Hi there!
Here follows a new topic regarding the former 3Com PWR gigabit switches and their PoE+ capability.
PoE+ becomes more and more important, a new factor is the upcoming Wi-Fi standard 802.11ax aka Wi-Fi 6. For example, the Aruba 5x0 access point series requires 802.3at (PoE+) support. It works with 802.3af (PoE) only when the PoE IPM feature is available. Well, I was not able to find regarding the original 3Com PWR switch models any PoE IPM related information so it looks that the Aruba 802.11ax access points are incompatible.
In our company we use a 3Com 4800G PoE (JD011A) switch. This model is very similar to the HP A5500-EI PoE+ (JG240) gigabit switch. They share the same software and almost the same hardware.
One difference it that the later HP JG240 model has PoE+ while the original 3Com only had PoE non-plus. This is most likely because the HP switch has a much stronger power supply which results in a higher PoE output of 740W versus 370W.
So what are my options to use PoE+ devices at the 3Com 4800G gigabit switch?
There seems to exist a way through an additional external power supply. That one will be connected to the DC-input of the switch. With that configuration the PoE output can be increased. For the original 3Com 4800G PoE series there was available the external H3C RPS 800 power supply. That model was later available as HPE RPS 800 Redundant Power Supply (JD183A). Additionally HP has released some larger even more powerful external RPS models which should also work with the earlier 3Com PWR switch models.
So is this the only possible path to add higher power consuming PoE devices to these older 3Com switches?
What’s about a nonofficial PSU upgrade of the internal 3Com 4800G power supply? Because of the similarity between the HP A5500-EI and the 3Com 4800G switch models it should be theoretically possible to replace the internal PSU unit.
In detail, the idea is to buy a defunct HP A5500-EI (JG240) switch, dissemble it, and replace the weaker 3Com PSU unit with that one out the HP.
Because these switches are all EOL and out of warranty this shouldn’t become a problem. Well, this may work easy at any standard ATX based personal computer but it may be somewhat more complex at professional network devices like these switches.
#JG240#IPM#poe+#PoE#802.3af#JD011A#802.3at