IMO Hubitat could either: Support PoE and be done with this. OR Test and source a PoE splitter for USB that they could "officially support" and sell in the store.
All of this is just absurd.
They do not recommend splitters in the first place and I don't think it's so absurd. And adding POE adds additional costs, additional certifications etc.... The unit works as advertised with the provided power supply.
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Pretty sure a whole lot of people around here would find other equally absurd alternatives to occupy themselves even if the hub did have built-in PoE.
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Sure, sure. Because its about me. You guys cant just solve the issue. Because there's not hundreds of posts about this and the related issues surrounding the PoE. Because "additional cost" or "people will always bitch" and it's like reinventing the wheel to add PoE to an existing device because certification will be an issue. Because you didn't need to get c8v2(pro) certified?
What about an officially supported option? Maybe just externalize the whole thing and end the debate and troubleshooting and mysterious interference issues? Recommended PoE splitter? PoE Texas maybe? You can say what you like but you have answered hundreds of posts about this. Spent more time than you ever would have SOLVING it by making snarky comments and knowing it all. When that fails you always call into question the person asking.
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Im sorry I feel the need to say I really love this thing... Hubitat is a great product. It could be better but its great and even with minor issues like the lack of PoE support is still solid (except for the C8 freezing thing) and the best Hub out there. I really want there to be a perfect solution and IMO the PoE issues are the only real obstacle. What could possibly be improved? They added the external antennas... its a great box. Scalable, clean UI, well designed all around. But mention a drawback and your the idiot for suggesting it could be better.
It only took 30 years.
It’s true that most of us here can't because we don’t work for Hubitat. Hubitat developers also participate in forum discussions, although I don’t remember if they’ve commented specifically in this one.
They definitely have said in other threads about PoE that it simply isn’t a priority for them. It’s an extreme, niche edge case request from power users.
ETA: Some people accept that and work out their own solutions. Some people don’t.
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Thousands of Posts. I never even bothered to search the forums for "PoE hubitat" but I just did and it returns hundreds of of threads with thousands of posts. Extreme niche edge is a nice way to say "its just you" though... Ill remember that next time I want to marginalize an unpopular opinion.
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Great, you’ve made your point, in this thread that someone started because they decided to work around the hub’s lack of built-in PoE support.
You think it’s absurd. Anything else?
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There are definitely things they could/should/are working on to make the product better. They've got limited resources and need to decide which things to work on.
IMHO, POE support isn't one that will aid many of their customers.
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1 ) The way a message is delivered is just as important than the message itself. 2 ) No one called you an idiot or anything close to that. 3 ) It has been "suggested" many times before, they are clearly not interested.
I would imagine they don't want to sell an official adaptor because then there is an expectation of support being provided. What if the adaptor they pick changes specs and then suddenly does not work right anymore?
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Didn't take me too long.........
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I'm curious about the "Need" for powering the Habitat hub via a PoE cable.
Its more obvious the need for PoE for remote cameras etc. But why is it so important that many folks complain the lack of PoE.
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For me, I prefer having PoE in order to simplify management of the hub. PoE allows me three benefits:
- Ability to use my UPS to power my home network equipment, as well as my PoE powered devices.
- Ability to remotely cycle the power on my HE Hub when away from home, if it were to lock up, or need to be powered back on due to the UPS running out of power during a major power outage.
- Fewer wall-wart style power supplies to plug in and keep up with. Simplifying the wiring is nice.
Note: My HE hub has not locked on me over the past 5+ years at this point. 
None of these are NEEDS, though. They are very nice to have. I simply use one of the recommended PoE splitters that were thoroughly tested to provide proper power to the C8/C8Pro hubs.
I would love it if Hubitat added PoE support to their next generation hub. However, I do not feel that Hubitat "must" add this for me to remain a customer.
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I would not say no to POE, I'm already using it for other devices, understand it reasonably well, already have POE capable switches and injectors.
I would also say that it's a feature that most users don't know about/need, and don't have equipment to support it.
Majority of my friends (undergrad/grad degrees, white collar careers) barely know how to manage basic functions/settings of their router, much less being aware of and using the magical powers of POE. They mostly have a basic router, (usually the one their ISP gave them) have no switches (POE or otherwise), and no POE injectors. And that includes w/EEs or MEs, and other advanced degrees, folks you'd think would be more techy.
As we've discuseed before, the members of this forum do not make a good proxy for an average HE user. Maybe more on the Home Assistant side, but not here from what I've seen.
So to use POE the majority of our users would have to buy a new POE switch or injector, increasing the complexity and cost of setting up the hub (What version of POE?, Will this injector/switch work?, Why isn't my POE working?! etc.). And HE would be expected by users to support their POE issues downstream to the POE switches/injectors that they are trying to use w/the hub. Not sure why HE staff would want to get into that.
Currently, people who "get" POE can set it up and tend to not need much help. And the community has stepped in (via things like Denny's amazing work) to help fill in some of the blanks.
If I was part of HE staff not sure why I would want to prioritize it. Lots of other higher priority/broad impact areas to focus limited resources.
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Curious as to how POE provides/enables this?
Here is the thing: I have dozens of IoT devices powered by POE (splitters). They all just work. No problems whatsoever. Ever. Even Hubitat until C8.
Only Hubitat C8 didn’t just work. In fact, I literally spent multiple days trying to figure why my ZWave network was mysteriously acting up after upgrading to a C8. The last thing I actually suspected was the POE splitter. Those work for everything else, even recommended by Hubitat in some forum posts. Eventually I realized what was going on and figured out a silly workaround.
I will never get my time back. But I want Hubitat to succeed. I want to make sure other unsuspecting (new) Hubitat owners don’t throw the thing away because of this surprising experience.
If only Hubitat had some official option, and not just some buried forum posts where warnings appear to only use the provided power supply…
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AFAIK POE switches usually (not sure how "usual) allow you to power cycle individual ports...Pretty sure most Unifi POE switches do as one example. If you have a VPN/remote access into your network you can do so remotely.
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this, exactly! With a UniFi network, you can even manage your home network without using a VPN, assuming you enable UniFi's cloud-based management feature.
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Power cycle the switch port
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