PoE

Power Over Ethernet -- allows the transmission of electricity via network cables to power lower-powered electronic devices.

How it works

• • A Network Switch is connected to your network with PoE capabilities.

  • The network switch pushes electricity down your network cable to power the device the network cable will be attached to.

  • The device doesn't need an electric outlet -- it gets its power from the network cable.

  • The device must be PoE-ready to support this network power.

  • Optionally, a splitter can be used at the device which will create a small electric outlet for the device to plug into. This is not recommended, just here for completeness. Buy PoE devices.

Pro-Tips

• • Some cheap network switches wont put out full power (15w per network connection) -- be careful what you buy

  • Any Cat5e network cable is fine. Don't buy something ridiculously expensive. It all works the same. You'll be dead before it's obsolete, anyway.

  • PoE Network switches are expensive compared to non-PoE. Get used to it and think how much you saved not having an electrician install a power outlet.

  • If you only have a single PoE device, an inline-PoE pump can be purchased that will power up just one network cable.

Why PoE is awesome

• • If the power goes out -- your PoE switch can keep all your RFID readers running.

  • If the power goes out -- your PoE switch can keep all your VIDEO cameras running.

    • And, no doubt someone says, "There's no light though!" -- so use infrared.

  • No electricity needed. Getting electric outlets installed is no fun. Network cabling is easy.

  • No one bumps the big transformer off the power outlet.