Low cost, Multi-port (4 min) PoE Hub?

[tazo 0]

I'm looking for an ethernet hub (wired or wireless) that has at least 4 ports that are PoE. I'm having trouble finding one that doesn't cost a few hundred dollars. The only one I've found is the TRENDnet TPE-S44, but it's discontinued.

 

The individual PoE power injectors are pretty cheap and I'm wondering if I'm better off simply powering each ethernet line separatly and forget the all-in-one hub/PoE device.

 

Any thoughts?

Edited July 20, 2008 by Guest

[ak357 0]

I'm looking for an ethernet hub (wired or wireless) that has at least 4 ports that are PoE. I'm having trouble finding one that doesn't cost a few hundred dollars. The only one I've found is the TRENDnet TPE-S44, but it is discontinued.

 

The individual PoE power injectors are pretty cheap and I'm wondering if I'm better off simply powering each ethernet line separatly and forget the all-in-one hub/PoE device.

 

Any thoughts?

 

$120

 

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=202798&cm_ven=COMPARISON%20SHOPPING&cm_cat=GOOGLE&cm_pla=DATAFEED->PRODUCTS&cm_ite=1%20PRODUCT&cm_keycode=4&om_keycode=4

[tazo 0]

Not bad... I'll look into it.

 

Apparently the TRENDnet TPE-S44 hub I found is not discontinued, and is still available for $70.

 

Any pitfalls I should look for, like camera power consumption or voltage requirements?

[ak357 0]

Not bad... I'll look into it.

 

Apparently the TRENDnet TPE-S44 hub I found is not discontinued, and is still available for $70.

 

Any pitfalls I should look for, like camera power consumption or voltage requirements?

 

Clause 33 of IEEE 802.3-2005 (commonly referred to as IEEE 802.3af) is how Power over Ethernet is usually implemented. It provides a device selectable 36–57 V DC, though usually 48 V, over two of the four available pairs on a Cat. 3/Cat. 5e cable with a selectable current of 10–400 mA subject to a maximum load power of 15.40 W

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet

[CollinR 0]

BTW with IP cameras the last thing you want is a hub, luckily ak357 linked you to a real switch. Hubs are cheaper (however they are kinda pre PoE) but pass all data from all ports, kinda like a splitter in a cable tv network. Switches are smart enough to recreate packets and trasmit them to the specific port required to connect to the destination.

 

This isn't a problem with a couple few VGA MPEG4 cameras but can add up with MPJEG and certainly megapixel.

 

You should also have a gigabit connection to the DVR.

[Thomas 0]

I'd also be very worried about low end PoE equipment. It's a pretty new feature for networking gear and one that has the potential to damage equipment if it's implemented poorly on the hardware.

[tazo 0]

BTW with IP cameras the last thing you want is a hub, luckily ak357 linked you to a real switch.

 

You should also have a gigabit connection to the DVR.

 

Ahh... good point about the hub vs. switch issue.

 

Thomas, regarding low end PoE equipment, what do I look for in the specs. that would indicate what is low vs. high end?

[Thomas 0]

BTW with IP cameras the last thing you want is a hub, luckily ak357 linked you to a real switch.

 

You should also have a gigabit connection to the DVR.

 

Ahh... good point about the hub vs. switch issue.

 

Thomas, regarding low end PoE equipment, what do I look for in the specs. that would indicate what is low vs. high end?

 

Brand is the fastest way. I generally perfer to work with the quality gear like Cisco's or Juniper's stuff. In the middle range 3com and D-Link have some solid gear. But all of that stuff is fairly pricey. Linksys on the low end has some okay PoE stuff. But a PoE switch for $70 would cause me to run in terror unless I knew the company name.

 

Specs are harder to compare. You need to start looking at OEM's and trying to figure out who makes what.

[kalpesh_nikumbh 0]

ensure your switch have some non POE ( normal ) port also!!

 

I saw some POE switches having all POE Ports.... in such case Connected non POE Laptops is not possible!!

 

Regards,

 

Kalpesh

[Thomas 0]

ensure your switch have some non POE ( normal ) port also!!

 

I saw some POE switches having all POE Ports.... in such case Connected non POE Laptops is not possible!!

 

Regards,

 

Kalpesh

 

Pretty much all modern PoE gear uses a chip to determine if the other end is looking for PoE or not. Some older equipment doesn't have that but it should be fairly rare.

[kalpesh_nikumbh 0]

Thanks for sharing Thomas!!

& igniting my interest to find such PoE with Cisco...

 

Good Article to read about:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns340/ns394/ns147/ns412/networking_solutions_white_paper09186a008026641c.shtml

 

Regards,

 

Kalpesh