Network switches
If your van has a managed network switch, Sensa shows you what is plugged into it and lets you cut or restore power to a socket without going near the cupboard.
A switch is not a router: it has no mobile signal, no operator and no internet connection of its own, so it is shown differently. The question a switch is actually asked is "is anything plugged into port 5, and did it come up at a gigabit?", and that is what its card answers. For the same reason a switch does not appear on the Cab dashboard's Internet tab, which is about signal quality on the road.
Seeing your ports
The Network tab on the Habitation dashboard shows a faceplate for each switch: one tile per Ethernet socket, laid out as they are on the unit.
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Up, with a speed | Something is plugged in and connected, at that speed |
| Down | Nothing connected |
| A grey dash | Sensa has not been able to read that port yet, so it is not claiming either way |
| A PoE marker | That port is currently supplying power over Ethernet |
Switching a port's power
The Switches tab on the Habitation dashboard carries your relay controllers, and beneath them a set of RJ45-shaped tiles, one per switch port.
Tap a tile to turn power over Ethernet on or off for that socket. This is how you power-cycle a camera or an access point that has stopped responding, without finding the unit and pulling the cable.
Each tile shows two things at once, which is the point of the shape:
- The link light and the speed tell you whether anything is plugged in
- The gold pins along the top light up when that port is delivering power
A port whose power you have switched off reads dim even while its link is still up, so you can see the state you have left it in.
Tapping a tile never enables or disables the port itself, only its power. Disabling a port could cut your system off its own network, so it is not offered here.
A port with no power-over-Ethernet hardware shows as a plain status tile with nothing to tap.
Naming your ports
Open Settings, choose the Switches tab, and each switch gets a card listing its ports, the same way a relay controller lists its channels.
- Name. Type what the socket actually goes to, for example "Roof camera" or "Bedroom point". The name then follows the port everywhere it appears.
- Device Type. If the port feeds a device Sensa already knows about, pick it here. Leave it on Not assigned if the port goes to something outside your Sensa system.
Only Ethernet sockets are listed. A port carries data to a device, so unlike a relay channel there is no picture to choose and no enable switch: the socket identifies itself.