Practical Use of PoE Technology

Now power over Ethernet switch gains great popularity among many users which utilizes PoE technology. But still some people know little about PoE technology. This article will focus on practical use of PoE technology.

Practical Use of PoE Technology: PoE switch and PoE-compatible Devices

When connected with other network devices, PoE switch will detect whether they are PoE-compatible devices and enable power automatically. Therefore, it is the simplest solution to add PoE to your network by using PoE switch and PoE-compatible devices.

Practical Use of PoE Technology: Non-PoE switch and PoE-compatible Devices

Non-PoE switch can support PoE function when connected to PoE injector by a network cable. Then PoE-compatible devices are connected to PoE injector. The whole cabling solution is completed. It is not hard to see PoE injector can be used to upgrade existing LAN installations to PoE, especially when fewer PoE ports are required.

Practical Use of PoE Technology: PoE switch and Non-PoE Devices

In this cabling solution, PoE switch has to be connected to PoE splitter which separates the data and power transmission. The PoE splitter has two output lines, one is the power output line and the other is network data signal output line. For example, you need one cat5e ethernet cable to connect PoE switch with PoE splitter, another one cat5e ethernet cable to connect PoE splitter with non-PoE device. In addition, you have to add power cable between PoE splitter and non-PoE device. Finally, the whole deployment will work.

Practical Use of PoE Technology: Non-PoE switch and Non-PoE Devices

Both PoE injector and PoE splitter are used in this cabling solution. PoE switch connects to the PoE injector, then the PoE splitter, and finally transmits to non-PoE devices. In fact, this solution makes cabling more complicated. But if you need, you can do it.

Note: To help you have a better understanding of practical use of PoE technology, the above four cabling solutions are shown in the following figure.

Conclusion

PoE technology can support data and power transmission over one network cable at the same time, which simplifies the cabling process. I hope after reading this article, you can know more about practical use of PoE technology. What’s more, before you plan to use PoE, choosing quality and cheap PoE switch and network cable is important, or you may get poor network performance.