Hello Home Assistant community, I’m a new guy here, been trying and testing stuff to plan a smart home setup for my home for around a month and I’m still so very newbie in this area.
My big question is, can I run everything ( those devices with the right wattage of course ) over PoE in my home? Is it safe to do so, reliable and practical? I’ve been doing a lot of research and I like the hardwired idea, but I’m not sure to what extant I can do this.
So far I understood that I can directly connect devices straight to my switch with just an Ethernet cable for each devices for the following categories:
Security: Cameras, doorbells, intercoms - but what about door locks, smoke detectors, flood detectors?
Network: routers, access points
I also understood that apart for PoE, I can also use an Ethernet cable to set up a media centre, thus converting video and audio signals to be carried in a network wire.
Now here comes my confusing part - I understood that anything ( within the right wattage range ) can be run on PoE - but for these devices I’m finding it quite hard to find PoE products to buy, I cannot find any actually for most of these:
Lightening - light switch, light socket ( and I’m guessing it doesn’t matter what bulb it is if socket is PoE )
Sensors - motion, temperature, air quality, plant, etc.
Other devices - blinds, tablets, Garage door??, etc
And most probably I’m forgetting some of the stuff from the lists, but basically I need to set up an electrical plan for my constructor to start working, and I’m really confused about electrical vs network wiring.
My ideal scenario: I will have a little box room which I will turn a part of it ( if not all of it ) as the server and media centre room
Server: a switch or two capable of PoE with all the devices connected to it and controlled from a NUC ( where I have Home Assistant over Proxmox - already setup )
Media Center: TV box, consoles, amps, and any other media boxes stored here and providing media over Ethernet to other media devices.
Is it crazy to rely on PoE as much of possible? I like the idea a lot and sounds future proof.
I would really appreciate if some of you Smart Home Heros can shed some light on this setup, like where to buy the devices, how to wire the home for this setup, what I need to consider and any heads up that can be provided - In my country ( Malta ) this thing is really really new and rare and all smart shops I check are kinda outdated.
I’m no expert, but I think you’re going a little overboard with POE. There are some smart devices that can use it. Like, Ring has a doorbell that can use POE. And some security camera systems. But I don’t think you’re going to find much in the realm of sensors and lighting. Just make sure you have ethernet and good old fashioned power where you will need it.
As for using Ethernet for other things, yes you can. It’s just a bundle of wires. It can’t carry too much power, but if you want to wire in door or window sensors, or contact sensors, or the like, that’s no issue. I wouldn’t use it for powering switches or lights.
Yes you can use Ethernet for A/V or a Media Center. It’s called HDBaseT. You have a paired converter/decoder on opposite ends of an Ethernet cable that you plug an HDMI cable into for your source and destination equipment. You cannot transmit A/V over a network switch with these, they are separate and only connect to each other.
In your post you mentioned wanting to run tablets on POE. My company, Makes By Mike, manufactures mounts that can be used either standalone (where your tablet is powered only by its internal battery) or in conjunction with our slim charging cable and power converters which enable you to hide all cables neatly behind the mount, making for a clean install. After selecting your tablet model, we offer a Passive POE Converter under the charging options!
Thank you for your replies and input on this subject! Your comments helped me realise what is realistically doable now and I can start to conclude my electrical plan.
I really think though that PoE ( direct connection ) is the future of all the low powered devices, because why not! It’s safer, reliable and provides power and data feedback! But who knows, only time will tell.
And this HDBaseT looks really interesting and cool - something that I will be giving a good look!
For anyone else who can share more light on this subject, I am always ready to listen and will keep following this topic.
Made a lot of research out there and I ended up quite disappointed with my findings. There is a neat solution to distribute video and audio and that is AVoverIP - would simply plug in the media device to the existing switch, but this solution is super expensive.
As for using HDBaseT it’s not that cheap either, for future proofing, I would like to have 4K distribution, using PoE, and very low latency for gaming. I found this product that would do here. That’s $4k though not the budget what I was looking for.
Anyone can share their suggestions of their satisfying matrix?
One more thing; I don’t understand how this can be jointly connected with HA UI, is this a possibility?
You will have lag with all distributed video systems, as the signal needs to converted twice (once when putting it ON the cable, once for getting it OFF the cable).
Just make sure you have enough ethernet cables available. Preferably have a power socket near too. My cams, RPI and access points are POE.
Not sure if POE lighting exists, but you definitely don’t want that
You will want/need to pull two Cat6 (or better) cables to each location - one you can use for POE (or just standard ethernet) another that you can use for other lower voltage power distribution and other sensors etc
When we did our renovation we pulled dual cat 6 to each room - two to each wall/light switch and two to each power outlet - its a lot of cable - but the cost is not the cable it is the guys time doing it - so the more you get done now the easier it is.
We went for a basic colour coding - Blue is standard POE ethernet - Grey is CAT6 that can be ethernet if required or can be split out to use for other things - most of these are just left bare with additional slack at each end for flexibility and i punch them down as i need.
My only regret is that i did not put more spare pares in the ceiling of each room (i only ran 1 pair) - these come in useful (if in the right location) for things like PIR sensors, in ceiling speakers, power for NodemCU etc
) as the server and media centre room