Power over Ethernet (PoE) basics and beyond

I recently needed to buy a new power supply for my Mikrotik router (hAP ac²), so I decided to just buy a Ubiquiti PoE injector instead.

It feels magical to have the PoE injector tucked in a cupboard with the optical network terminal, and outside Narnia, the router has only one cable going to it. Also, the Ubiquiti PoE injectors are particularly satisfying. Powered by standard AC cables, and a nice simple design. Now that I've experienced this magic, I'm not going back!

However, as much as I love the hAP ac², it only accepts passive PoE. I don't love passive PoE - it scares me! Unfortunately, it seems like most (all?) Mikrotik routers only accept passive PoE.

Does anyone know of a good alternative when it comes time to replace my router? I would have liked it to be Ubiquiti, but I don't usually read positive things about them around here.

You can get the inverse of an injector that takes active PoE and makes a barrel plug out of it.

> It feels magical to have the PoE injector tucked in a cupboard with the optical network terminal, and outside Narnia, the router has only one cable going to it.

Last time I remember feeling like that was the day I unplugged a RB5009 and it... just kept running. Was standing there holding the power cable in my hand, clearly unplugged, and the router was sitting there still happily blinking away. Like, this clearly can't be possible but I'm staring right at it and it's happening.

Took me a minute, but eventually realized the Starlink box that provides power to the dish _also_ provides power on the local side for their provided router as well, and apparently it was happily powering mine now.

Thanks for reminding me of that! I considered that when I was finding it hard to find a passive PoE injector.

It's not quite as tidy, for example, with the router sitting visibly on a desk, but it's close. And you're right that it could work for anything.