Wireless Speakers: RCA Speakers Only Work when on Same Electrical Outlet as Transmitter / What is Problem?

Look at the X-10 line of modules. There is a module to connect across the two 120 VAC lines to couple the RF to the other line.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Michael,

Thank you for the quick reply.

I know that it is difficult to put a technical solution in lay person's terms but it would help me if I understood the terminology. If you have time, is it possible for you to explain why these speakers/ transmitter have this problem and how your solution will solve the problem. I am not familiar with electronics so I do not know what is an "X-10 line of modules" and I do not understand the "120 VAC lines to couple the RF to the other line."

Again, I appreciate the information.

Lin

Try the top and the bottom outlets in each case. Does the result differ?

Assuming you are in the US, the power co. delivers three wires to your house. One of them is a "neutral" aka "ground" wire. Each of the other two (hot wires) are nominally 117 Volts with reference to the neutral wire, and the voltage between the two is nominally 234 Volts. About half of the outlets in your house are wired to one of the hot wires, and half to the other hot wire.

If you plug the transmitter into an outlet served by hot wire #1, then the receiver should also be plugged into an outlet served by hot wire #1.

If you plug the transmitter into a #1 outlet, and the receiver into a #2 outlet, the signal must travel all the way out to the power company's transformer and back. And their transformer may not efficiently couple the signal between hot wires 1 and 2. This problem is avoided by putting both units on the same hot line.

Don

I tried many, many different combinations, as Homer suggested. After I tried those combinations, I saw Don's response. Based on all the combinations, I finally concluded that the "Power Line Transmitter" AND the speakers must be plugged DIRECTLY INTO ELECTRICAL WALL OUTLETS.

If I plugged the "Power Line Transmitter" into a POWER STRIP (SURGE PROTECTOR) and the speaker into a DIFFERENT electrical wall outlet (not the same wall outlet as the surge protector), the speakers did NOT work. If the speaker was plugged into the wall outlet that contained the power strip with transmitter, the speakers worked.

I think I have discovered how to make it work properly, thanks to all your suggestions. My other wireless speaker system works fine but this one was problematic. I do have a couple questions that are more out of curiosity:

1) Was the surge protector related to the problem? 2) Does the "power line transmitter" work differently than other wireless speaker transmitters? (does one type of transmitter send radio waves and the other type send the signal through the power lines?

Thanks to all of you for your assistance. I am a heavy electronics user but I lack technical knowledge of electronics.

Lin

Some of the outlet strips have line noise filters to reduce harmonics on the AC power fed to the outlets on the strip. It also removes any RF from entering the power line.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Possibly but it's unusual. This would imply that you have filtering in the surge protector which is pretty fancy - most don't.

Sure. If there is filtering, the device is then called a line conditioner and the price is higher.

Kal

Lin wrote in news:1177006208.186617.200750 @n59g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

speakers/

Simply put, those speakers are sending the audio on the electric wires in your home, over an RF carrier. X10 controls do the same thing. X10 is basically light and appliance control system that sensd signals from a keypad or other controller, over the powerlines, to receiver modules that control lamps or appliances.

Typical North American homes have their electronic service coming in on two 120V lines from opposite sides of the utility trasnformer (which don't carry over the powerline RF, typically), sharing a common neutral.

What could be happening, is the other outlet is on the other 120V supply leg coming in, than the outlet the transmitter is. A passive X10 bridge (which is essentially a capacitor that couples the on line RF signals from one leg to the other) may work. It could also be one outlet is too far from the other, electically, or there is a filter somewhere blocking the signal.

You can solve that issue by putting a .1 uf cap across the mains at some point. If you do not like the idea of working on the 220 live lines, you can also bridge any 220 volt appliance too. The onlt problem there is that if the breakers (or fuses) pop, the bridge is out of action. I put on across my electric stove outlet for instance. It solved the issues I had with the X-10 system. Make sure you use a 400v or beter cap tho.....

- Tim -

And additionally, check to see if you are using a filtered power bar or UPS, as they will squash the RF signal quite nicely.

- Tim -