even bought the PCS split-phase Repeater which improved some but made some worse. My current config is a non-inverting in the Main and another non-inverting in the sub panel. Noise is non-existent for most of the time, but every so often UpStart will show a burst of noise at a level of 8-10.

To make matters even more frustrating, I originally had a SA PIM then bought a PCS one thinking it may improve the Gen II stuff while keeping the same performance with the Gen I devices. However I found that the SA PIM provided the best overall performance with all my devices over the PCS Gen II PIM.

I guess I really need to spend a lot of time and try all of the many different possible configs I could have with 1 or multiple couplers, inverting/non-inverting/both, phase Repeater/no Repeater, Gen I PIM/Gen II PIM, etc, etc, etc...

Isn't UPB fun !!!???