Just be VERY careful while moving it around or where you set it down. I was doing that one time and it dropped... landed RIGHT in the WRONG spot and damaged the micro USB port...
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As much as I love having a "universal power plug for 5V devices, I hate when they use cheap and fragile micro USB plugs like on the HE hub, I have one of my C5 that has a flaky plug and will not work with most cables including the original one that came with the hub.
When it finally dies, I'll solder in a better quality plug for sure!
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I use this one for a couple of my hubs:
I like this one:
Why do I like it? USB-C future compatibility is certainly a plus, but I like the Micro USB adapter to protect the HE's port. If I need to unplug for any reason, I can break the USB-C connection, leaving the Micro adapter plugged into the HE hub, hopefully not messing with the Micro USB connection.
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That’s a handy feature.
Unplugging the RJ45 might be easier due to the size of the connector.
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I use the same one, but another option may be to simply get a battery brick and a wifi dongle (approved model of course) then that way you're not dragging cords everywhere. Keep them in a drawer for diagnostics
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Completely agree. I use PoE for permanent placement, and battery and wifi for mobile. Even before wifi was available, I used battery for mobile because it was more convenient and saved boot time.
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Can I use my existing multi-port POE switch, i.e. can the hubitat C7 grab the power directly from the ethernet cable? (with nothing plugged into the USB power port)
No, you need an adapter like those above that splits the PoE power out to micro usb.
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You do need a PoE switch, but as @dennypage said, you’ll also need a splitter like one of the devices linked to above. That’s because the Hubitat hub doesn’t support PoE itself.
If you plug in an 802.3af-compliant switch directly to your hub, nothing will happen (i.e. it won’t power up). But if you plug in a passive PoE device, you’ll probably fry the hub.
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I'm not picturing that. Do you have a link to the dongle you have in mind?
Thanks!
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Keep in mind that POE has been associated with hub power failures. I'm not saying that it will die the minute it's plugged in, but there's a strong correlation there.
I use a power bank with pass through charging as a UPS, but is also useful for roaming around with the hub. The two are duct taped together. There probably are cheaper power banks, I wanted one that could last for a while.
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How do you know it's pass through charging?
Not doubting you....but where does it say it, or what is the specification that designates pass through charging? I endeavoured to buy a pass-through-charging power bank, but was unsuccessful (in Aust.).
Yeah, it's not advertised very well. I had to search through Q&As. The larger bank definitely supports it - tested and confirmed. There was nothing definite about smaller capacity one, but from lower charging rating I'd say it likely does not.
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Not as much as unplugging and plugging using the inbuilt micro USB - that will fail within even a few uses... on my 4th C7 replacement already and currently still having to use an elastic band around the hub. Always the hub itself - an awful design choice or dry joint manufacturing issue.
My POE works fine. I now power cycle via that
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Surprising... these types of adapters have a lot of usage in the world. I've been running a couple of hubs with the Texas PoE adapters on Cisco SG350 switches for some time. One for more than a year, and one for six months or so.
Perhaps the failures are with less reputable adapters or switches? I can certainly imagine issues if there is poor negotiation and no current limiter in the adapter...
I replaced my C-5 and C-7 power cables with this for powering the hub down when at red light:
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Interesting, is that due to not delivering enough power or too much power to the hub via POE?
Or is it that the adapter fails and stops delivering power to the hub altogether?
