Question

What are the benefits to using a poe switch and cat cable for powering kiosks? Seems overly complex.  

Answer 1

Easier to run low voltage without cutting extra holes in the wall plus if your powering WAPs with it might as well use the extra ports

Comments

@cnidoblast29 that's what I was guessing. It's going on the assumption that there is already lots of cable run?  

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Yes and no. So I have this Somfy roller shade and getting an outlet up there would have been harder than I wanted to do or cost me a couple hundred bucks for an electrician to do but I was able to pull a cat6 cable to it and use a $8 Poe to 12V converter and now it's powered.  

Answer 2

What kind of kiosks?  

Answer 3

Kindle fire 10

Answer 4

Everything I see (regardless of brand) talks about poe switches. I'm just wondering if there is something I am missing. Why not just do dedicated wiring for power?  

Answer 5

Versatility, ease, cost.  

Answer 6

One cord to plug in for power and network is overly complex?  

Comments

@teter89 I guess I need to verse myself on the setup basics more. I can run a cable from an open port on my router to the tablet and get network connection AND power in one shot?  

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If your device supports it then yes.  

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Or using a poe spiltter if it doesn't support poe. just means 1 wire is used that can also be reused as network or something else in the future

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Once you have the ability to poe you will look for new devices that support it. no wall wart or trying to make sure theres an outlet available for your new device.  

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Especially for cameras and access points. usually there isnt an electric outlet available where you would put them.  

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Thank you for the education! Looks like it would be much cleaner and cost effective to buy a POE switch with several ports and plug it into my router which is already centralized in the house.  

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I got one extra plug available in my setup!  

Answer 7

One needs power over ethernet. The other just pluds in like everything else. Poe requires a unit to run the voltage across a cat 5 cable. Both use same cable.  

Answer 8

Just WATCH YOUR TOTAL WATTAGE REQUIREMENTS. Most POE switches cannot deliver the full rated wattage to all POE ports at once. Also, if you're powering something where the device spec reads "POE+ REQUIRED" they mean it; chances are it will not work properly or at all with baseline POE.  

Answer 9

Low voltage devices can be powered this way and often do not require an electrician. Imagine having to run an outlet each of the items you want to power. That would get expensive fast. POE and low voltage NEC rules allow you to save money.  

Comments

Agree so much. Low voltage electrician in many instances

Answer 10

Low voltage runs of anything over a short distance have voltage drop, POE takes care of this. Central power allows a single point to backup. A single UPS and a power loss and everything keeps running.