Wanting to save space and weight on his project build [Florin] set out to find a way to add Ethernet connectivity without the magnetics. His*ill-advised*first try involved directly coupling two switches, frying both in the process. After some research he found that*Ethernet*hardware manufacturers have considered the need for devices without the magnetics and there are several application notes available on the subject. [Florin] followed the information that Realtek has for their devices and learned that they can be couple capacitively. After depopulating the magnetics from a second pair of switches he wired up some resistor-capacitor networks on a breadboard and got the connecting to work.
Filed under: misc hacks
