Will this switch power these cameras?

Enter the camera mix — fixed domes, PTZs, heated or multi-sensor units — and either name a switch or let the registry rank every model that matches your filters. The planner adds up the PoE demand, holds it against the switch's rated PoE budget with an operating reserve set by the headroom, checks the port count, checks the highest powered-device ceiling against the per-port maximum, and checks that the ports negotiate every camera class's IEEE standard. It returns FIT, FIT WITH RISKS, NEEDS VALIDATION or NO FIT, with how many cameras of each class the switch can hold and the model that would fit instead.

Method v2.2.0 · data verified 2026-09-26 · registries: poe-switches · methodology

01 · Describe the camera mix

Cameras

Fixed bullet / dome

Custom fixed count

PTZ

Heated PTZ / multi-sensor

Edge AI nodes powered by this switch

PoE-powered nodes

Node PD class nodes ≥ 1

Not stated

802.3at (PoE+, 30 W PSE)

802.3bt Type 3 (60 W)

802.3bt Type 4 (90 W)

Switch

Rating filters the model list

Any

Industrial only

Minimum uplink filters the model list

Minimum PoE ports filters the model list

Any

16+

24+

Model

Loading switch registry…

Advanced

Budget headroom

0.7

0.8 (default)

0.9

1.0 (raw budget)

Longest cable run

50 m

100 m (standard)

150 m

Per-camera watts

Stated PSE watts per node nodes ≥ 1

Ready — ⌘↵ to run

03 · How this works

Four checks on one demand figure

The node's PoE demand is each camera group's count times the typical draw for its class. Ports holds the camera count against the switch's PoE port count — filling every port exactly is a NEAR LIMIT, not a pass, because there is no spare. Per-port ceiling holds the highest powered-device ceiling in the mix against the switch's per-port maximum. Budget holds the demand against the switch's published (rated) PoE budget; the headroom sets an operating reserve of rated × headroom — demand above the reserve is a NEAR LIMIT, demand above the rated budget is a FAIL. Standard checks that the switch's ports negotiate every camera class's IEEE standard, treating PoE as backward compatible: a higher-tier port powers a lower-tier camera, but an 802.3bt Type 3 camera on an 802.3at-only switch is a NO FIT.

Sourced switches, labelled estimates

Every switch figure — port counts, budget, per-port ceiling, standards, uplink, industrial rating, operating range — comes from the vendor's own page, quoted and linked. The per-camera draws (7 W fixed, 22.5 W PTZ, 50 W heated) and the 0.8 budget headroom are class E engineering defaults and are labelled as such in every result. A shortfall that rests only on a class E figure — a typical draw, a camera class's assumed PoE standard — is NEEDS VALIDATION, never NO FIT; stating the IEEE class or the per-camera watts makes it a FAIL. The IEEE powered-device maxima (12.95 / 25.5 / 51 / 71.3 W) are class A figures from the vendor standards table, cited in every result; with a stated poe_class the per-port check stamps elimination_authority: bounded_model on that ceiling. A figure the vendor page does not publish is UNKNOWN, which is why some switches come back NEEDS VALIDATION.

Full rules, the class E defaults and what invalidates a result: methodology. Raw dataset: datasets/poe-switches.json. Related: Power Budget sizes the whole node's supply; Network Bandwidth sizes the uplink the same switch carries.

04 · FAQ

What does the 0.8 budget headroom do?

The 0.8 headroom is an engineering default (class E), not a vendor figure: it sets an operating reserve at rated budget × 0.8. The full rated budget stays available — demand above the reserve is flagged NEAR LIMIT, not rejected, and only demand above the rated budget fails. A switch that runs at its published budget has no margin for a camera that draws above its class, a heater cycling on, or a port added later — and several vendors throttle or drop the lowest-priority port when the budget is reached. Set it to 1.0 in Advanced to plan with no reserve.

Where do the per-camera watts come from?

They are class E engineering planning figures: a fixed bullet or dome draws about 6-8 W, a PTZ about 20-25 W, and a heated outdoor PTZ or a multi-sensor panoramic camera about 40-60 W. The hard number in the per-port check is the IEEE powered-device ceiling for the class's standard, not the typical draw. Override the typical draw with your camera datasheet figure when you have it.

Will an 802.3af camera work on an 802.3at switch?

Yes — PoE is backward compatible, so a higher-tier power sourcing device negotiates down to a lower-tier powered device. The reverse is not true: an 802.3bt Type 3 camera on an 802.3at-only switch is a NO FIT, because the port cannot deliver the power the camera asks for.

Does it model cable losses?

No. The IEEE standard specifies a 100 m channel and the switch's per-port and budget figures already account for the loss inside it. A run longer than 100 m is out of specification and the result says so, but the engine models no derate beyond that point — use a PoE extender or fibre.