PoE and Bela Unit

prko

Does Bela Unit support PoE? It would be cool even though Bela could be powered on only connected with an ETHERNET cable without any cables!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet

BeagleBone Black seems to not support PoE, thus we seem to need then PoE Splitter which supports 5V DC. However, what is the minimum and maximum ampere? It would be required to select PoE splitter!

I appreciate any help you can provide.

Best regards,

giuliomoro

500mA should be more than enough

prko

Thank you for your quick reply.

Regretfully, only the following product shows the ampere. 5V 2A:
https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/accessory/tl-poe10r/

Can I use it? As far as I know, it would be no issue when using a power adapter with a higher ampere than the ampere which the connected device really requires.

Am I correct?

giuliomoro

that looks fine yes, though I have no direct experience with it.

prko

Thank you!
I will try to do it, and report here the result!

prko

I have been testing the Bela unit via a PoE+ connection!

Currently, I do not have a POE+ switch hub such as "24-Port Gigabit Ethernet PoE+ Smart Switch":
- https://www.netgear.com/uk/business/wired/switches/smart-cloud/gs724tpp/

Thus, I purchased a PoE+ injector and a PoE+ splitter such as the followings (There is no product information in English on the product I bought.):

The power cable from the POE+ splitter is split using a splitter (1 Male to 2 Female Way DC Power Splitter Cable Barrel Plug 5.5 x 2.1mm) such as the following model (The cable I purchased, is much cheaper than the product below, and there is no information on the manufacturer, but it seems to work well):

The amplifier is a PCB amplifier TPA3116:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001987041167.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.5f5a6afdmeJgfo&algo_pvid=9eda3d89-e621-46de-9305-dcbe1c30e05d&aem_p4p_detail=202110180439171064894666174000000375381&algo_exp_id=9eda3d89-e621-46de-9305-dcbe1c30e05d-9&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000018323815207%22%7D

According to the information on the TPA3116, it works when the power input is from 12 to 24 volts. However, it works with 5 volts. I suppose that the amperes from the splitter are enough to let TPA3116 work. However, I am not sure about it. The important thing is that it works!

The test seems to be successful. I tested it for almost over one hour!
My Bela unit works well!

I am delighted to see this positive result!

I only need Ethernet cables and a PoE+ splitter per Bela unit to use Bela unit with an amplifier and a loudspeaker!

I suppose that it should work for an amplifier with multiple loudspeakers if the whole Watt for the device set allocated to one PoE+ splitter does not exceed 30 W!