This calculator allows you to calculate the voltage drop and required power
supply for homebrew Power over Ethernet hardware. What's Power over Ethernet?
Check out this page.
Just enter your information in the five "Device Information" boxes and click
on "Compute". The input boxes have been initially filled in with generic information to save a
second or two for testing.
Important Note! The two most important inputs for power over anything are wire gauge and amps used. Wire gauge is easy to figure out
(it's either 22 or 24 for common Ethernet cable) but actual input amps is much trickier. You see, most devices list their maximum current
draw, not their "normal" draw. So if your access point says "6V at 1.5A" and is
100 feet away on 22 gauge wire, you would be tempted to use a 7.2V supply. But
the AP probably only really pulls in half an amp or less under normal
conditions, so you should be feeding it just 6.4V. You can fry your
equipment by putting too much voltage into it! So what to do? Simple, just
measure the normal current draw when the device is in use. Don't have the tools?
Well, then, just guess. Most devices that don't have a hard disk, Pentium 4, or
other power sucker actually draw very little current, making this whole
calculator less useful than you might think. Guess the actual draw by reducing
the listed amps by 50% to 75%. And hope for the best!
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