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Hacker mods an M1 Mac mini to receive power over Ethernet instead of AC

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Re: Hacker mods an M1 Mac mini to receive power over Ethernet instead of AC

#31

Post by bravetraveler »

bravetraveler wrote: post #27
r00fus wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the goal of having a MacMini running off an external battery? I mean, it seems less cost effective than just getting a MB Air and not using the screen...

Avoiding the inevitable spicy pillow seems like a good reason An external/easily replaceable battery would be excellent come time to deal with cell age

Does this read like an attack against Apple laptops specifically, or something? Already -2 five minutes after posting it.

Leaving as-is for feedback. I don't get the controversy. I could've been a jerk and said just buy a UPS - this is an established concept.

Edit: thank you kind souls for restoring the imbalance - carry on :D

Re: Hacker mods an M1 Mac mini to receive power over Ethernet instead of AC

#32

Post by poolopolopolo »

mmastrac wrote: post #12

I use PoE extractors to power a few different devices in my house, including RPis and some non-PoE switches. It's ridiculously easy to use them, but you generally need to know the voltage you want ahead of time.

Holy moly, didnt know these things existed :O and fairly cheap as well, always though PoE a bit of useless since most devices dont support it and it was (is?) quite dangerous.

Re: Hacker mods an M1 Mac mini to receive power over Ethernet instead of AC

#33

Post by SmellTheGlove »

r00fus wrote: post #19
ravetcofx wrote: post #6

" the M1 Mac mini was the perfect hardware to test out PoE, as on idle, the device only consumes 6W. When some load is applied to the internals, that power draw can go up to 40W. After some thorough research, we found out that the maximum throughput of Power over Ethernet was 15.4W " They'll have to bump it up to 802.3bt (Poe ++) which can support 60W. Cool Project though, I've been wanting to mod my Mac Mini m1 to r…

What's the goal of having a MacMini running off an external battery? I mean, it seems less cost effective than just getting a MB Air and not using the screen...

No idea, but if they got it running on USB PD, battery pack aside, it would make it a one cable connection to a monitor that has PD support. Multiple cords don’t actually bother me but it sounds kinda neat.

Anyhow I guess the goal is “because you can”

Re: Hacker mods an M1 Mac mini to receive power over Ethernet instead of AC

#34

Post by dylan604 »

r00fus wrote: post #19
ravetcofx wrote: post #6

" the M1 Mac mini was the perfect hardware to test out PoE, as on idle, the device only consumes 6W. When some load is applied to the internals, that power draw can go up to 40W. After some thorough research, we found out that the maximum throughput of Power over Ethernet was 15.4W " They'll have to bump it up to 802.3bt (Poe ++) which can support 60W. Cool Project though, I've been wanting to mod my Mac Mini m1 to r…

What's the goal of having a MacMini running off an external battery? I mean, it seems less cost effective than just getting a MB Air and not using the screen...

This would be fun for when LEOs come in to take your computer, they can easily keep it powered so all of the decrypted keys stay in memory. Killing power means going back to an encrypted state. In high profile cases for desktops, there's techniques for splicing the power cable to switch to a battery pack. This would make it much easier for the unskilled LEO to take your shit. Cause we all know you're the one they're after. Sleep tight! ;-)

Re: Hacker mods an M1 Mac mini to receive power over Ethernet instead of AC

#35

Post by dheera »

ravetcofx wrote: post #6

" the M1 Mac mini was the perfect hardware to test out PoE, as on idle, the device only consumes 6W. When some load is applied to the internals, that power draw can go up to 40W. After some thorough research, we found out that the maximum throughput of Power over Ethernet was 15.4W " They'll have to bump it up to 802.3bt (Poe ++) which can support 60W. Cool Project though, I've been wanting to mod my Mac Mini m1 to r…

I'm very skeptical of PoE now after 3 PoE adapters killed 3 Raspberry Pis I have.

I wouldn't want to risk something more expensive to that shit.

At this point I'd rather just have straight up 19V + and - cables bundled together with the Ethernet with some heatshrink around the whole thing to make it look like 1 cable.

Re: Hacker mods an M1 Mac mini to receive power over Ethernet instead of AC

#36

Post by OJFord »

bitbckt wrote: post #29
ravetcofx wrote: post #6

" the M1 Mac mini was the perfect hardware to test out PoE, as on idle, the device only consumes 6W. When some load is applied to the internals, that power draw can go up to 40W. After some thorough research, we found out that the maximum throughput of Power over Ethernet was 15.4W " They'll have to bump it up to 802.3bt (Poe ++) which can support 60W. Cool Project though, I've been wanting to mod my Mac Mini m1 to r…

Minor correction: 802.3bt added 51W (Type 3) or 71W (Type 4). 60W isn't a standard power level. Some switches support up to 95W per port with PoH.

Surely they're all 'up to'? It's not 'you must sink this much current or else not compliant'?

It seems like a weird thing for TFA to say anyway - my PoE[+] switch was the cheapest 8 port I could get a few years ago on Amazon, and does 30W per port. I don't really understand how you could look into it at all, be willing to attempt the hack, but not use a switch (or injector or whatever) that's capable of powering it under load.

Re: Hacker mods an M1 Mac mini to receive power over Ethernet instead of AC

#37

Post by OJFord »

r00fus wrote: post #19
ravetcofx wrote: post #6

" the M1 Mac mini was the perfect hardware to test out PoE, as on idle, the device only consumes 6W. When some load is applied to the internals, that power draw can go up to 40W. After some thorough research, we found out that the maximum throughput of Power over Ethernet was 15.4W " They'll have to bump it up to 802.3bt (Poe ++) which can support 60W. Cool Project though, I've been wanting to mod my Mac Mini m1 to r…

What's the goal of having a MacMini running off an external battery? I mean, it seems less cost effective than just getting a MB Air and not using the screen...

I could see it making sense in a 'van life' context to use a smaller local battery rather than plug everything in to your main leisure battery. Use the latter to charge Makita packs say and then run most other stuff off those (there's a decent amount of open 3D printable adapters for them, as well as third-party/AliExpress stuff).

Re: Hacker mods an M1 Mac mini to receive power over Ethernet instead of AC

#38

Post by bitbckt »

OJFord wrote: post #36
bitbckt wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minor correction: 802.3bt added 51W (Type 3) or 71W (Type 4). 60W isn't a standard power level. Some switches support up to 95W per port with PoH.

Surely they're all ' up to '? It's not 'you must sink this much current or else not compliant'? It seems like a weird thing for TFA to say anyway - my PoE[+] switch was the cheapest 8 port I could get a few years ago on Amazon, and does 30W per port. I don't really understand how you could look into it at all, be willing to attempt the hack, but not use a switch (or injector or whatever) that's capable of powering it…

Hah, yes they are all 'up to' on the device side. A switch port or injector is not compliant with a particular standard if it does not provide for the type-specific load, however.

Re: Hacker mods an M1 Mac mini to receive power over Ethernet instead of AC

#39

Post by mmastrac »

poolopolopolo wrote: post #32
mmastrac wrote: post #12

I use PoE extractors to power a few different devices in my house, including RPis and some non-PoE switches. It's ridiculously easy to use them, but you generally need to know the voltage you want ahead of time.

Holy moly, didnt know these things existed :O and fairly cheap as well, always though PoE a bit of useless since most devices dont support it and it was (is?) quite dangerous.

If you have modern PoE dispensing (?) equipment it's pretty safe as the devices all auto-negotiate.

Re: Hacker mods an M1 Mac mini to receive power over Ethernet instead of AC

#40

Post by EvanAnderson »

mmastrac wrote: post #12

I use PoE extractors to power a few different devices in my house, including RPis and some non-PoE switches. It's ridiculously easy to use them, but you generally need to know the voltage you want ahead of time.

PoE splitters with USB outputs are really handy since "everything" plugs-in to USB now.
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