Will an RB600 run on 24V PoE?
Thanks
Not according to the spec sheet. http://www.routerboard.com/index.php?showProduct=55
PoE over Datalines Yes
PoE 36-56V
How am I supposed to power that with solar?
eben;
You have three options.
- Get a ‘charge pump’ to do a voltage step up from your 12/24v system to 36/48v. I’ve googled quickly for you but can’t find one that fits what you are after, but I’m sure they exist.
- Run your batteries in series and have a system voltage of 48v (this is what we do). Running this way has a risk that when you equalise your batteries system voltage goes too high, so we use AGM batteries and thus don’t equalise.
- Get an DC → AC inverter then use any AC → POE adaptor that works.
Josh.
Josh,
How do you get the solar panels to give you 48V+ ?
How many in series?
Well, that’s a question for a solar system expert which I am not.
Your solar panels have to go through a charge controller of some description, the high end ones have the ability to regulate and step up / down voltages to your battery bank, I have 74v from my solar panels which go through a MPTT Charge controller (Outback MX60’s). My batteries are wired in series to give a nominal voltage of 48v, actually fully charged I get 57v! Your solar panels may also have the ability to run in series, but these are typically higher end / higher spec panels that do this. I don’t know what your solar system comprises of to know if this is even a possibility.
We have 24x 170w 36v panels, in 12 strings of 74v to 2x MX60, charging 36x 245Ahr 12v AGM batteries, in 8 strings of 4 in series (thus 48v).
If you are using Lead Acid batteries, this won’t be possible because you should be equalising them once a month (perhaps more), this equalisation charge with give an over voltage to your POE device causing it to power down. Again I don’t know what batteries you have to know if this is even possible. But I’m guessing you don’t want power outages as a regular set up.
Josh
What about powering them by Jack? Take the power pins of the ethernet cable and put a jack plug in it.. Jack supports 24v
Missed that step. We run POE’s with 2.5mm power cable from one end to the other, so we don’t suffer from voltage drop, we also run POE surge protectors, and ground the boards this way, so we couldn’t do it, but it may work for you eben!
Josh
We’ve previously put a PoE power splitter between the incoming CAT5 feed and the RB inside the cabinet itself and therefore been able to take the power directly into the DC Jack at 24 Volts. 
Thanks guys,
I think 24V via PoE and a PoE splitter will do the trick for what I want to do.
To convert from 24V to 48V, try something like this…