Re:Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB...
by brirec on Friday April 19, 2019 @02:02AM
(#19697412)
Oh dear god, why did you connect your iMac’s Ethernet port to mains? Did you expect it to survive?!
The fact that Ethernet functions the same with a voltage bias across the leads is exploited for PoE — power over Ethernet.
Re:Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB...
by jrockway on Friday April 19, 2019 @12:30PM
(#19700841)
> Oh dear god, why did you connect your iMac’s Ethernet port to mains?
Because I was 15 and bored.
Re:Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB...
by copperx on Friday April 19, 2019 @05:41PM
(#19703256)
Wouldn't you be more bored if you found yourself without an iMac?
Re:Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB...
by nostrademons on Friday April 19, 2019 @04:08AM
(#19697865)
In college I stripped one end of an Ethernet cord and plugged it into household current. The other end I had hooked up to an old laptop I no longer wanted. The wire exploded, and the motherboard was fried. YMMV. Laptop was an old Sony Vaio c. 2001 vintage if it makes a difference.
(On the plus side, this made up for sleeping through that physics class where my professor did the exploding wires demo.)
Re:Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB...
by ttsda on Friday April 19, 2019 @10:31AM
(#19699920)
Household current is AC, the transformer will pass it through.
Re:Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB...
by Dylan16807 on Friday April 19, 2019 @12:54AM
(#19697189)
The transformer mainly protects you from a voltage difference between a twisted pair and ground. Much less so from voltage across a twisted pair. But saturation could help limit the current spike, at least.
Ethernet is designed this way because the differential pair can apparently pick up a bit of a DC bias when laid next to cables in the ceiling/wall. While researching this post, I found that the spec requires the transformer/inductor to work correctly with a 30mA bias current. I am too lazy to go measure what the DC resistance is, though, so I don't know whether or not 200V is close to that.
When I was in high school, I wired up a cat 5 cable such that each pair was connected to one phase of the mains. I then plugged it directly into my iMac. There was no damage to the computer and the Ethernet port worked fine afterwards as well. (The integrated monitor went crazy; this was in the CRT days and presumably the Ethernet transceiver's magnetics make a good degaussing coil).