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I'm looking to replace our aging Wireless Access Points with new panels and it would be great if they used POE so that we didn't have to find places to stick the adapters etc.
If we buy a POE enabled AP then is that all we need or do we need some sort of 'power transmitter' to actually send power over the cat5e cables?
The switch that the AP is connected needs to be PoE compatible/enabled or you need to ge some little convertors. These plug between the switch and network cable and plug into power in your cabinet.
I think thats all you need.
Yes, you will require a transmitter at a power source and a receiver at the WAP end.
http://www.altair.org/labnotes_POE.html
http://www.smarthome.com/images/6308side1big.jpg
http://www.poweroverethernet.com/art...article_id=271
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet
We use HP kit here, and used their Wireless stuff We also adopted POE in three locations. We have since removed all three and had electicians put some real power in.
We found the HP WAP's would over heat and lock up very frequently. Almost daily. Letting them cool down for 10 minutes got them working again.
Ours were installed by a professional company too, so it wasn't anything dodgy.
It may be that we've just had a bad experience of it and others may love it.
My advise it to try it in one location first for a trial period.
You need a POE switch or a POE adaptor. My Dlinks have an adaptor at the cabinet end theres a little box that the power plugs into then theres two sockets for you network lead:
1 for data (attached to switch)
1 for data and power (plugs into patch panel)
At the AP there is another little box that takes the network feed in one end and splits the data and power out into a little power leat and a cat 5 lead.
In the case of a POE enabled device I assume it plugs straight into the POE enabled switch and does it all for you or in the case of using an adaptor it doesnt need the other little box at the AP end. That is an assumption though and not fact :D
Ideally you need a PoE enabled switch. This is hilariously expensive. You can also buy 'in-line' converters that will add PoE to a Ethernet cable though.
Word of warning though. Kids + paper clips + PoE sockets = fire in switch cabinet.
I moved all my outlets up to the ceiling to keep them out of harms way.
Yep just need PoE APs and a switch with PoE ports. Currently Use D-Link 3200APs and Netgear PoE switches. £200 ish will get you a 24p switch with 12 PoE enabled ports. They do a 48p with 24 PoE ports but not sure the cost on that.
We use the HP Wireless gear also with the PoE boxes. No problems at all in the 8 or 9 months of use. Let me know if you want the details of the hardware we are using.
Cisco Aironets (1231) here, all running with power injectors for PoE.
Had the same setup as Tony at the last place, 10 aironet 1231s with PoE injectors, i made sure the cables were colour coded (green in the cab) so i knew they were running PoE, all sockets (and APs for that matter) were mounted out of reach of the students.
We're going over to a centrally managed (3Com) wireless network in the summer.
There will be PoE injectors in the cabs - cheaper than PoE switches throughout school.
Each WAP will be high on wall and in a plastic enclosure to prevent damage or theft.
I like the idea of colour coding PoE devices with CAT5 cables... should have thought of that myself...
We're going for a dual band system that's also going to end up handling VoIP so that the IT tech staff can be contacted anywhere in school.
On a vaguely related note, does anyone know if there's anything like a wireless tannoy system - it's just that we need something that can be used throughout school without having to run extra cabling - we can't use the CAT5 cabling for a tannoy type system as we have a fibre backbone?
Really something like VoIP speakers with a VoIP microphone unit in reception
Or even something that will plug into the network that doesn't rely on being wireles - just IP based?
Sounds a nice system, i love coloured patch leads you cannot beat them!
Videk do a large range of short, coloured patch cables if anyone's interested :)