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Power over Ethernet (PoE) basics and beyond

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257 points voxadam | 1 comments | 16 Oct 25 14:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | 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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wmf ◴[22 Oct 25 01:57 UTC] No.45664107[source]▶
Probably USB-C wall outlets will end up solving this instead.
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1. stego-tech ◴[22 Oct 25 12:20 UTC] No.45667939[source]▶
I thought so as well when USB-C was first seeing widespread adoption, but now I’m not so sure. High-end PoE deployments can reach 90W of power down the line, and even HDBASE-T can support 100W of power down the line. Combined with the 8P8C connector both use (which is easy to field repair or replace and has positive retention), and I’d much rather see more structured ethernet runs and outlets with PoE/HDBASE-T for all but the most demanding or performant kit.