IPCamPower's POE Lighting System - "POE Lighting Simplified"

Thanks for visiting! Sit back, relax, and get ready to learn about one of the coolest things to hit the low voltage market! 

What is POE Lighting? 

If you've been in this industry, you may have heard about POE lighting. Perhaps you haven't heard of it at all. POE lighting is simply a light that is powered by POE power (Power Over Ethernet). This means you can use a POE Switch or POE Injector to power a light.

The cool thing about POE lighting is that it is all low voltage and does not require expensive electrical wiring and does not require the hiring of an expensive electrician. All you need is a POE Switch, some standard network cable like Cat5 or Cat6, and a POE capable light.

At any rate, POE lighting is nothing new. However most POE lighting equipment that has been designed so far has been geared towards commercial and industrial projects. Think commercial grade rectangular grid ceiling lights and heavy duty outdoor lights. Not only this, these commercial grade POE lights require the use of a high powered industrial grade smart managed POE switch that requires software programming and/or specialized inline light switches to control them.

Don't get us wrong, these commercial grade POE lighting systems are really cool. But what if you need something more simple and cost effective? That is where IPCamPower's POE Lighting System comes in!

Why is IPCamPower's POE Lighting System Different?

Our POE lighting system is a much more simplified and cost effective product compared to any other POE lighting system on the market today. You do not need to do any networking or software programming with our system. You do not even need to know what an IP address is to set one of our systems up. If you have ever plugged a network cable into a router or a switch, then you have all the skills needed to set one of these systems up. Furthermore, our POE Lighting system can be used in residential and small business settings.

Let's take a closer look on how this actually works.

How The IPCamPower POE Lighting System Works

There are 4 main components to our POE Lighting System:

#1) The POE Power Supply:

You can use most standard types of POE switches or injectors to power the POE Receiver. You can even use ports from a POE NVR if you wanted to! For most applications, a POE switch that pushes atleast 15 watts per port will be enough to power the receiver. However, if you want to reach the maximum power output capabilities of the receiver, we recommend a POE power source of atleast 17 watts.

Lets look at the power requirements more indepth and the different strengths of POE power that are available on today's switches and injectors.

• 802.3af (Standard POE) = about 15 watts of power per port. For most applications, this will be enough to power most of our lighting devices. This should be the minimum POE wattage used with our system.
• 802.3at (POE+) = 25-30 watts of power per port. This is the recommended POE strength that we suggest using for our POE lighting devices as it will provide the highest power output from the POE receiver to your light.
• 802.3bt (POE++) = This will work just fine with our POE receiver but it is overkill for the application. This type of power is usually used for industrial grade POE lighting projects, however the IPCamPower POE Lighting System is much less power hungry and does not need this much power to operate. 

So chances are, if you have an open POE port(s) on your switch or POE NVR, you more than likely have enough juice to power the POE receiver. However, stay away from some of the older, early model POE switches that only push 7.5 watts as this wont be enough power. Also, the uncommon passive POE power will not work with this system either.

If you don't already have a POE switch and you need a recommendation, all of IPCamPower's POE Switches and Injectors work great with our POE Lighting System!

#2) The POE Receiver:

This little device takes incoming POE power in one end and converts it to 12V DC power out the other end which can then power 12V DC Powered Lights (and other devices!).

Not only that, this device comes equipped with a wireless receiver that receives a signal from the wireless light switch. When you push the wireless light switch, it will send a signal to the POE receiver to turn on/off the 12V current to the light, essentially turning it into a light switch system!

#3) The Wireless Light Switch:

This simple device is a battery operated light switch that you will program (learn in) to a POE Receiver. This requires no wiring at all and can easily be installed anywhere with the included double sided tape. You can use multiple light switches to control one or more lights.

#4) The Light:

The light will be installed nearby the POE Receiver as the POE Receiver is what will ultimately power the light. Depending on which lights you are using and how much power they consume, you may be able to power multiple lights on one POE Receiver.

Building a System

Now that we know how the POE lighting system works and the main components, let's build a system!