The power lines act as the transmission lines for the communication signals (in

addition to transmitting power).

Unfortunately power lines are not designed to carry RF efficiently, they are designed
to carry power efficiently, so some compromises must be made when using these
lines for comm.

The comm. transmitters and receivers are isolated from the high voltages (even 240
volts is 'high') by small valued capacitors, that represent high impedances to the 50
or 60 Hz, but low impedances to the RF.

Most RF carriers for PLCC that I have seen are in the neigborhood of several 10s of
kHz up to a few 100 kHz. Carriers around 120 kHz are popular. This frequency
proviced for enough distance, while allowing for a decent bandwidth for the
information to be transmitted.

Once you have a carrier established (the receivers can reliably pick up the carrier),
you can use most any form of modulation. The transmitters I have seen are for
binary information, so a pulse-code modulation scheme is used, and certain receiver
devices respond only to their codes, then act on the coded commands given. Here
is a website that explains more, and a wiki article that is accruate:
http://www.x10.com
http://x10-mentor.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_line_…
or longer distance comm. lower frequencies carry further, but the bandwidth for
information is greatly reduced.

The IEEE has standards for high speed ethernet over power-lines but they are
notLine trap also is known as Wave trap. What it does is trapping the high frequency
communication signals sent on the line from the remote substation and diverting them to the
telecom/teleprotection panel in the substation control room (through coupling capacitor and
LMU).
This is relevant in Power Line Carrier Communication (PLCC) systems for communication
among various substations without dependence on the telecom company network. The signals
are primarily teleprotection signals and in addition, voice and data communication signals.Line
trap also is known as Wave trap. What it does is trapping the high frequency communication
signals sent on the line from the remote substation and diverting them to the
telecom/teleprotection panel in the substation control room (through coupling capacitor and
LMU).
This is relevant in Power Line Carrier Communication (PLCC) systems for communication
among various substations without dependence on the telecom company network. The signals
are primarily teleprotection signals and in addition, voice and data communication signals.
The Line trap offers high impedance to the high frequency communication signals thus obstructs
the flow of these signals in to the substation busbars. If there were not to be there, then signal
loss is more and communication will be ineffective/probably impossible.

Siemens answers:

Does PLC still work when there is no AC power on the line - i.e. during
a power outage?

When I say "PLC", I mean PLC in general - I'm not referring to just one
particular prototocl (such as X-10).

I realize that the answer may depend on the PLC chipset/standard used.
If you know the answer for a specific chipset, please let me know.

Here's why I'm asking - suppose I have a PLC device such as phone jack
extender and suppose it has battery backup. I would want that device to
work during a power outage...

In this type system a RADIO FREQUENCY signal (RF) is sent over the normal building power
wiring. (not through the air)

There would be a transmitter to send the signal and a receiver to receive the signal. This signal
would contain data to report or instruct.

A common application would be to turn lights on and off remotely.

Power line carrier communications is used to provide high speed tripping for faults covering the
entire power line.

On typical VHV and EHV systems, distance relays are used to protect the line in the event faults
occur. Distance relays look at the impedance of the line (Voltage / current) to determine where a
fault is. As one gets further away from the local end, the impedance will continue to grow. If one
was to set distance relaying to look exactly to the very end of a line, it may or may not see the far
end for all faults, due to errors in measurement of line impedance, error in the relay measuring,
variances in system voltage, etc. Moreover, these errors may result in the relay seeing faults on
the next line out (referred to as "overtripping").

Because of this, distance relays are typically set up in several zones - zone 1, which will be 80 -
90% of the line impedance, which is set to unconditionally trip; zone 2, which is set to 115% or
more of the line impedance so it is garunteed to see the remote end.

Because zone 2 sees beyond the line, it must be conditionally controlled. This conditional
controlling requires information from the remote end - specifically if the fault is "in front of" (on
the line) or "behind" (on a different line) the remote relay.

And this is where power line carrier equipment comes in. On many lines in remote locations,
there isn't a whole lot of fiber or microwave type communication equipment available. So signals
are directly injected onto the powerline to pass the above information back and forth.

On some power line carrier equipment, there is also the ability to inject voice, so the same
equipment can be used for communication between technicians at different substations.
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www.hvrelays.com
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First answer by Littlewats. Last edit by Littlewats. Contributor trust: 24 [recommend

contributor]. Question popularity: 1 [recommend question].

Power line communication or power line carrier (PLC), also known as Power line Digital
Subscriber Line (PDSL), mains communication, power line telecom (PLT), power line
networking (PLN), or Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) are systems for carrying data on a
conductor also used for electric power transmission.

Electrical power is transmitted over high voltage transmission lines, distributed over medium
voltage, and used inside buildings at lower voltages. Powerline communications can be applied
at each stage. Most PLC technologies limit themselves to one set of wires (for example, premises
wiring), but some can cross between two levels (for example, both the distribution network and
premises wiring). Typically the transformer prevents propagating the signal which allows
multiple PLC technologies to be bridged to form very large networks.
The Power Line Carrier Communication is a technology which uses power lines as physical media
for data transmission. PLCC can offer a �no new wires� solution because the infrastructure has
already been established. PLCCs are used for transmitting data at a rapid speed through a power
line in a house, an office, a building, and a factory, etc. Here, the existing alternating current
(AC) power wires serve as a transmission medium by which information is relayed from a
transmitter or control station to one or more receivers or loads connected downstream from an
AC source. Typical applications of PLCC are Street light control, Automatic Meter Reading, HVAC
control, Low Speed Data Networks, Signs and Information Display, Fire and Security Alarm etc.
The PLC board developed by Prodigy Labs Pvt. Ltd. robust, low-cost way to communicate over
power lines. The Embedded PLCC modem is based on the Differential Code Shift Keying (DCSK)
Technology. This technology in Power Line Carrier ( PLCC ) communication is well known for its
high immunity to electrical noise persistent in the power line.The PLCC Modem is in the form of a
ready-to-go circuit module, which is capable of transferring data over the power cable at the low
voltage end of the power transformer of a 3-phase/ 4-wire distribution network. A pair of
Embedded PLCC Modems connected on the power line can provide low speed bidirectional data
communication at a baud rate of 9600 bps.