Sorry if this is a silly question.
But has anybody investigated the possability of running RIOs, using Power Over Ethernet ?

I guess it would require sourcing a power brick which matched the DC input requirements of the RIO, then by-passing the AC transformer and either providing a socket on the rear of the RIO to provide the supply, or possibly take it directly from the back of the RJ45 socket.

Any thoughts ?

Cheers..

Dobbs

You're the first to mention it. If you end up doing the hack, please take lots of pictures for posterity, we can post them in the riocar.org photo gallery.

The rio takes 12v; problem with POE is I don't think it could power the audio amp in the receiver (or not at full volume, anyway). You can solve this problem by just pulling the amp board out though....

The rest of the board doesn't actually need 12v - 7v is probably ok. Almost everything runs from a 3.3v switchmode PSU, apart from some analogue that runs from a 5v linear regulator (for cleanliness) and the core voltage which is another LDO.

Current is minimal unless you're running the PNA chips, which I guess you wouldn't be in this application - definitely less than 300mA.

I'd say it was definitely worth trying if you can get a POE chipset eval board... ISTR either Maxim or Linear Tech do some almost all-in-one solutions.

Hugo

Oh yeah, I forgot the rio receiver had an amplifier. Yeah, I don't think POE was spec'd for audio amplifiers.

O well it was a nice idea. If POE couldn't drive the amp then you will still need to run power to an additional amp, which kind of defeats the whole idea.

Thanks for input anyway.

Dobbs