Power Line Smart Transceivers
No new wires! Install your control network over existing power lines.
Echelon's 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.
Smart Transceivers
- PL 3170 Power Line Smart Transceivers
This new addition to the Power Line Smart Transceiver family includes Interoperable Self Installation (ISI) functions in the firmware image in the ROM. Developers can access the complete 4KB application space, even when using ISI functions in the application. ISI supports auto-discovery of devices and a plug-and-play user experience. This makes it a key component in networkable consumer devices, which must be easy to install.
- PL 3120 and PL 3150 Power Line Smart Transceivers
A major breakthrough in price, performance, and size. These highly reliable, narrow-band smart transceivers are ideal for many applications in the home, building, industrial, and transportation industries.
Questions about Power Line Smart Transceivers or other Echelon products? Contact your sales representative or request it online.
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 impossible 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, bidirectional 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 the new PL 3170 Smart Transceiver. Developers can access the complete 4KB application space, 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 Mini FX 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.