Pi PoE HAT Kickstarter

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Like all computers the Raspberry Pi can quickly become a spaghetti junction of cables, cables and more cables. And cables have a mind of their own and are evil, entwining themselves into knots the moment your back is turned. It is into this plethora of power, USB, ethernet and HDMI connections that Pi Supply comes to the rescue with a rather clever Power Over Ethernet (PoE) offering.

PoE is one of those it-does-exactly-what-it-says-on-the-tin offerings: providing power to the computer via an ethernet connection and hence meaning you can wave goodbye to a cable. It is quite a clever idea really: ethernet requires power, your computer requires power, why not combine the two? The Pi PoE HAT gives you just this, throwing in a handy programmable button as well. Plus, the GPIO pins remain available for further connections. Note though that you do need a PoE compatible switch or injector to provide the power though.

Last night when I was previewing the Kickstarter a thought occurred: why not combine PoE with PowerLine? Now THAT is a tasty idea: use ethernet for power and your house’s power circuit for ethernet. Googling shows me there are various options for this and I’ll definitely have to investigate this some more.

There are many valid cases for PoE and the Kickstarter gives some ideas about how this can be used.
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