PoE Lighting

PoE stands for Power over Ethernet and refers to the ability to use an Ethernet cord to carry network data and electrical power on twisted pair Ethernet cabling (CAT5e/Cat6). This allows a single data cable to provide both data connection and electric power to devices such as wireless access points and IP cameras. LEDs outperform the lumens output of the older technologies, now, PoE standard can deliver 30W and UPOE can deliver up to 60W of power, that’s enough to get those LEDs working and communicating

LEDs are inherently low-voltage DC devices. To ensure compatibility with traditional AC power, most LED drivers for lighting use an AC-to-DC converter to convert the AC mains power to a lower DC voltage. This conversion process reduces system efficiency, so designers have proposed DC-based power systems.

Today, you can provide the DC power to LED lamps with PoE technology, which is regulated by the IEEE 802.3 standard, originally released in 2003 and updated in 2009. This standard specifies that power and communication data be delivered across a single standard network cable (i.e., Cat5) directly to the connected devices. Power is provided via the power-sourcing equipment (PSE) located in the switch/hub. The connected device receiving the power (i.e., the LED lamp in our example) is called a powered device (PD).

Powered by PoE, each LED light fixture can be a standard RJ-45 connector plug-and-play device with its own individually addressable IP address. Moreover, adding sensors to the LED fixture transforms it from a lighting-only fixture to a smart LED hub. With this configuration, each intelligent LED hub can collect information on ambient lighting, temperature, humidity, and anonymous room-occupancy data which it then communicates back to a controller.

Initially, one may wonder why they should adopt PoE lighting when LEDs provide significant power savings immediately. In general, the top PoE benefits include:

Benefits of PoE Lighting

• Further cost savings
• Power and data over single-layer infrastructure
• Uses DC power - ideal for LEDs
• Enhanced control and flexibility
• Easy, low-voltage installation
• Is low-voltage and safe to install; no electrical certification and inspection required
• Is future proof and upgradable; each light and sensor has an IP address that can be reconfigured at any time
• PoE converges the electric and communication control network onto a single infrastructure
• PoE LEDs allows administrators to set policies on each light

Call us today to discuss your PoE Lighting needs!

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