Olimex ESP32-POE-ISO Board for Espressif ESP32 with Wired 100MBit Ethernet with POE Isolation

This is pretty neat little device. I ordered it to replace an Arduino Uno, Ethernet Shield, and a power supply to control my garage door. I’m using EspHome with Home Assistant and the POE and Ethernet portion work flawlessly.This may be my go to IoT device.

So first of all these are a fantastic idea for combining the power of the ESP32 with the simplicity of wired Ethernet. I build devices for family and just plugging in a cable is so much easier for them than configuring wifi.Plus points:1) The ethernet worked right out of the box using the Olimex sample. The ETH library is compatible with the wifi library so I didn't need to change any client or webserver code.2) Has the circuitry to program without pressing buttons which is a pain with most of the ESP32 boards.So why only two stars:1) The first one I received worked beautifully connected by USB for programming and connected by a non-POE Ethernet. Seemed like this was a winner. However when I plugged in an IIC oled it would not program. Same oled does not interfere with a nano. Having to disconnect the oled to reprogram is worse than pressing a button. The replacement unit has the same programming issue - i.e. can't program with the oled attached. I implemented a web updated, problem solved.2) When I plugged into POE for power, with only a 20ma oled connected it overheated. I plugged it in and checked the website on it and within a minute or so it died. I picked up the board and burnt my finger. The area that was hot was around the 3.3v regulator and coil, not the POE circuit. After this it got hot in seconds even with non-POE Ethernet and USB power; so I'm guessing the POE overloaded something. This is the same POE I'm running cameras and Raspberry Pis on so I am confident in the POE switch. Returned it. The replacement also gets hot around the POE, where the two 220ohm resistors are. These I think is to provide the necessary 250mw minimum to enable POE, if so they need heatsinks.On the replacement unit, when powered by usb the 3.3v regulator is cold. I tried POE for a few seconds and it started getting noticeably warmer on the 3.3v regulator and so did the 5v DC-DC converter and aforementioned resistors. This was with nothing attached. I'm now using an external POE splitter to provide power to the USB; this works well and everything is staying cool.3) LIPO charger/power - verified that if you lose power, the unit switched to LIPO and carries on without interruption - great. However when you reconnect USB power it reboots. Fortunately this works for me as I only need to detect loss of external power ( thoughtfully provide on GPIO 39)- and save data to SPIFFS.SummaryGreat idea and i am definitely going to use it, but with an external splitter.Software works out of the boxPOE is not usableIssues with updating with devices attached but mitigated by web upload.Final thoughtsPOE need thermal management and isn't easy to squeeze onto a tiny board. Given that external units are around $5 from china I would prefer a straight Ethernet solution.

If something is really important, I wire it. The fact that I can use one cable to both wire and power my ESP32 is like magic. I was mainly interested in their EVB board, but after playing with this one, I think it's actually my favorite.