Okay… so I’ve been running my new PoE splitters for a while, and I touch them when working around with the cables and notice they are warm. They are warm… what does that mean? It means that they are wasting energy into heat, literally. Yeah, like the old wall wart power supplies that would feel warm to the touch. Several Watts of energy are being wasted into heat.
Okay, okay, so the question comes down to, what is the typical energy efficiency of PoE splitters? Apparently, it is touted to be around 80%. Okay, when I think about it… yeah, that’s probably right. The PoE splitter itself is smaller than old-fashioned wall warts, which means that if it feels about as warm as the old wall warts, then there is simply not as much heat required to get to that particular warmth. So instead of wasting “several” Watts, maybe only a “few” Watts of energy are wasted. Say, 1 Watt wasted of a 5 Watt power supply is not too bad. Although, if you have low-power equipment, maybe it is really only consuming 1 Watt on its own, so you’re doubling the power consumption due to efficiency losses.
20200110/DuckDuckGo how energy efficient is a poe splitter
20200110/https://en.globtek.com/technical-articles/new-poe-injector-products-for-green-energy-performance