Power Line Smart Transceivers
No new wires! Install your control network over existing power lines.
Our Power Line Smart Transceivers offer the most robust, lowest cost way to communicate over AC or DC power lines using low, medium, or high voltage. Designed for use in home, building, industrial, and transportation automation applications, these transceivers have earned their reputation for reliability in systems all over the world.
| Power Line Smart Transceivers are finding their way into a variety of new home automation applications. For example, large companies including Korean giants Samsung Electronics and Networks are installing thousands of home automation devices based on our power line signaling technology. Our Power Line Smart Transceivers are also an excellent alternative to the radio frequency (RF) technology used in home automation. Read about RF's reliability issues in home automation in our white paper.
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New Features
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New Applications
- Home Automation
- Street Lighting
- Energy Management and Load Controls
- Utility Metering
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Smart Transceivers
If you have additional questions about Power Line Smart Transceivers or any other Echelon product, contact your sales representative or request it online.
Developer Resources
Reduce your development time with our extensive resources for new and existing Lonworks developers.
New Features
Echelon Switched-Leg Technology
Most electrical devices require an electrical connection of both Line and Neutral wires: The Line wire provides the electrical current and the Neutral wire provides its return path. In most lighting circuits, however, the Line wire (or leg) is first routed through a wall switch or dimmer before it's connected to the light, while the Neutral wire is present only at the light fixture. This wiring style is called switched leg.
For home automation product designers, the lack of a Neutral wire in switches and dimmers has made it to put control devices at these locations; the common solution was to open up the wall and rewire the circuit. Until the introduction of our second-generation switched-leg technology, attempts to design two-way control devices that could be wired into a switched leg were unsuccessful.
Echelon's first-generation switched-leg technology enabled communications over switched-leg circuits using only incandescent lights. Now, in its second generation, the technology allows reliable, bi-directional communications over switched-leg circuits with halogen and fluorescent lamps, as well as incandescents.
ISI Technology
A breakthrough in simplicity and ease of use, our new Interoperable Self-Installation (ISI) technology makes adding multi-zone lighting, multi-zone heating control, and pool/spa controls as simple as plugging in a power cord. Devices equipped with ISI software are ideally suited to the home environment because they don't need special software or programming to work. As soon as power is applied or a service function is activated, the devices discover one another and configure themselves into fully functional control systems. Consumers can make changes—such as add a new device or change a lighting scene—at any time without any expertise or training. And now, ISI functions are included in the firmware image in the ROM in our latest addition - PL 3170 Smart Transceiver. This allows the availability of complete application space of 4KB to the developer even when using ISI functions in the application.
Enhanced Design Tools
Our new rapid design tools speed the process of evaluating, designing, and shipping products based on our PL 3120 and PL 3150 Power Line Smart Transceivers. For engineers, the new Mini EVK Evaluation Kit is an ultra low-cost way to evaluate Echelon's power line technology and/or develop simple devices. You can initialize and run a power line-based network in as little as five minutes, and then start writing new code. The PL Smart Transceiver Development Support Kit includes reference schematics, PCB layout files, bills of material, and sample ICs for developing hardware with our power line technology.
