I wanted to get an honest assessment of the performance of the RB450Gx4 compared to the Ubiquiti Edgemax Edgerouter Lite/POE (ERL / ER-5-POE). I only need one 48V POE out. I also think having all the ports on the switch chip is more flexible.
I am trying to understand which will perform better for Gigabit Internet with basic SOHO firewall. I’m most interested in multiple client performance vs single client speed tests.
Advantages or disadvantages?
Is the RB450Gx4 POE out capable of 48V? If so, is it dependent on the power supply? How many watts?
Powering
The device accepts power in the following ways:
direct-input power jacks J1/J2 (5.5mm outside and 2mm inside diameter, female, pin positive plug) both accept 10-57V DC.
Ether1 Ethernet port accepts 12-57V DC input (at the board; higher voltage needed to compensate for power loss on long cables) from 802.3af/at or passive Power over Ethernet sources.
Max total power consumption with all interfaces loaded is 5 W. You can use any or all inputs at the same time, they will work in failover mode.
Extension slots and ports
The first Ethernet port accepts 8-30V DC powering from a passive PoE injector or 802.3af/at PoE switch. Use 12V or more to compensate for any losses in cables.
The other four Ethernet ports do not support PoE input.
The Ether5 port is capable of powering another RouterBOARD device with passive PoE (up to 57 V). The maximum output current is 500 mA.
Passive PoE-Out up to 57 V - Works same as low voltage (up to 30 V) PoE-Out, but is also capable to deliver high voltage over PoE ports. The output voltage depends from the power source connected to PSE. Can power up af/at compatible devices, which accepts power over 4,5 (+) and 7,8 (-), and does not require PoE negotiation. PD resistance on spare pairs should have range from 3kΩ to 26.5kΩ. (e.g. cAP ac, hAP ac, wsAP ac lite.)
I guess that power consumption is calculated with offered powering options (18POW and 24HPOW) in mind, they both supply 24V. So 0.5A * 24V = 12W .. and 4W+12W=16W … I guess that max power consumption in MT’s specs is not something cast in stone, it’s merely an approximation to get idea about what kind of power is power adapter supposed to provide. As you’ll use 48V power adapter, PoE out will provide max 24W (0.5A) and router’s own consumption will still be around 4W (probably slightly more than with 24V PA as DC-DC down-converters will be a bit less efficient).
Mind that MT devices always provide same voltage on PoE out as supplied (it doesn’t do internal voltage conversions) … so you’ll need 48V power adapter for powering TPlink EAP610.
When it comes to Mikrotik’s PoE (and calculations), things get wildly … interesting
BTW, TPlink EAP610 V2 specs I found say that for EU power consumption is 12.3W (when using 12V DC power adapter) or 13.7W (when using 48V PoE) … so it seems that internal DC-DC down-converter wastes 1.4W due to higher supply voltage when using PoE. The 12.8W you’re mentioning is specified for US (and rises to 14.2W for PoE; again 1.4W of difference).
