Will powerline ethernet extenders confuse Sense?

Identifying Devices in Your Home
1

I was discussing Sense with a coworker recently (he’s considering getting one himself) and an interesting subject came up - he has ethernet extenders in his home (i.e. to connect DVR to his home network from an inconvenient location).

Given the super-high sample rate of Sense, could the ‘noise’ injected on his home’s circuits for this communication actually cause issues for Sense?

Does anyone out there have powerline ethernet extenders installed and does Sense still work?

2

I used one for a while before I installed a mesh network and it worked pretty much flawlessly. I say pretty much as the send side was on the same outlet as my treadmill - did not have a choice, and when the treadmill ran the signal was sporadic but after the treadmill stopped all data was back filled with no issues.

3

I have an extender. The one sense recommended buying. They should be telling if it is an issue.

4

Having an extender should not cause any problems with your Sense monitor!

5

achpinc,

Which extender does Sense recommend? I can’t find that in any of their FAQ’s.

Thanks,
Brian

6

Brian,

Based on our experience, we recommend a dedicated access point these days rather than an extender. Even an old router would work to this effect. While we previously recommended an extender, they can have sometimes have issues.

7

Ben,

Thanks for the reply. Should I reset Sense in any way once I remove the
ethernet over power?

Thanks,
Brian

8

Ben. Can you expand on this please. Are you saying that Powerline is not recommended? “Extender” is a very broad term. Are you saying only use a “Dedicated access point” via hard wire ethernet?

I am in FULL support of never using a classic “wireless extender” that is really just a repeater, but I have to question about what is wrong with Powerline unless you are suggesting that the powerline signaling does in fact interfere with Sense detection. Or are you saying that the powerline units don’t get a “good” enough internet connection so the Sense can not communicate to its online services well as frequently as it should to be happy?

9

Sorry for the lack of clarity @ben. I was referring to a classic ‘wireless extender.’

@brsipaq, not totally sure I follow. But you don’t need to reset your Sense with a Wi-Fi change. You’d only need to if you made a change to the hardware setup of the monitor in your electrical panel.

10

Ben, this was to remove Ethernet Over Power to remove my network noise off the electrical lines. I plan to replace with a wireless bridge.

My thought on the reset would be to give Sense a fresh start without a couple weeks of having that noise on the power lines. But since I installed last week Wed, Sense has found 5 devices maybe I don’t have to.

Thanks,
Brian

11

Brian, a reset shouldn’t be necessary in this case! If you were having serious detection issues due to noise, then we might recommend a reset (after a close look at your data), but in this case, it shouldn’t be necessary.