Power FAQ

What is the power consumption for the Ethernet Extenders?All our power adapters are 5v – 2A 10W The power consumption to be roughly 500mw for operation of any of our Ethernet Extenders.

Loads – Min 0A, Max 2A The 860 and 865 have a standby current of 640mA (3.2W) and operating current of 700mA (3.5W)

Ripple 100mV Power consumption is less than 800mw (4W) at startup

Can I use Solar Power for the Ethernet Extenders?

Yes, certainly we do have several customers that use solar to DC converters. For DC power you can purchase aftermarket 5v 2W DC adapters 2.1mm center power head. Some use a DC to AC converter to connect to a standard PoE injector that will power remote PoE equipment like IP PoE Cameras, or PoE WiFi Access Points.

Will the 820 work with any manufacturer’s wireless Access Point?

Yes, if using a IEEE 802.3af standard PoE injector or PoE midspan switch. Cisco PoE switches do not work as they do not startup in a 802.3af mode by default and can’t configure itself for Long Reach Ethernet.

We recommend using a standalone PoE Injector when in doubt.

IEEE 802.3af standard passes power over Ethernet on pins 4,5,7 & 8. Using a straight through CAT5e cable for PoE – Pins 1,2,3, and 6 carry the data while pins 4,5,7, and 8 carry power PoE injectors can come in(24,48 and 56V) variations. PoE equipment on the other hand can be any voltage up to 56V. Each PoE Equipment mfg. has a built in regulator that takes whatever voltage coming out of a PoE/Data cable and conditions it down to what it needs.

Voltage drops over distance using wires. At 200M, you lose maybe 4 or 6 volts. At 48VDC, that leaves you with 42 volts. You can determine the amount of voltage drop over a distance by finding the resistance of the cable for a specific temperature (given in ohms/1000ft) from the cable manufacturer or electrical wholesaler. If you know the largest amount of current that will flow in the cable, when use the formula: Vdrop = Current X Distance (Ft) X 2 X Ohms per 1000Ft.

As a rule of thumb you will loose 6V per every 100′ – 200′ of wiring, depending on the gauge. Lower power also means more amperage means more heat and perhaps issues with the 24 gauge wires in CAT5. You may need to use 18 gauge wiring. For all intensive purposes anything greater than 400′ use a 48V POE.

Can I use Cisco PoE switches or Injectors?

No, Cisco PoE switches are not smart enough to understand the timing delays for standard Ethernet protocols over Extended Ethernet and the Cisco PoE Switch is unable to figure out the correct output voltage and will shut off the port.
There is no way to force the Cisco PoE switch to comply as they also send PoE signaling out their own signaling pins for startup communications that are blocked. The solution is to use a standalone PoE injector that has no intelligence and just delivers IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet. Enable-IT is developing a PoE Gigabit switch that will be a complete solution for this issue and will be available in December 2008.