I am building a house and trying to avoid power bricks and cables hanging on the wall for motion sensors, blind shutters, “add next smart house blinky here”.

This is just an aexample photo:

example HA rooms

So I was thinking each IOT needs to have internet connection anyway. What about if I run a single CAT cable to each room, and position a switch in each room to split to couple CATs in each room (power socket, tv socket, window, ceiling fan). Main CAT from each room to go to the server room router. That way I can have one cable per room coming out from the router. And with some inexpensive POE switches in each room I can split to extra IOTs.

That way I wont be saturating the home wireless and needing expensive APs. And in the same time can deliver POE. Alternatively I can modify the CATs to run only 4 wires for 100MB network and remaining 4 for 12V if POE injection is complicated or routers cant deliver required IOT current.

I must say most IOTs will be DIY ESP/Arduino/MCUs

Is it possible you guys think?

  • tastyratz@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I see the point why switches in every room are a maintenance issue. However, these smart devices, would they saturate the network so much that I need direct cable from each of them to the server closet?

    Who’s to say in a few years you even WANT to connect these devices to your network? What if they aren’t ethernet at all but can still run over twisted pair cabling? Or maybe you end up wishing you had some fiber, or something else?

    Independent runs isn’t about saturation, these aren’t gig traffic devices. It’s about management and flexibility. There are just things you can’t do with a bunch of cheap pocket switches.