In Ventev’s #MFD6 – Mobility Field Day 6 – presentation we were able to see a quick preview of the company’s second version of an APoS battery.
It is obvious the company listened to their users, and make proper changes to their product to better meet the needs of their customers.
First, moving away from a proprietary barrel connector for input power to a standard USB-C is brilliant. Just what we’ve been asking for. Now, if you loose the included power supply, you can grab any other USB-C power supply to recharge your device!
Sure, many of us do not support 24v passive PoE with most of our professional, enterprise-class gear – but it is there is you need it for side jobs, or other smaller projects.
But the good news is the other PoE port supports 802.3af/at and even /bt!
Of course all the RJ-45’s support full gigabit Ethernet.
In addition, the USB-C can output a wide range of power options to support just about anything you can throw at it.
(One caveat, the device can either support output power to the PoE injector, OR output power to the USB-C, but not both at the same time because of power constraints within the system)
For those of us who travel for work, this battery is rated just under the TSA limit at 98Watt Hours, and this is clearly posted on the outside of the device. Well done Ventev.
I will miss having a 12v output for supporting many Access Points with direct 12v DC connectors, and/or supporting my Ham Radio hobby, but I already have many 12v batteries, so this won’t be missed, and is easily outweighed by having full 802.3bt PoE available.
This new updated working battery is not quite yet released to the public, but stay tuned, there will be public announcements coming soon. You’ll learn pricing and availability.
