Hello together,
I had a quick thought 
about Yairs 
point.
I agree, a PD should not send 
out power it receives on the other wires.
This may cause a problem in the 
switch. If the power sources for individual ports are connected in the switch, it may also cause problems in other devices attached to the 
switch.
 
However, I think if the data 
pair has a diode bridge, and the spare pairs have a diode  in each 
pair ( a half bridge) , 
the problem you described 
cannot happen. 
 
So there is no need to mandate polarity insensitivity on the spare 
pairs per se.
 
Such a polarity insensitivity would make sense only we 
consider a cabling that swaps the spare pins is considered as a scenario that 
needs to work with power over lan. ( May be using Gigabit crossover cables.... 
)
 
I´m not sure if the wording of current version of the standard prevents 
injecting power backwards from the PD to the PSE.
If its not in, it should be added of course.
 
Best 
regards,
 Carsten 
 
 
  
  Hi,
   
  I would like to discuss the 
  benefits in mandating diode bridge at the input of both data pairs and spare 
  pairs.
   
  Background
   
  The PD is required to be 
  ready to accept power from the spare pairs or from the data 
  pairs.
  Typical implementation of 
  Oring the power from data pairs or spare pairs could be one of the following 
  options:
  1. Data pairs has diode 
  bridge and spare pairs using single diode.
  2. Data pairs has diode 
  bridge and spare pairs has diode bridge.
  3. Data pairs and spare pairs 
  has has single series diode each, data pair should have diode bridge if the PD 
  is auto-mdi-x.
   
  Now lets consider the 
  following case:
  A multiport system activate 
  port number  x and send power to the PD.
  The PD is configured per 
  option 1 or 3.
  Now, there is voltage present 
  at the output of the oring diode, but, due to the fact that one of the leads 
  of the spare pair is directly connected to one pair data 
  pairs
  There is a leakage current 
  path from the data pairs to the spare pairs back to the 
  PSE.
   
  This leakage current will 
  find its way to other ports in the PSE and may affect the detection 
  function.
  In some bob-smith 
  termination configurations that was good for a switch without pse and 
  are not suitable for switch with pse some ports may see voltages above 
  30V even if they are at OFF state.
   
  In order to prevent such 
  scenarios, option 2 is suggested that keep DC isolation from the spare pare to 
  the data pairs and vice versa.
   
  In addition, using diode 
  bridge at the data pairs will fix the issue raised by Moti Goldish 
  regarding the MDI-X/AUTO MDI-X issue.
   
  Mandating diode bridge on 
  both pairs will ensure powering of the PD in any PSE configuration and in any 
  cable type straight or crossed cable
  so we can 
  eliminate  the potential of interoperability problems regarding 
  the ability to successfully powering the PD.
  The data issue is solved by 
  the definitions for the PSE and PD, by the pin assignment and polarity for the 
  MDI/MDI-X/AUTO MDI-X configurations as described in tables 33-1and table 
  33-7.
  Actually referring to Auto 
  MDI-X in tables 33-1 and table 33-7 will not be required 
  anymore.
   
   
  Summary:
   
  The suggested remedy to 
  support the above is:
   
  Draft 4.2 page 
  60:
  1. Delete the text at 
  lines 50-51:
  "If the 
  interface is implemented as an MDI-X or Auto-MDI-X per Clause 14,the PD shall 
  be polarity insensitive "
   
  Replace it with the following 
  text: "The 
  interface in Mode A and in Mode B shall be polarity 
  insensitive.
   
  2. Consider to delete the 
  reference for Auto-MDI-X from tables 33-1 and 33-7 as it is not required due 
  to (1).
   
   
  I believe that to mandate the 
  above is required.   
   
  Please comment over the above 
  issue as soon as possible.
   
  Thanks
   
  Yair.
   
   Darshan Yair
Chief  Engineer
PowerDsine 
  Ltd.  -  Powering Converged Networks
1 Hanagar St., P.O. Box 
  7220
Neve Ne'eman Industrial Zone
Hod Hasharon 45421, 
  Israel
Tel:  +972-9-775-5100, Cell: +972-54-893019
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