TP-Link PA211 failure

[bocaboy]

Just a heads-up that I've had 2 TP-Link powerline adapters, model PA-211, hardware version 1.1, fail on me in the last month. Both were about 18 months old.

To TP-Link's credit, they replaced both of them with Nanos, which are working fine. According to a thread I found about this problem, the issue has to do with a failed capacitor.

Anyway, just a warning before you buy that particular adapter and hardware version. I want to be clear that I was very satisfied with the adapters prior to their dying. They were easy to connect and, at least in my house, were quite speedy network devices. I've used them to connect additional WAPs through my house and they've been excellent at that task.

 

[stevech]

Just a heads-up that I've had 2 TP-Link powerline adapters, model PA-211, hardware version 1.1, fail on me in the last month. Both were about 18 months old.

To TP-Link's credit, they replaced both of them with Nanos, which are working fine. According to a thread I found about this problem, the issue has to do with a failed capacitor.

Anyway, just a warning before you buy that particular adapter and hardware version. I want to be clear that I was very satisfied with the adapters prior to their dying. They were easy to connect and, at least in my house, were quite speedy network devices. I've used them to connect additional WAPs through my house and they've been excellent at that task.

Pretty good of them to replace at their expense at 18 months.

 

[bocaboy]

Yes, I agree that it was good of them to replace these units. They're guaranteed for 24 months, so I was well within warranty.

Also, I'd be surprised if they didn't know about this problem. As I said, it was pretty easy to find others who were having the same problem with just a simple search, so I'd find it hard to believe that TP-Link wasn't aware of the failures this unit was experiencing.

 

[stevech]

did they send brand new units or refurbs?

 

[bocaboy]

did they send brand new units or refurbs?

They were in retail packaging and there was no indication that they were refurbished. Originally, only one of my PA-211s from the initial starter kit failed, but they sent me a new starter kit of Nanos, probably because the receipt I submitted as proof of purchase from Amazon was for a starter kit. Good thing they did since the second one failed just a couple weeks later.

 

[smagro]

I purchased PA211KIT in 2011, V1.0s and one of them failed around two years later. I don't know how long the other one would have lasted because I had to send them back together.

Another single unit PA211 that I purchased a couple of months after the first also failed.... again ~two years after purchase, almost like clockwork. This time a V1.1.

Whatever caps they are/were using in these have a very short lifespan.

 

[stevech]

to my pleasure and amazement, the pair of D-Link MoCA boxes that I use hage 2+ years on them.