Answer: You May Be Able to Get Away With Terminating the Cable While The Other Side Is Plugged In, But We’d Strongly Advised Against It.
So the POE standard is supposed to be “negotiated,” which means it doesn’t become powered until both sides agree. BUT… In my field experience, I’ve caused some hardware to fail after terminating cables while still plugged in on accident. It’s just considered best practices to work on unpowered equipment when running cable.
This Issue Is Even More of A Concern With POE Equipment
The rub comes from the fact that the cable just has way more potential energy compared to unpowered CAT cables, it’s kinda like walking around with a loaded weapon in your pocket – best to take out the bullets, right? If you accidentally cross the wires and create a short, say goodbye to the fused input and possibly even damage the networking gear.
If you need some assistance terminating POE equipment Cellar Door Solutions can help