Power over Ethernet (PoE) basics and beyond

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257 points voxadam | 3 comments | 16 Oct 25 14:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.63s | source

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stego-tech ◴[22 Oct 25 01:41 UTC] No.45664020[source]▶

PoE is a godsend that should really be in more consumer devices and households, alongside structured wiring. An AppleTV, Chromecast, or NVIDIA Shield can easily fit within the envelope of PoE+, as can many enterprise-grade switches and WAPs (see UniFi as an example). Converting AC to DC once at the switch is more efficient (in resources and often, but not always, power) than including bulky PSUs for every device, while simplifying the ease of setup for end users (in theory).

Whenever possible, I opt for PoE. It’s a damn shame it’s limited to a niche userbase given its myriad advantages.

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1. ianburrell ◴[22 Oct 25 02:37 UTC] No.45664326[source]▶

>>45664020 #

There are finally PoE adapters that give USB-C power and USB Ethernet. Those should allow home theater devices to be powered and use wired Ethernet. But the ones I have found are expensive, but should drop if there is demand.

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2. stego-tech ◴[22 Oct 25 03:26 UTC] No.45664631[source]▶

>>45664326 (TP) #

I already use splitters throughout my stack and devices, but that’s additional material and complexity cost compared to native PoE.

3. addaon ◴[22 Oct 25 05:43 UTC] No.45665269[source]▶

>>45664326 (TP) #

I also haven’t found any bidirectional ones yet, even though the hardware (except maybe the negotiation chip if it’s pure PDE) should be able to support it. Would be really nice for development of PoE devices to just hook up one dongle to my laptop.

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