Have you ever wanted to connect a Raspberry Pi, Chromecast, Amazon Fire Stick, or other smart device to your network without using wi-fi? If so, you’ve have probably found various ethernet adapters that deliver power and ethernet over a single Micro USB cable. It can be an unwieldy solution, with 2 wires (ethernet and power) coming in and limited control on the length of the adapter cable. However, it works and it can be a lot more reliable than using wi-fi in a lot of situations.
Maybe you took it a step further and wanted to power the device with POE and avoid having to find a power outlet. Its a great idea until you realize you need another adapter to split the POE into ethernet and power – only to have the next adapter recombine them.
I found myself in this situation and I searched for months to find a way to power and deliver an ethernet connection over micro USB from POE. Eventually I started reaching out to electronic manufacturers and even considered getting custom PCB’s made. It seemed simple – just combine the 2 existing adapters that are on the market. Belkin actually makes a version, but it only works for iPads over the Lightning adapter – and it cost $99.
Thankfully, UCTRONICS was willing to work with me and sent me 2 prototypes based on my idea. This past week I have been testing them, and am happy to say they work great! On the right hand side is an ethernet port, and on the left is a USB port. POE comes in one side and on the other side there is power and ethernet over USB.
My first test was with a Google Home Mini. I plugged in the adapter to my POE switch and ran a Micro USB cable from the adapter to the Mini. I have never setup the wi-fi network on the Mini, so it is only able to connect to the internet over a wired connection. Initially I was having troubles, but switching to a better Micro USB cable fixed my issue. I was able to get it to power up and it was on my network without any setup. It was able to respond to questions and had no issues about the lack of a wi-fi network.
My next test was a Raspberry Pi Zero. They do make a version with wi-fi built in, but I have had issues with reliability. The Pi at least offers a secondary port, so you can use a cheap adapter to get an ethernet connection but that is not as much fun. Additionally, with the right adapter you only need to run a single cable to the Pi to deliver power and ethernet.
After confirming the GH Mini worked, I unplugged the cable and plugged it into the second Micro USB port on the Pi. Again I ran into issues, but it was easy to address – I simply had to unplug the POE adapter and restart it. It booted up again and connected to my network.
Essentially this is acting like a POE HAT for a Raspberry Pi Zero – with the bonus fact that it is able to work with a Chromecast, Google Home Mini, Amazon Fire Stick, etc.
I am very excited about this and hope to be able to get some more for other Raspberry Pi’s and Mini’s. It will be a niche product but it could be a solution for a lot of unique problems.
Let me know below if you are interested in the product and hopefully UCTRONICS will make this a product they offer to the general product!