Thanks! TBH I was expecting a switch to be kinda like an adapter or splitter, to find they were hundreds of dollars was a bit of a shock. What's the (practical) difference between say this $70 switch and this $300 one? What am I getting for the extra $230, just PoE?

[–] TagMeInSkipIGotThis 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (16 children)

PoE adds a bunch to the cost, on pretty much any type of switch at any level. On some Enterprise gear for a 48 port switch it can sometimes be another $1k. Sometimes it'll come down to how many ports provide power, and what PoE standards they support. The newer, higher voltage standards typically will cost more. But especially in Enterprise, PoE gives huge flexibility, mostly for Wireless Access Points these days, but used to be that every desk would have a phone powered from the switch as well.

Anywho, other than that; there really isn't a massive difference between the two. Both will need something running the UniFi Network server for initial setup and management of them. It'd be an interesting experiment to see if they just worked without it though. Their management IP is usually a static in the 192.168.1.0/24 network and they default to using VLAN 1 for everything unless otherwise configured.

Alternatively you could meet in the middle and go with the Edge series from Ubiquiti, eg: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/SWHUBI31306/Ubiquiti-EdgeSwitch-XP-ES-5XP-5-Port-Gigabit-Manag

These don't require UniFi Network, you just log onto a web GUI to configure them which can be limited to only the MGMT port, and this particular model also does PoE, though probably only the older standard, not PoE+. I have one of them (the older version called ToughSwitch) and its been great. I'm pretty tempted to swap it for one of those Flex Mini's though - as that way I can manage it from my UniFi setup rather than having to do it manually.

Actually just an edit to clarify the adapter/splitter... Back in the day you could buy a Hub, that's closer to what I would call an adapter/splitter. The way they work is it effectively just turns one port into x ports, they're a very dumb usually completely unconfigured device. But on a hub, all ports share the same collision domain so overall performance is weakened especially if you have a lot of devices connected to hubs.

In a switch each port is its own separate connection, and it'll hold its own MAC address table to know how to get to things at layer 2. The difference is a hub is a bit like a party line (back in the analog days) where you could end up having one device talking over another. Whereas with a switch, every device has their own private line back to the cabinet.

[–] Dave 1 points 11 months ago (12 children)

I'm thinking I might go without PoE and just meet my current need, then add a PoE switch to support cameras if or when I get them.

I've been reading a bit on managed vs unmanaged switches, and it sounds like unmanaged switches are like managed switches but you just plug in your stuff and it works. There are no settings, but also there is no need to set it up. If I'm just out to allow more devices to join the network via ethernet, would something like this be suitable? I'm specifically doing it to improve the speed vs wifi so I don't want to make it worse 😆

[–] Panq 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'm thinking I might go without PoE and just meet my current need, then add a PoE switch to support cameras if or when I get them.

That's more or less what I did when the dirt cheap AliExpress cameras died - just got a PoE switch from PB Tech and a small pile of Reolink cameras (RLC810A). Definitely the best value-for-money, and works well with Home Assistant. Way better than those stupid splitters or having a pile of individual POE injectors.

[–] TagMeInSkipIGotThis 2 points 11 months ago

I started off with a couple of UniFi cameras; and they're very good, but only the even more expensive ones supported the object detection stuff. So when I wanted to add some more given i'd switched to using Frigate anyway to detect humans vs spiders I ended up buying some of these - they're definitely not as good as the UniFi, and who knows how buggy/weak the software is, but they work well enough and good value.

https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-5-Megapixel-NightVision-Weatherproof-IP5M-T1179EW-28MM/dp/B083G9KT4C/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1VULWG1O37SC3&keywords=amcrest+poe+camera&qid=1702921890&sprefix=amcrest%2Caps%2C362&sr=8-4

[–] Dave 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm new to home assistant and slowly adding things. Cameras are on my list but probably a while away!

[–] TagMeInSkipIGotThis 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm trying to remove as much stuff from Home Assistant as possible so I can turn it off. I have no interest in any home automation so its really just collating data that could be going direct to influx/prometheus and providing some of the most unreliable notifications for camera events ever.

Its supposed to only send me a push if my phone is not at home; but it just sends them all the time, even when the phone is in the at home state. I kinda hate it, purely for that.

[–] Dave 1 points 11 months ago

Haha oh I guess I will see how well it works when I get around to it then!

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