Hello, I am a new user for the PA II senor. I have temporarily set up my sensor 6 feet from my office window and I dont like the looks of the black power cord expose on my white exterior wall and want to move it to the new location that I will need to add an extension cord. Did any of you added an extension cord to move the sensor to another that is less than 100 feet. more likely about 40 to 50 feet from my office window. Maybe Purple Air company can make 50 feet power cord instead of 17 feet?
Hello CDVTA. I was in the same basic situation…had to move my sensor off the porch location (which was near a plug) to its permanent location under the rafters (no plugs). In my situation, I had a POE network switch somewhat close by for other stuff so I used 1 POE port with a POE splitter, which takes the power out of the RJ45 and adapts it to the USB connector the sensor requires. The power requirement for these sensors is extremely low so there’s more than enough power in the POE connection to run the sensor. No cords running up the wall, everything tucked under the rafters out of sight, so it was a clean install. Attached a picture of the final resting spot.
Unsure if this is something you could use but I wanted to put it out there as a possible solution, since you were worried about cords, looks, etc. Good luck! Kurt
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Hello Kurt… Just being a newbie around here wirth the sensor. What is POE? and where i can find more information about POE splitter and port.
Thanks
Hi, sorry for the delayed response.
POE is Power Over Ethernet. It’s the protocol/functionality that feeds power to network devices such as phones, cameras, etc. so you don’t have all the messy power cables and such. In my example, I already had a POE capable switch (picture attached) mounted under my rafters for a few security cameras so all I needed was the correct POE splitter (picture attached). Both of these are available on Amazon.com. I have provided links to what I’m using as examples only. I don’t endorse these specific products and there are many more choices of the same type of products. There are also many other ways of accomplishing the same thing (getting 5v dc to the purple air sensor in the form of a micro USB connector).
A few notes:
- I essentially converted 5v DC power from an RJ45 ethernet connector to a micro USB connector needed on the purple air. All the other stuff (switch, cables, splitter, etc.) are all just details of the conversion to get 5v into a micro USB connector to feed the sensor.
- The main network switch for my house was already a larger POE capable device so the smaller switch under my rafters was easily fed through a simple ethernet cable. The switch pictured in this post requires a POE feed to function (and I already had that).
- There are many different types of POE splitters. The POE splitter that I chose has a USB type A female connector so I could use it with most other USB cables if necessary. USB type A is the larger flat connector on most USB cables, while the other end of the cable is the device-specific connector which varies depending on what you have (apple, android, purple air, etc.). So in my case with the purple air sensor, I needed a USB type A (on the POE splitter) to USB micro (on the purple air sensor) cable.
- This is all mounted outdoors obviously, so while totally waterproofing is not possible, taking necessary steps to keep moisture out of the connectors and switch is advised. In my case, everything is shielded from direct rain/sun and I used some cheap watertight tape and a few sealed connector covers.
I’d be more than happy to help further if I can, just shoot me an email at whoaminow2021@protonmail.com
Kurt
POE Switch
POE Splitter
Clean install, no cables showing
Side view, switch and sensor visible (POE camera can be seen further down)
Closer view of the switch and sensor (white cables feed other devices around the house)
Small switch: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08SQ5PCY3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Hello Kurt.
I thank you for your information and I did reply back to your email you had provided, and I am not 100 percent sure if you got my update message I am having some issues that I do not understand and I had to return the PoE switch box back to amazon for replacement . So once you got my email … please review my issues I am dealing with the set PoE set up . Thank You
Hi Craig. I replied to your email (sorry for the delay). I’ll start checking the email often so we wont have that delay again. We should be able to find the issue quickly!
Kurt