Wireless Access Point

[PeterGriffin]

Anyone know of a wireless access point that does not need to be plugged into an AC or DC outlet? Are there such thing as "passive" APs?

Reason for this is that I just want to be able to go to any data outlet and plug in my wireless, and not have to worry about finding a power outlet.

I'm not looking for anything that will outperform all others but rather just something that will work.

Thanks!

http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/d...ku=3CRWE80096A

we use these at our work, how they work is you plug the power outlet into an open DC and the AP gets power through the cat 5

Power over Ethernet powers the access point over existing Ethernet cabling for simpler, more flexible installations; no additional power supply required

[PeterGriffin]

Did you mean to say you plug somthing into a AC outlet and it gets power over the cat5?

Please explain a little more on the exact details of the installation. That site doesn't explain it to much.


thanks


EDIT
Now that I noticed the price, I don't think this is in the budget!
Almost $400 for this thing....WOW!!!!

we use those in a school enviroment.

as for the power solution, your asking for something alittle bit advance. but im assuming that you want the access point to be powered by the network cable correct?

[PeterGriffin]

Well, actually I wan't something that does need power at all, or runs on batteries. But I'm not sure if this is even possible.

even if they did make one with battery, i honest dont think it would be a feasible solution because the access point constants send out a signal i could see you going through batteries like there is no tommorow. i will keep my eye out tho

[DVNT1]

No AP works without a power source. POE will let you run a device without an outlet near the device. As GZ mentioned, it gets power form the Ethernet cable. To do this, you must apply power to the related CAT5 cable between the device and the switch or hub. note: you can buy switches with POE ports too. This is not a cheap solution.

If you are more of an electrician, you could make a custom POE solution without having POE devices. I have done this once and it worked. Basic idea is to cut the power adapter from the end which goes into the AP. Connect the power adapter to the unused pairs in the cat5 cable, run the cable to the AP, take teh two powered pairs, and wire them back to the original AP "end".
You can find detailed instructions via Google which also hel pyou to determine if you need a different (higher power) power converter due to increased power loss over the longer cable.
Since then I scrapped the "home made" POE and just bought true POE equipment.