FAQ

Frequently asked questions about the Exaviz Home Assistant PoE Plugin.

5 minute read

General Questions

What boards are supported?

The plugin supports all Exaviz boards with PoE:

Board	PoE Source	Controller
Cruiser	Built-in PoE+ ports (4 or 8 depending on model)	TPS23861
Interceptor + PoE Board	Add-on via FFC cable (8 ports per board, up to 16)	IP808AR

The plugin auto-detects your board type at startup. No manual configuration is needed.

Does this work with both CM4 and CM5?

Yes. The plugin works with any compute module supported by your carrier board:

Cruiser: Raspberry Pi CM5 only
Interceptor: Raspberry Pi CM4, Raspberry Pi CM5, and Banana Pi CM4

The compute module type is detected automatically and displayed in the Board Information card.

What PoE controller does my board use?

Board	PoE Controller	Ports per Controller
Cruiser	TPS23861 (Texas Instruments)	4 (2 controllers for 8-port models)
Interceptor + PoE Board	IP808AR (IC Plus)	8

The controller type is shown in the Board Information card under “PoE Controller”.

What version of Home Assistant do I need?

The plugin requires Home Assistant 2024.12 or newer for the best experience (auto-registered frontend cards). Older versions back to 2024.4 are supported but require manual Lovelace resource registration. We recommend running the latest stable version and using the Docker Container installation method.

Does the plugin work remotely?

Currently, the plugin only manages PoE ports on the local board where Home Assistant is running. Remote board management (controlling PoE on a different Exaviz board over the network) is planned for a future release.

PoE Control Questions

Can I control PoE power from the dashboard?

Yes. Each PoE port has a switch entity that can be toggled on or off from the dashboard. The entity ID depends on your board type:

Cruiser (built-in): switch.onboard_portN
Interceptor (first board): switch.addon_0_portN
Interceptor (second board): switch.addon_1_portN

The custom PoE card also provides click-to-toggle and right-click-to-reset controls.

What does “Enabled Ports” vs “Total PoE Ports” mean?

Total PoE Ports – The number of physical PoE ports detected on the board (e.g., 8 for a single PoE board)
Enabled Ports – The number of ports that are administratively enabled and ready to deliver power

If you disable a port, “Enabled Ports” decreases but “Total PoE Ports” stays the same.

What does “reset port” do?

Resetting a port power-cycles it: the port is disabled briefly, then re-enabled. This is useful for rebooting a PoE-powered device (like an IP camera or access point) without physically unplugging it.

Why can’t I disable PoE power completely on Cruiser?

On Cruiser boards, the current firmware uses a network-level workaround (ip link) to disable port connectivity rather than directly cutting PoE power via the TPS23861 controller. This means the port stops passing network traffic, but a small amount of standby power may still be present.

A firmware update to support direct TPS23861 power control is planned. Interceptor boards with the IP808AR controller support full power enable/disable.

Dashboard Questions

Should I use the Cruiser or Interceptor card layout?

Use the layout that matches your board:

Cruiser layout includes ESP32 firmware version, board revision, and serial number
Interceptor layout includes PoE driver version and omits ESP32-specific fields

You can use the Cruiser layout on an Interceptor – unavailable attributes simply display a dash (–). But the Interceptor-specific layout is cleaner.

See Dashboard Cards for the recommended YAML.

Can I customize the card layouts?

Yes. The Board Information card uses standard Home Assistant entities card YAML. You can reorder rows, change icons, rename labels, or add/remove attributes to suit your needs.

The PoE Port Card (custom:exaviz-poe-card) auto-discovers ports and doesn’t require per-port configuration.

Can I show temperature in Fahrenheit?

The sensor.board_temperature entity reports temperature in Celsius by default. Home Assistant can convert units automatically based on your system settings:

Go to Settings > System > General
Under Unit System, select Imperial for Fahrenheit or Metric for Celsius
Alternatively, customize the individual entity’s display unit in the entity settings

Installation Questions

Do I need to install anything on the board besides Home Assistant?

Yes. The Exaviz Debian packages must be installed on the board for the plugin to access PoE hardware:

All boards: exaviz-dkms (kernel modules and device tree overlays) and exaviz-netplan (per-port network configuration and DHCP server for connected devices)
Interceptor boards additionally: exaviz-pse-dkms (IP808AR PoE driver — provides the /proc/pse interface for PoE port control)

This requires adding the Exaviz APT repository and signing key to your system. See the System Software & Downloads page for complete setup instructions.

Can I run Home Assistant on a different machine?

Currently, Home Assistant must run on the same Exaviz board as the PoE hardware. The plugin accesses local hardware interfaces (/proc/pse, /dev/pse, /sys/class/thermal) directly.

Remote PoE management from a separate Home Assistant instance is planned for a future release.

Is this available in the default HACS store?

Yes. The Exaviz PoE Plugin is available in the default HACS store. Open HACS, search for “Exaviz”, and click Download. No custom repository URL is needed.

See the Installation Guide for step-by-step instructions.

Can I install beta or pre-release versions?

Yes. We publish beta (-beta.1) and release candidate (-rc.1) versions for early testing. HACS hides these by default. To access them:

Open HACS and find Exaviz PoE Plugin
Click the three-dot menu and enable Show beta versions
Select the beta version and click Download

Beta versions are not recommended for production. You can switch back to stable at any time by disabling beta versions and updating.

Compatibility Questions

Does this conflict with the Exaviz PoE Tool (GUI)?

No. The PoE Tool and the Home Assistant plugin can coexist on the same board. The PoE Tool is a monitoring application with port reset capability. The Home Assistant plugin adds port enable/disable control that the PoE Tool does not provide. Both read from the same hardware interface (/proc/pse or /dev/pse), so status changes made by one are visible in the other on the next poll.

Does this work with standard Raspberry Pi OS?

Yes, as long as you install the Exaviz Debian packages. The plugin requires exaviz-dkms and exaviz-netplan on all boards, plus exaviz-pse-dkms on Interceptor boards (provides the /proc/pse interface for PoE port control). These packages work on any Debian-based system – standard Raspberry Pi OS, Debian Trixie, Debian Bookworm, etc.

See System Software & Downloads for instructions on adding the Exaviz APT repository and installing the packages.

FAQ