5 Expert Trade Secrets to Maximize PoE Lighting Setups. 5 Expert Trade Secrets to Maximize PoE Lighting Setups. Notice how the recessed lighting follows down the hallway in the following picture. This is a perfect example of how to add dimension to an otherwise narrow passage. POE lighting is on the market for a few years now. Due to limited power that can be delivered by POE and the limited number of lighting fixtures available, it is still not much used. With the 802.3bt standard on its way this is going to change. 802.3bt or POE can supply up to 100w over 4 pairs.
This sub is for folks to ask advice on home improvement projects. Also feel free to post projects that you've completed - these must include details such as process/ materials/ budget. If you are asking a question, be as detailed as possible and include your location and multi-angled pictures if you can. We want to keep the conversations here in the sub, not just drive it away. These guidelines, and more, can be before posting.Comments must be on-topic, helpful, and kind.
Name-calling, abusive, or hateful language is not tolerated, nor are disrespectful, personal comments. No question is too stupid, too simple, or too basic. We're all here to learn and help each other out - enjoy!We do not endorse any contractors, and proceeding with a contractor you've met via this sub should be done at your own risk.
This is not a place to advertise products and or services. Any links to a website or blog will be removed. Offenders may be banned.Posts asking users to participate in a survey are no longer allowed and will be treated as SPAM posts.Best of 2018 WinnersAdvisor of the Year.Al Borland Award (Best Home Improvement Project).:Tim Taylor (Biggest Fuck-Up).:The Fluffer Award. kept us up reading about theirOther subreddits you may like.
I am doing a full remodel of a home where it will be stripped pretty much to the studs and would like to setup a 'smart home' type lighting system.I am trying to find a way to use PoE (power over ethernet) to run recessed lighting at least for the basement portion of the remodel. First of all, I would check your code on this.
Ethernet is considered low voltage and I frankly don't know what the implications are involving low and high voltage mixed together in the same receptacle.Are you planning on wiring the house solely with DC or are you doing to wire it with AC and plan on using DC for the most part? Deciding not to wire for AC would be a pretty big mistake as far as resale is concerned.Why use PoE when you could up the gauge to 18 and either go with or just plain wire? Cat 5/6 can obviously run DC, but I've read of people experiencing voltage drop over certain distances due to size of the wire.
Cat6 is also more expensive than basic 18-2.As far as lighting is concerned, you might look into homo automation protocols like Z-wave, Insteon, Zigbee, etc. Is a great resource for this as is.
Using a central hub and the appropriate switches (which run on a similar bandwidth as Wifi but different enough not to cause interference) you can control as many or few lighting areas as you want. You can have your exterior lights come on when you pull in the driveway. You can have music start playing when you walk in the door. Home automation exists outside of lighting and as a matter of fact, I don't even have any of my lights automated.Either way, take this opportunity to future proof. Think you're only going to need a single cat5 drop? It doesn't take any longer and you'll have them if you need them. Run a drop to every wall possible.
Think of anything network related you (or any future owners) may want and go nuts. Also make sure to include a chase or some sort of tube with pull lines preinstalled in case you ever want to run something from floor to floor. Some recommendations I always offer:.
A secondary 5x18 thermostat wire to the second floor in case I want to do dual zone heating/cooling. Wires for wireless access points on every floor and in every room you could possibly want them in.Remember, you don't have to give them a plate but at least run them and take detailed notes/photos/videos of where they are. Multiple Cat5 (because I had it lying around), Cat6 and coax in all bedrooms and anywhere I thought I might need them.
If they're there and you don't need them, all you have is a switch plate cover. If you don't have them, you have a solid multiple hours worth of frustrating work. Power lines, coax and cat6 for security cameras if you think you'd like to install them at some point. Power and control lines (I used 5/18g thermostat wire) for automated/motorized blinds. Again, you can hide these and use them later if you want.
A centralized 'home run' for all the wiring. All my network and coax lines converge on one place in the basement. Don't be stingy with the cable lengths either. Chances are you're buying Cat6 in 1000 foot spools. POE lighting is out there, but I haven't found a place to purchase in the US. The concern there is you need switching and control and as far as I know there is no current standard for that. Local ac-dc conversion will be 83% with no discernable loss to cable length.
With POE it will range between 80%-84% depending on cable length and fixture wattage. Short runs like you mention with 10w (60w equiv) fixtures would be at the 84% end.Lumencache has a nice DC only system that uses data cabling but it's expensive. $3200 for 13 lights and 8 switches. It pulls the led drivers back to the panel also.I would expect that some downsized commercial systems will be introduced to residential market over the next five years. There is also a group working on DC distribution standardization. Emerge alliance?
The biggest issue with DC is the cable size required to reduce voltage drop on longer runs. I would not run the house entirely off DC, just the lighting. I actually contacted a company called Nuleds and they offered to help wire it up, but the only recess cans are pretty small and my basement ceiling is low so I would need too many of them to get good lighting.I think I may just find some AC based recess lights that can be removed easily and run cat 6 near enough to each can that if low voltage becomes more mainstream I will have wires in place.I have another idea about putting temperature sensors in each room and automating the heating/cooling vent open/close function with a motor of some kind.Anyone have any ideas on this?. There is a system for commercial use that is rather expensive. I think that it is called Redwood Systems. This would be a tricky thing to pose to an electrical inspector. They don't have authority over low voltage systems like this, at least not where I am.
The upside to this system is that it can completely automate the process with occupancy sensors and even have lights that are equipped with temperature sensors and CO2 sensors for HVAC systems. The problem is that in order to run this system a server would need to run constantly in addition to the POE switch.
In a residential application you would probably not see the energy savings. It is a cool system and I believe that every one of their fixtures is addressable making it possible to create any sort of mood i.e. Movie watching etc. Good luck I would love to hear what the final result is.