34 CHAPTER 2: INSTALLING THE SWITCH
WARNING: When powering any Switch 5500 from an RPS, the unit must 
be earthed (grounded). This can be achieved by either connecting the 
power cord to the unit or by connecting the earth terminal on the rear of 
the unit to a reliable electrical earth, or by connecting both. You must 
ensure that the earth connection is made before connecting the DC 
supply from the RPS.
3Com Switches which support -48V DC RPS inputs, that are PoE enabled, 
can only be powered by an RPS which complies with the isolation 
requirements of IEEE-Std 802.3af. Non PoE enabled switches do not have 
this restriction.
WARNING: A standard 'positive-earthed' -48V redundant power system 
suitable for use with telecommunications equipment should not be used 
with the 3Com Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) network switches. In order to 
meet the IEEE 802.3af (PoE) specification, the -48V output must be 
isolated from earth (ground) and meet the isolation requirements in that 
specification.
WARNING: Any RPS must be approved as a SELV output in accordance 
with IEC 60950-1/UL 60950-1/EN 60950-1.
WARNING: The characteristics of the Switch 5500 DC supply input are 
given in Appendix C
 on page 127.
The Switch 5500 can be powered in three different ways:
■ AC Mains only — does not offer any power redundancy. If the AC 
mains supply or the AC power supply fail, the Switch will power off.
■ AC Mains and -48V DC (primary supply) — the internal AC supply 
acts as the backup in the event of a DC power failure. 
■ DC only — the Switch does not need an AC supply and the resiliency 
is provided by the DC supply. This is useful in an environment where 
only DC power is available.
The RPS provides three main benefits to the customer:
■ Power Redundancy — if a Switch is powered from the mains supply 
unit, a failure of the internal power supply will cause the Switch to fail. 
This can be overcome by connecting both the AC and DC RPS supplies 
to the Switch. Additional redundancy can also be added to the DC 
power by using (N+1) DC power supplies to further increase the 
availability of the system.