Everything You Need to Know About Industrial PoE Switch

Needless to say, the device needs power to operate. In this regard, PoE switches offer a solution to supply power to power equipment up with only one Ethernet cable. PoE switches are divided into commercial PoE switches and industrial PoE switches according to different application scenarios. And this article introduces in detail the application scenarios and advantages of industrial PoE switches, as well as the comparison between commercial PoE switches and industrial PoE switches, I hope it can be of reference to you.

What Is Industrial PoE Switch?

In recent years, industrial power over ethernet (PoE) switches have been used more and more widely. Industrial PoE switches, also known as “hardened” PoE switches or “rugged” PoE switches, are PoE switch equipment used in the industrial control field, however, commercial PoE switches are usually used in office and indoor environments Industrial PoE switches, as the name suggests, are the best choice for industrial or certain harsh environments. Under normal circumstances, industrial PoE switches are used in harsh environments with extreme conditions and limited resources, such as extremely low or high temperatures. From this we can think of some harsh scenarios that require the use of industrial switches, such as Traffic road monitoring, security monitoring, wind power photovoltaic, coal mine and other fields.

What Should Industrial PoE Switch Feature?

Industrial PoE switches have a set of features. The key points are summarized as the following：

Multiple PoE Standards Available

Industrial PoE switches support multiple poe standards, can carry multiple poe power and current, and meets the access requirements of multiple powered device in industrial scenarios.

Fast Ring network, Fast Redundancy

ERPS (Ethernet Ring Protection Switching) links networks together for redundancy, which enables failover protection in sub-50ms. Since any network downtime (even just a few seconds) can cause critical errors and operational issues, ERPS are often used in some industrial scenario such as surveillance, automated facilitates, mining, utilities, and waste management.

Super Anti-interference Performance

Industrial PoE switches can work in harsh electromagnetic environments, and have high levels of protection in terms of lightning protection, waterproofing, corrosion protection, impact protection, and static electricity protection.

Adapting to a Wide Temperature Environment

Industrial Poe switches generally use a corrugated metal shell,a fanless design, better heat dissipation, stronger protection, and can work normally in the temperature range of -40°C~75°C, and can well adapt to complex temperatures and humidity.

Redundant Power Supply Design

Power supply is a very important part of industrial PoE switches. Power failures generally account for more than 35% of the equipment failure rate. In order to avoid the trouble caused by power failures, industrial PoE switches adopt dual power supply redundancy design to ensure stable and reliable operation of the system.

Long Service Life

Industrial PoE switches adopt industrial-grade solutions from housing materials to supporting components, so the product is more reliable and has a longer service life.

Safety Performance

Industrial PoE switches can automatically detect whether to supply power and how much current it supplies. When the port does not need power supply, it can automatically stop powering. In this way, when multiple devices are connected in an industrial scene, it can avoid the situation that high power causes the device to burn out. (Not Limited to the Above Features)

Industrial PoE Switch vs Commercial PoE Switch

In fact, there is essentially no difference between industrial PoE switches and commercial PoE switches. However, due to the different application scenarios, their functions and operating modes are still different. It is necessary to compare them in all aspects here. (Because there are some differences in some comparison items, take the two common FS products as an example.)

Do I Need an Industrial PoE Switch?

Before considering if you need an industrial PoE switch, you should consider first if there are some bad scenes where you need to use it. So the application scenario is the most worthy of your consideration.

If you want to install a poe switch in harsh environments, such as traffic control cabinets, factory workshops, and outdoor locations with extremely low or extremely high temperatures, industrial PoE switches are very suitable.

If you want to connect PoE-powered end devices such as IP cameras, phones, wireless access points, sensors, and more, industrial-grade poe switches are also a good choice. In addition, unmanaged industrial PoE switches have limited functions and are suitable for small and medium-sized network scenarios; managed industrial PoE switches have flexible networking solutions and are mostly used in the connection layer of large, medium and small networks. FS managed industrial PoE switches are good choices.

According to the application scenario, it should be easy to find the type of industrial-grade switch that is directly needed, and then consider some switch characteristics, and then you can find a suitable switch for yourself. Hopefully this can provide beneficial help to everyone.

Conclusion

Industrial PoE switches and commercial PoE switches are basically the same in terms of functions, but industrial PoE switches are used in harsh environments, so they have some features that commercial PoE switches do not have. When you choose an industrial PoE switch, you must consider its safety and compatibility, etc., then choose a suitable industrial PoE switch.