While this is certainly far from the first article on how-to power your Raspberry Pi via POE (Power-Over-Ethernet), I thought I would go ahead and document my setup and the equipment I ordered to pull this off successfully.
First, lets be clear — I am using a real POE switch — so I wanted a real POE solution for the Raspberry Pi, not one of those splitter cable solutions that simply supply a fixed power voltage over the unused pairs in a CAT5/6 ethernet cable. There is nothing wrong with that type of solution … its pretty cost effective, but its not real POE per the IEEE 802.3af (POE) or IEEE 802.3at (POE+) specifications.
So to pull this off, we need a POE splitter that can provide the required 5 VDC voltage and an adapter micro USB cable to plug into the Raspberry Pi’s power port. (And a short ethernet cable which you may already have laying around the house.)
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Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!