Power Over Ethernet, Poltergeist & the Fighting Illini
By now you know that I'm always peeved about something. So what am I peeved about today?
I'm sure you've noticed how easily we Americans get bent out of shape over the ridiculous. The latest piece of ridiculousness is that the college athletic association is cracking down on our team, the Fighting Illini. They're telling the University of Illinois to change its team name to something more, uh, politically correct.
That's right, "Illini" comes from a Native American word that means "Group Of Men" which is also where the word "Illinois" comes from. And because it's an Indian word, they say we're oppressing our native peoples. Now we're supposed to stop using it.
Will the State of Illinois need to change its name, too?
OK, enough about my pet peeves. Let's talk about some REAL social progress.
Power Over Ethernet.
Have you heard about Power over Ethernet? It's just as simple as it sounds; you can distribute power over Ethernet along with data and you can eliminate power supplies for devices.
PoE isn't taking factory automation by storm (yet), but it's going gangbusters in commercial and field service applications, where one wall transformer power supply is one too many.
Not only did our engineers whip up an Ethernet Serial Server that's powered by PoE, they came up with a second model that's powered by PoE *and* uses that to deliver power to the serial peripheral.
And it's not just 48 volts (standard fare for PoE). It's the exact power you need. You set it to create an output supply of 5V, 9V or 12V so now you can virtually eliminate the power supply on *any* serial peripheral at the same time.
Sweet.
http://www.bb-europe.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=142&s=ee083105
Rugged Ethernet Switches: DIN Mount, Wide Temp & Tough as Nails
5-, 6- and 8-port Industrial Ethernet switches for copper and fiber applications have 10 to 30 VDC redundant wide range power inputs to keep your LAN up, even if your primary power fails. Rugged temp ratings -34 to 74C, shock and vibration ratings provide reliable operation in tough environments.
http://www.bb-europe.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=144&s=ee083105
Hubs indiscriminately send all data to all devices. But switches route data flow to a specific address. You can see the obvious benefits of a switch Less Traffic, Less Errors, Increased Reliability. All B&B Electronics Ethernet switches have diagnostic LEDs to indicate power and link speed. All our switches operate at half or full duplex mode and automatically adapt to the mode and speed of the incoming data traffic. The removable terminal blocks for power simplify power wiring.
Read our Guide to Ethernet Components and Technology:
http://www.bb-europe.com/ethernet_infrastructure.asp?s=ee083105
From The Poltergeist Prevention Department:
You might remember last year's Poltergeist story about my friend Pat who had a lightning disaster in Chicago. Well, I don't know how your weather has been but here in the US we've had some pretty wild storms recently. So here are some timely tips for preventing lightning and surge damage.
Thunderstorm Season is in full swing right now, but the good news is, you can fully protect yourself from lightning strikes and lethal voltage surges:
http://www.bb-europe.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=38&s=ee083105
Data lines are vulnerable not only to lightning strikes and accidental contact with power sources, ground loops can also wreak havoc. Here's a matrix of two- and four- channel isolators you can use to protect those lines:
http://www.bb-europe.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=1&s=ee083105
And we have special DIN mount versions perfectly suited to industrial installations:
http://www.bb-europe.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=12&s=ee083105
More reading: Data Line Isolation Theory:
http://www.bb-europe.com/tech_articles/dataline_isolation_theory.asp?s=ee083105
Questions? Comments? We always love to hear from you. Email support@bb-europe.com.
Avoid Poltergeists - and have a Great Day. Meanwhile I'll start a list of names for the State of Illinois, maybe they'll name it after me...
Mike Fahrion
support@bb-europe.com
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