Do you want to know about PoE switches? Do you want information about the 24 port PoE switch? Are you a startup or typical enterprise looking for the best PoE switch for your business? If yes, then stick to this article.
First, let’s define watt. In simple words, a watt is a unit of power named after the inventor of the steam engine. It shows the amount of energy that an electronic item needs to function. For example, some things need 5W and 9W, while others need more to run their activities.
PoE stands for Power over Ethernet that can carry both data and electrical power over the network cables. There are varieties of PoE switch available on the market. A 24 port switch is one of them.
A 24 port PoE switch has 24 ports in it. So you can easily connect up to 24 power-hungry PDs to the network at the same time.
It is very flexible and reliable. It can break the rope of local electrical wiring. That implies you can easily place it on the wall, desktop, or in any place you need.
That’s it! Now that you know the meaning of watt and 24-ports PoE, explain how many watts a 24-port PoE uses.
What Is the Power Consumption of a POE Switch?
PoE switch is a network switch that connects other network devices to the switch as usual via Ethernet cabling. It comes up with a variety of ports.
You can get 8/12/24/48 port PoE switches in the market. You can read How Many Ports Switches Do I need? to gain more information.
Moreover, you can also get managed and unmanaged PoE switches. Here is my post explaining the differences between managed and unmanaged PoE switches.
To understand or know the PoE power consumption, you should know the two most relevant PoE standards, i.e., 802.3af and 802.3at.
For example, you may get 15W of power through the older 802.3af standard. Likewise, the newer 802.3at standard, known as PoE+, provides power up to 30 watts.
You may lose power when you plug the cable in the PoE switch. It depends on the length of the cable you have. A longer cable loses more power than a shorter one.
You can get a minimum of 12.95 watts of power for the PoE switch and 25.5 watts of power for the PoE+ switch.
Understanding 24 Port PoE Switch Power Consumption
The power consumption of the PoE switch depends on the number of ports. Higher the ports, higher can be the consumption of power. Lower the ports lower can be the consumption of power.
This network switch helps you connect 24 electronic items to the network using the Ethernet cable. It needs fewer cables and is ideal for network upgrades.
For example, small eight ports PoE switches can consume 130W to 250W of power to operate their function, whereas 48 ports PoE switches may use 600W of power or even higher than this.
A 24 port PoE switch can be the appropriate and workable solution for the wide network application. Here, I will explain two aspects of 24 port PoE switch power consumption.
Total Power Consumption
Power consumption of a 24 port switch refers to the maximum total power that the PoE switch provides to all the connected devices.
That means the total power wattage of all the connected devices may not exceed the power consumption of the 24 port PoE switch.
Thus, you have to calculate the total power wattage of the PoE-powered devices. You can do so before deciding on how much power consumption of the PoE switches to use.
Power Consumption Per Port
Per-port power consumption is another parameter of the 24 port PoE switch. We can define per-port power consumption by PoE or PoE+ standard.
PoE supports 15W power per port. But, because of transmission loss, you may get 12.95W input power.
Similarly, the PoE+ supports 30W of power, but you may get a minimum of 25.5W of input power per port.
How Many Devices Can You Connect to 24 Port PoE Switch?
Like I said earlier, the 24 Port PoE switch enables you to connect electronic devices to the network. But how many devices can you connect to this network? I know you are curious to know this answer.
To know this answer, we must know about the two essential elements that make up a network.
Power Sourcing Equipment’s (PSE)
Power sourcing equipment enables you to source power along with data on twisted-pair Ethernet cables.
In simple words, power sourcing equipment is a device that supplies power to the Ethernet cable. For example, switches or hubs are power sourcing equipment. Also, it comes up with a predetermined total PoE budget.
Powered Devices (PDs)
Powered devices are electronic devices connected to the PoE switch through Ethernet cables. These devices can be IP cameras, WAPS, and VOIPS.
Simply, powered devices mean devices that we connect to the network. The devices can come up with unique power or wattage. But, the total power of the devices must be less than the total PoE budget of PSE.
So, I hope that now you are clear about this question. To determine how many devices you can connect to a 24 port PoE switch, you must understand the two factors; how much power your 24 port PoE switch can supply to the devices and how much power your network devices need.
For a 24 port switch, you must look for the ‘PoE Budget’ or ‘Power Dedicated to PoE’ value. PoE Budget or Power Dedicated to PoE is the total power the switch contains. It divides between PoE devices connected to the network.
Thus, a 24 ports PoE switch based on 802.3af has a total PoE budget of 300 watts. So, when you use it at optimum capacity, the maximum power consumption per watt would be 12.5 watts per port.
PDs supply a maximum of 15.4 watts of power. That means, remaining power will stay unused and may not overpower PDs. For example, suppose you want to calculate the number of PoE-enabled devices supported by 24 ports PoE switch. Then, divide the total PoE budget by 15.4 watts.
Final Thoughts!
In the end, let me give you the bottom line of this post. The 24 port switch is the Power over Ethernet technology that has 24 ports in it. It carries power on the electric cables that can help connect the network devices to the switch.
It is the best option for small or medium enterprises because it is cost-effective for simplifying network deployment and maintenance. In addition, it provides the benefit of security, management efficiency, and superior performance.
A mid-size 24 port PoE switch can be appropriate for the wide network application. It is affordable and has a high capacity. Besides, it is flexible, so you can easily place it in any place as per your requirements. It is different from traditional distributed wall sockets.
So, do you want to connect VOIP phones, IP cameras, and wireless APs? Then, look no further and go for a 24 port PoE switch. This switch upgrades your network to a higher capacity and helps you centralize the cabling functions for power supply and data transmission.
