Updating PoE Standards on the UniFi Product line

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Ubiquiti posted this recently and I thought it worth repeating.

UniFi Access Points have always been built to be powered by PoE – it’s convenient, easy to setup and scalable. When we first started producing UniFi nearly 7 years ago, 24v Passive PoE was the standard in the operator space so we opted to use 24v passive for our Enterprise lines (UniFi, EdgeMAX).

UniFi Access Points have always been built to be powered by PoE – it’s convenient, easy to setup and scalable. When we first started producing UniFi nearly 7 years ago, 24v Passive PoE was the standard in the operator space so we opted to use 24v passive for our Enterprise lines (UniFi, EdgeMAX).

Since then, 802.3af and 802.3at PoE technologies have become the standard, especially in the Enterprise space. The 802.3af/at standards provide a number of benefits over 24v passive that improve stability, allow for greater voltage, etc. (For more details on PoE methods/standards see our article on PoE here).

For this reason, we have been intentionally moving our products (UniFi APs, UniFi Switch, UniFi Video, etc.) toward the current standard for some time, and will continue to do so.

  • 802.3af+24V Support for UAP-AC-LR/UAP-AC-LITE
  • Removal of 24V Support from New Production of UniFi Switch Series

While we have produced many devices that support 802.3af/at, a couple of our Access Points (UAP-AC-LITE, UAP-AC-LR) continued supporting only 24V passive. Over the past several months (starting in September 2016) a number of customers have noted the appearance of some UAP-AC-LRs/UAP-AC-LITEs that have a sticker showing “802.3af Compatible” (see top-left of boxes in image below):

This reflects a hardware revision that has been made to make newer UAP-AC-LITEs and UAP-AC-LRs 802.3af compatible in addition to supporting 24V passive. Any device produced with datecode 1638 (September 2016) and up contains this revision and can be powered by any 802.3af power source like the UniFi Switch.

As a part of updating and improving our products, we will continue to transition away from 24V passive PoE and prioritizing 802.af/at standards. To this end, already-produced switch units with 24V PoE support will retain it, while all future production starting on July 1st 2017 will be 802.3af/at only (across all UniFi Switch models). As existing stock at distributors/resellers/etc. will remain 24V+802.3af stock for some time (until it sells out), this transition will be gradual, with our goal of simplifying UniFi PoE to standards.

This update to the UAP-AC-LR/LITE has been made to ensure that these devices can continue to benefit from updated technology and be deployed with industry standard PoE.

AC-LITE and AC-LR Change Summary

  • The only change made to the AC-LITE and AC-LR devices was the introduction of 802.3af compatibility, as of September 2016.
  • This will not affect the performance of the devices in any way.
  • This modification was added to add stability/consistency to product line at no additional cost to customers.
  • These updated devices will continue to permit 24V passive.

UniFi Switch Change Summary

  • The only change made to the UniFi Switch series is the removal of 24V output support.  Models with 24V support removed will start production July 2017:
    – US-8-150W
    – US-16-150W
    – US-24-250W
    – US-24-500W
    – US-48-500W
    – US-48-750W
  • All new UniFi Switch models will also not have 24V support.

This transition is by popular request of UniFi users.  We intentionally rolled 802.3af support into the UAP-AC-LITE and UAP-AC-LR (starting Sept. 2016) nine months before initiating removal of 24V from new production of the UniFi Switches (starting July 2017) to lessen the impact of the transition.

The post Updating PoE Standards on the UniFi Product line appeared first on Steve Discher.


Source: Blog

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