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    I wrote a guide to make tech support over the holidays less painful

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    • coliverC
      coliver @Nic
      last edited by

      @Nic said:

      @coliver said:

      I haven't touched Powerline ethernet in 15 years., It was pretty terrible back then has it gotten that much better?

      It's gotten amazing. Great throughput, rock solid, and even has blinkenlights on it so you can see if there's a problem. I have them all over my house now. The only potential problem is if you have a really old house, or more than one fuse box. Outside of that it's plug and play.

      Ah I have both at the moment, and we had both when I was a kid playing with these as well. So that may have been the issue.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • NicN
        Nic @brianlittlejohn
        last edited by

        @brianlittlejohn said:

        @Nic Hmmm... i've never had good luck with them... I tend to go MOCA (assuming coax cable is ran) ... but then again I haven't used one in about 5 years.

        Try them again as they've made huge strides. For $40 it's not a big risk.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • hobbit666H
          hobbit666
          last edited by

          Good guide. I've got another good tip. Switch off your phone!!!!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • MattSpellerM
            MattSpeller
            last edited by MattSpeller

            powerline Ethernet

            I just had PTSD flashbacks, ugh

            Edit: old homes are very common here with lath and plaster. They put essentially chicken wire under the plaster and ground it out which makes a huge farraday cage. Powerline Ethernet was very popular here before it really... well... worked right at all.

            coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • bbiAngieB
              bbiAngie
              last edited by

              Unchecky just because my new favorite utility. How did I not know about this?!?!?!

              When I go to x-mas with the bf's family I will for sure be installing this on his moms pc. This lady downloads more malware than anyone else I have ever met. Every x-mas I look at her pc and end up using malwarebytes to clean over 2k infected objects. I bet this takes care of at least 1/2 of them!

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • coliverC
                coliver @MattSpeller
                last edited by

                @MattSpeller said:

                powerline Ethernet

                I just had PTSD flashbacks, ugh

                Edit: old homes are very common here with lath and plaster. They put essentially chicken wire under the plaster and ground it out which makes a huge farraday cage. Powerline Ethernet was very popular here before it really... well... worked right at all.

                Wow, my house has lathe and plaster and I have no metal chicken wire. One of the walls was coated in horse hair and plaster but that was about it. Man I'm so glad our house doesn't have that I can't imagine what it would do to wireless signal.

                MattSpellerM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • MattSpellerM
                  MattSpeller @coliver
                  last edited by MattSpeller

                  @coliver It's the death of even radio, became unpopular for that reason in the 50/60's. Sure was cheap to throw them up after ww2 though. Now the oldest ones (20/30/40s) are being preserved as heritage homes.

                  coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • coliverC
                    coliver @MattSpeller
                    last edited by

                    @MattSpeller said:

                    @coliver It's the death of even radio, became unpopular for that reason in the 50/60's. Sure was cheap to throw them up after ww2 though. Now the oldest ones (20/30/40s) are being preserved as heritage homes.

                    My house is from 1907... we found so many different kinds of electrical in the walls it was silly. Some of them still powered even after they were replaced. I guess this should go in the housing horror stories thread though.

                    MattSpellerM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • MattSpellerM
                      MattSpeller @coliver
                      last edited by

                      @coliver said:

                      @MattSpeller said:

                      @coliver It's the death of even radio, became unpopular for that reason in the 50/60's. Sure was cheap to throw them up after ww2 though. Now the oldest ones (20/30/40s) are being preserved as heritage homes.

                      My house is from 1907... we found so many different kinds of electrical in the walls it was silly. Some of them still powered even after they were replaced. I guess this should go in the housing horror stories thread though.

                      Pucker factor 9000 when you find aluminium wire - my cousin bought a house here with it 50/50 copper/aluminium. He couldn't even get house insurance until all the aluminium was taken out.

                      coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • coliverC
                        coliver @MattSpeller
                        last edited by

                        @MattSpeller said:

                        @coliver said:

                        @MattSpeller said:

                        @coliver It's the death of even radio, became unpopular for that reason in the 50/60's. Sure was cheap to throw them up after ww2 though. Now the oldest ones (20/30/40s) are being preserved as heritage homes.

                        My house is from 1907... we found so many different kinds of electrical in the walls it was silly. Some of them still powered even after they were replaced. I guess this should go in the housing horror stories thread though.

                        Pucker factor 9000 when you find aluminium wire - my cousin bought a house here with it 50/50 copper/aluminium. He couldn't even get house insurance until all the aluminium was taken out.

                        Thankfully no aluminium. We had ceramic tube and knob, plastic tube and knob, cloth covered cable, some kind of metal lined cloth covered cable. It was just weird.

                        MattSpellerM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • MattSpellerM
                          MattSpeller @coliver
                          last edited by

                          @coliver said:

                          Thankfully no aluminium. We had ceramic tube and knob, plastic tube and knob, cloth covered cable, some kind of metal lined cloth covered cable. It was just weird.

                          Holy crap you had this?!?!?

                          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knob-and-tube_wiring

                          I would immediately tear it out, even if it's ok. I'd sleep better with it gone!

                          The insulation degrades over the years and the rubber/cloth/fiber cable insulation falls off and you end up with bare wires in your walls!! I'm sorry, you probably know all this, but yikesssssssssss!

                          coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • NicN
                            Nic
                            last edited by

                            Yeah old houses and electricity can be scary:
                            0_1450296740205_DR-Ceiling-Web-Words-copy.jpg

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                            • coliverC
                              coliver @MattSpeller
                              last edited by

                              @MattSpeller said:

                              @coliver said:

                              Thankfully no aluminium. We had ceramic tube and knob, plastic tube and knob, cloth covered cable, some kind of metal lined cloth covered cable. It was just weird.

                              Holy crap you had this?!?!?

                              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knob-and-tube_wiring

                              I would immediately tear it out, even if it's ok. I'd sleep better with it gone!

                              The insulation degrades over the years and the rubber/cloth/fiber cable insulation falls off and you end up with bare wires in your walls!! I'm sorry, you probably know all this, but yikesssssssssss!

                              Yep... we had two runs that were still live. One was ceramic (which we were told could last basically forever) the other was plastic (which we were told should have never been installed and can cause all kinds of issues, including death by fire). We elected to replace both runs with modern cabling.

                              MattSpellerM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                              • MattSpellerM
                                MattSpeller @coliver
                                last edited by

                                @coliver ugh, I just unclenched - glad to hear it haha

                                coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • coliverC
                                  coliver @MattSpeller
                                  last edited by coliver

                                  @MattSpeller said:

                                  @coliver ugh, I just unclenched - glad to hear it haha

                                  The best part... the first run we came across was when we were tearing apart our spare bedroom. I pulled on it with a claw hammer and had a delightful spasm on the other side of the room. We couldn't figure out which breaker it was tied to... turns out it wasn't tied into the circuit panel anywhere and was attached to the main somehow. Not a electrician but ours was swearing up and down the basement when he saw what was done. #oldhomehorrorstories.

                                  MattSpellerM 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 5
                                  • MattSpellerM
                                    MattSpeller @coliver
                                    last edited by

                                    @coliver said:

                                    @MattSpeller said:

                                    @coliver ugh, I just unclenched - glad to hear it haha

                                    The best part... the first run we came across was when we were tearing apart our spare bedroom. I pulled on it with a claw hammer and had a delightful spasm on the other side of the room. We couldn't figure out which breaker it was tied to... turns out it wasn't tied into the circuit panel anywhere and was attached to the main somehow. Not a electrician but ours was swearing up and down the basement when he saw what was done.

                                    rYIk4gz.gif

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • MattSpellerM
                                      MattSpeller @coliver
                                      last edited by

                                      @coliver I hire sparky's because I know what 120v across the chest feels like.

                                      This thread is giving me the hebejeebies, I'm exiting stage left.

                                      coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • coliverC
                                        coliver @MattSpeller
                                        last edited by coliver

                                        @MattSpeller said:

                                        @coliver I hire sparky's because I know what 120v across the chest feels like.

                                        This thread is giving me the hebejeebies, I'm exiting stage left.

                                        Yep... I generally do too unless I can make sure the breaker is off at the panel. We had all the breakers to the upstairs off when doing this and thought we were good.... turns out that wasn't the case. Lesson learned.

                                        art_of_shredA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • art_of_shredA
                                          art_of_shred @coliver
                                          last edited by

                                          @coliver said:

                                          @MattSpeller said:

                                          @coliver I hire sparky's because I know what 120v across the chest feels like.

                                          This thread is giving me the hebejeebies, I'm exiting stage left.

                                          Yep... I generally do too unless I can make sure the breaker is off at the panel. We had all the breakers to the upstairs off when doing this and thought we were good.... turns out that wasn't the case. Lesson learned.

                                          I do 90% of my electrical work with the power on. How the heck am I supposed to see what I'm doing if the light's off?!? Besides, 110V just tickles a little. I accidentally channeled 208V one time. I'd like to avoid repeating that one.

                                          brianlittlejohnB dafyreD 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                          • brianlittlejohnB
                                            brianlittlejohn @art_of_shred
                                            last edited by

                                            @art_of_shred said:

                                            @coliver said:

                                            @MattSpeller said:

                                            @coliver I hire sparky's because I know what 120v across the chest feels like.

                                            This thread is giving me the hebejeebies, I'm exiting stage left.

                                            Yep... I generally do too unless I can make sure the breaker is off at the panel. We had all the breakers to the upstairs off when doing this and thought we were good.... turns out that wasn't the case. Lesson learned.

                                            I do 90% of my electrical work with the power on. How the heck am I supposed to see what I'm doing if the light's off?!? Besides, 110V just tickles a little. I accidentally channeled 208V one time. I'd like to avoid repeating that one.

                                            I do as well too, especially at my parents house. Their breakers are old and alot of times if I turn them off, I can't turn them back on and have to replace the breaker as well.

                                            art_of_shredA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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