Purpose of Patch panel

[Vijay_network]

I recently moved into a home and it already had WIFI access point (Linksys LAPAC 1750) prewired. I thought of making use of it. I setup the modem and router and they are up and running. The access point is connected to a "patch panel" and the panel has 2 inputs (cat 5e). I purchased a POE injector which only has output. How can I make this work?

what is the purpose of the patch panel? Usually what are the inputs to it?

 

[razel]

Patch panels in homes are often for phone. They make it easy to rewire and reconfigure. Yes it is possible that they ran Ethernet wires to the rooms but use it for phone. Phones only need 2 wires and plugging a phone jack into an Ethernet port is possible. 100 mb/s Ethernet only needs 4 wires. Gigabit requires 8. There are many ways to configure patch panels.

If it was owned prior, they took the good parts with them and rightfully so. It's up to you to fill it the details. You need a switch and modem located there if it is wired for Ethernet and you'll need to figure out which wires go where or reconfigure it yourself. I could theorize about your configuration more, but I think you get the idea.

 

[Vijay_network]

Thanks razel. I have setup almost everything I need. I am just trying to make my access point work.

My setup is Modem-> Router -> POE+ injector -> patch panel -> access point

It works if i remove the access point and connect it directly to the POE+ injector. I noticed the patch panel has 5 ports and 2 ethernet wires punched into it. I tried connecting the output of POE+ injector to each of the wire and still it fails.

I am just checking what went wrong. What are the 2 ethernet wires in the patch panel? What am I missing?

 

[mxnerd]

Like what razel said, the purpose of patch panel is providing a central connection points for cables.

You have to find out yourself where those cat5e cables lead to and what kind of plugs (jacks) are used at the other ends.

It can be used as ethernet or phone wiring.

8 internal wires for gigabit ethernet, 4 internal wires for 100Mbps ethernet using RJ45 plug/jack, which have 8 pins.

2 internal wires for RJ11 phone plug/jack. RJ11 can have up to 6 pins however, that's for 3 phone lines.

 

[Vijay_network]

Thanks mxnerd. I have attached the photos of the patch panel .

https://ibb.co/cDRKmo
https://ibb.co/feGKmo
https://ibb.co/cxKiCT
https://ibb.co/hPTMz8

The 2 ethernet wires patched to the patch panel have the other end in my network box. I tried connecting each end to my router and still it didn't work.

Where should I connect the 2 ethernet wires.

 

[mxnerd]

Is that thing on the ceiling? Why would previous user/owner install a patch panel there? All it needs is one cable with RJ45 plug for that access point, and that cable provide ethernet signal and power.

No matter, since you use another cable to connect from that little patch panel to access point, that's fine. Just make sure which wire is used to connect back to where your router is.

However, you need a gigabit switch that have at least one POE port, and use that port to provide electricity and ethernet signal to that Linksys access point. A plain router can't provide power.

 

[Vijay_network]

I already got POE injector and tested it. It works perfectly.

Does the patch panel support POE+? I am planning to remove the patch panel and replace it with a RJ45 plug.

 

[mxnerd]

If you have something like this TPLINK POE+ injector then it can do what you want.

https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Ethernet-Injector-Distances-TPE-115GI/dp/B00BK4W8TQ

No, you don't need that patch panel.