Hello,
I am currently stuck at the moment and very new to this. I have my FlightAware antenna, filter and ProStick (orange) and I am unable to mount it on the house or roof.
I have to place it away from the house on an separate structure with my other antennas but I would need at least an 85 foot coax run. I could just use LMR-400 (SMA to N male) but I understand I would be losing some of my signal. Then I thought of what if I have the radio at the antenna and just use a short 1-2 foot RG-6 run. This could work if I put the laptop outside which I am not going to do, then the idea of an Raspberry Pi came to mind. This could work with WiFi but how would it be powered? Then after some thinking I thought of what if I use ‘Power Over Ethernet’ since CAT5 is cheap.
The issue here is that it sounds like a good idea but I have no experience with PoE since I never owned and needed it before.
So how can I do this? Do you guys have any ideas? What stuff would I need to get?
I have two devices running POE in my attic.
An Odroid XU4 and a radaracape. The Odroid required a special POE unit as it needs 3-5Amps.
The Radarcape was fine with just a STD Netgear 8 port POE switch (currently a NETGEAR ProSafe GS108P but I have a replacement NETGEAR ProSAFE GS108PE I need to install). I ran an RPI3 for a while but needed more power for the Airspy. Just get decent POE splitters for the attic.
I have 150ft of cat 5e running from the basement, up the side of the house to the attic. No issues in 6 months.
I’m probably looking at getting an Raspberry Pi 3 – Model B with the ProStick, not to sure on how much power it needs though.
Your Radarcape does look nice but way to expensive for me.
POE is definitely a reliable way to remotely power and transfer data with one cable. FlightAware has an Piaware box on the roof that has been running off POE for almost 3 years.
The parts required is a POE injector and POE splitter. These usually come in a kit with both parts (search for POE kits) or you can get them built into a switch (search for POE switch). POE switch will require a separately bought POE splitter.
The POE splitter has one input (ethernet cable) and two outputs (ethernet and power). The power output must be able to do 5V to power the Raspberry Pi. Most POE devices have a switch to select the voltage. If the voltage its not set to 5V you might fry the Raspberry Pi fuse. If the power connector is a barrel connector you will also need to get a barrel to microUSB adapter.
Once you have the parts the installation is fairly straight forward.
Switch —> POE INJECTOR —> Ethernet cable to far off place —> POE SPLITTER —> Raspberry Pi
The thing to look out for, is your RPi solution is OK, but it is designed for 48 volts.
There’s all kind of voltage and power options. 48 volts is common with switches. The company who sells that Rpi power adapter also sells a 48 volt power injector. It’s almost as expensive as a switch, but you don’t need a switch.
The POE voltage is generally 48V.
I used this device at the RPI end (I have a STD POE switch at the other end) amazon.com/gp/product/B01DO … UTF8&psc=1
It provides enough power for an RPI3.
You will need an injector that provides enough power (15-20W should be OK)
A splitter that provides a USB power outlet should run at 5V.
There are splitter/injector packages that can be bought as one unit.
Get one with a good reputation as power problems are annoying to diagnose and fix.
$60 USD There is free shipping if you don’t need it fast (10 days +/-)
I bought one because I had ideas of setting up a RPi for Asterisk and putting some IP phones around for a wireless link. But you might also be able to use it if you have the right IP cameras.
Use this along with what Jon recommended amzn.com/B00NRGJCM6 Put a jumper from the Data side of this adapter over to your cable modem/router/whateveruhave
Just noticed how can you use that at the PI end if it is microUSB?
And as for the plug… router → patch cable → plug (data in) → plug (PoE out) → splitter → Rpi?
My RPI POE splitter units have RJ45 and micro-USB outputs. amazon.com/gp/product/B0108 … UTF8&psc=1
This is a little expensive, however, it needs to be reliable.
My post above may have shown the unit that powers my radarcape(not via USB).
