PoE with BPI-R3

[danube]

I’m looking for a board to become my new WIFI6 AP. I’ve come across the BPI-R3 and it’s really an appealing device!

For me, PoE input is a hard requirement for an AP.

It’s written everywhere throughout the Internet that there is “optional” PoE support, but no further details are given about how to really get the PoE feature.

The only information I found is here:

Banana Pi BPI-R3 Router board with MediaTek MT7986(Filogic 830),support Wi-Fi 6/6E,2.5GbE SFP

Afaik the only PoE related option available is this: [R3 with PoE] So here you can see that one of the SFP cages (SFP1 which is connected to eth1 in Linux) was replaced by an Airoha EN8811 2500Base-T PHY and there is the aforementioned BPI-7402 PoE module mounted to allow powering the R3 via PoE supplied to this port. There is no option available to power other devices via PoE with power supplied by the R3. Also note that official OpenWrt at this point does not support the Airoha EN8811 PHY,…

If I understand correctly, there is a board version with PoE. That version has the first SFP cage removed, and a 2.5GBASE-T PHY (Airoha EN8811 PHY) is added instead. Then, there is the BPI-7402 PoE module added.

• By “optional PoE support”, is it meant that if we want it, we need to solder the parts ourselves? Or is there an official version being manufactured?

• Is there a case already designed for that version? (I think an SFP cage has a smaller height than an Ethernet RJ45 jack).

• I guess we would then also need to modify the DTB? https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/tree/arch/arm64/boot/dts/mediatek/mt7986a-bananapi-bpi-r3.dts?h=v6.3.6#n114

[simon]

Yes, remove the SFP cage, install EN8811 PHY and BPI-7402 PoE module, and some other components need to be modified, so I don’t think you can change it by yourself.

Our default version is 2x sfp, and the case is the same. so if you need POE, you can customize it，also you can contact our sales to discuss the specifications

If EN8811 PHY is used, the driver, firmware, etc. need to be modified

[VA1DER (Kurt Fitzner)]

So it appears as if the answer to the question is that PoE R3 boards are not available to order in small quantities for the consumer, but PoE is available as a customization option for an organization that wants to purchase large quantities?

[simon]

There are many things involved, you can contact our sales to discuss it.

[up2urheadlights (T.D.)]

Use one of these, problem solved: https://www.tierratek.com/store/pc/Cerio-POE-PD04S-PoE-Splitter-5-Gig-Ethernet-802-3bt-PoE-w-2-1mm-and-2-5mm-cables-1417p8280.htm