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Suggest an SBC for me (needs POE support)


Anna Vahtera

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Hello. I've been playing with several low-cost SBCs for a couple of weeks now and I'm totally hooked on these incredible little things. Most of my boards are Orange Pi's simply because of the low cost (but I do have ODROID XU4 and a couple RPis too).

 

Somehow one of my favorites seem to be the little OPi Zero (H2+), I'm using it as a "shell account" for if and when I need access to linux command line (most of my "big machines" are Win-based).  However the Zero's POE implementation is... kinda non-existant really. You can read more about it elsewhere, let's just say it isn't usable without additional hardware.

 

For my purposes, the OPiZero H2+ is powerful enough (I have the 512Mb version), so I don't need much power (however more memory wouldn't hurt). But for placement and usability, I'd REALLY like to have one that I can power with POE so I could just connect one cable and be done with it. 

 

What are my options for getting a new SBC for my purposes?

 

Let's list some features:

 

Absolutely needed:

a) Gigabit Ethernet with Power Over Ethernet

b) Small Size (well it's an SBC, but anyway)

c) Must work with/be supported by Armbian [Mainline]

d) Allwinner H2+ or faster, 512Mb RAM or more.

 

Nothing really much else, but it would be nice to have::

e) 1Gb RAM (or more, this is one where more doesn't make it worse)

f) Allwinner H5 -level power (and preferable 64bit)

g) RPi-compatible GPIO header (at least the first 26-pins)

 

Won't need: display output if it has serial connection header.  Any audio capability, WiFi, BT.

 

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That's a dang shame, really. POE would be an ideal way to power an SBC, if it's connected to a wired network. It's actually kinda weird now that I think of it, why there aren't many SBC that could be powered that way.

 

Thanks for the answer though, appreciated. I guess I'll go the "dongle way" then, or come up with some other stupid solution... (knowing me, very probably the latter...)

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8 hours ago, Anna Vahtera said:

That's a dang shame, really. POE would be an ideal way to power an SBC, if it's connected to a wired network. It's actually kinda weird now that I think of it, why there aren't many SBC that could be powered that way.

 

Thanks for the answer though, appreciated. I guess I'll go the "dongle way" then, or come up with some other stupid solution... (knowing me, very probably the latter...)

 

http://wiki.banana-pi.org/Banana_Pi_BPI-P2_Zero#Documents

http://wiki.banana-pi.org/BPI-9600_IEEE_802.3af_PoE_module

 

Sadly no gigabit, not the smallest and no official Armbian support. If still acceptable, you can try and adopt Armbian.

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SolidRun's ClearfogBase might also fit.

 

Gigabit Ethernet x2

Small Size

Good Armbian Support

Marvell Armada 388 (2x 1.6Ghz don't know how this compares to Allwinner H2+...)

1Gb RAM

 

GPIO is possible with some I²C IO Extender (it has Pins for I²C, UART, SPI, not lots of direct gpio / no standard header).

 

POE is available via breakout pins and some POE Adapter (like the one linked by Igor above; http://wiki.banana-pi.org/BPI-9600_IEEE_802.3af_PoE_module)

Check schematics for more info: https://developer.solid-run.com/download/clearfog-base-schematics/

 

 

 

 

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Maybe you will think a other way/solution.

 

I used that for a project years ago with a OPi Zero, webcam and GPIO to detect a signal.
(Doorbell with front door video and motion detection)

 

I used a passive poe adaptor like this: passive poe

 

passive_poe_1.jpg.b117ba845681bbc0cca7e85f8e743e3c.jpgpassive_poe_2.jpg.346a0605f7f3ec795e3b18c93409707d.jpg

It's working pretty good till now with only a network cable...

 

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19 hours ago, MacBreaker said:

Maybe you will think a other way/solution.

 

I used that for a project years ago with a OPi Zero, webcam and GPIO to detect a signal.
(Doorbell with front door video and motion detection)

 

I used a passive poe adaptor like this: passive poe

 

passive_poe_1.jpg.b117ba845681bbc0cca7e85f8e743e3c.jpgpassive_poe_2.jpg.346a0605f7f3ec795e3b18c93409707d.jpg

It's working pretty good till now with only a network cable...

 

I looked at those solutions earlier (my plan is quite similar to your doorbell thing), but I'm concerned about it being 5V and the length of the cable. How long is yours? I'd need to use 20m+ long cable, I'm afraid the 5V can't travel that far (that's why the standard really is 48V - to allow longer travel for the voltage).

 

That's perfectly usable for shorter lengths and I think I'll order a few pairs of those just for trying them out and maybe even using them on shorter lengths - some places are just a pain to route another cable where one already is. 

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Just a suggestion. The Rock Pi S would be a good device for Poe if they would come out with their own HAT. It's a very small SBC 1.7 inch square with Poe support like the raspberry pi. I'm powering mine using a adafruit POE module, but I'm trying to design and build a HAT for it because I love the board.

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