Hikvision 24 Port Gigabit Unmanaged Switch DS-3E0524-E

On a site large enough to need three or four PoE switches, something has to join those switches together and carry everything back to the recorder. That is the job the Hikvision DS-3E0524-E does: twenty-four Gigabit ports, unmanaged, and no PoE — there is no P in the model code and none is claimed. It is the aggregation box, not a camera feeder.

The shape of the network makes that omission deliberate rather than a saving. PoE switches belong out in the building, close to the cameras, because power has to travel down the same cable as the data. This one belongs in the comms room, and nothing plugged into it is a camera — it takes the link from each PoE switch, the recorder, and whatever workstations and routers share the rack. Every port carries traffic; none delivers power. Buying PoE at this position is paying for a capability no port on the box will ever use.

Where it earns its place on a job

Being the switch in the middle changes what matters about it. Video from every camera on the site converges here before it reaches the recorder, so this is where gigabit does real work even on a job where the cameras are nowhere near gigabit. A floor switch handles the cameras on that floor; this one handles all of them at once.

It also decides where the box lives. Put it in the cabinet beside the recorder rather than out in a riser with the edge switches, and on the same protected supply as the recorder, not a spare wall socket. One PoE switch failing costs you the cameras on that leg; this one failing costs every camera on the site at once, and a recorder running on battery with nothing arriving at it records nothing at all.

Before you order — three things to confirm

• Total cameras crossing it — add up every camera on every PoE switch that will feed into this box, not the count on any one leg. That total is the load this switch actually carries.
• Links landing on it — count what terminates here: one from each PoE switch, the recorder, workstations, the router. Twenty-four is generous for most sites, but confirm the number rather than assuming it, and leave room for the leg added next year.
• Rack position and supply — confirm there is space in the cabinet next to the recorder and a free outlet on the same protected feed. Settle that at survey stage rather than after commissioning.

Technical specifications

• Brand: Hikvision, DS-3E0 series
• Model: DS-3E0524-E
• 24 ports
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Unmanaged
• Not a PoE switch — it supplies no power to connected devices
• Full manufacturer datasheet available on request — call 16454

Compatibility

Standard Ethernet on every port, so it does not care what is on the other end of the cable: the PoE switches feeding it, the NVR behind it and the client PCs beside it can be Hikvision or another brand. It passes traffic and nothing else — it does not appear in recorder software and adds no step to commissioning a camera.

What’s in the box

The switch itself. Accessories, mounting hardware and documentation vary by manufacturing revision, so we confirm what the current revision ships with at the point of order rather than promising it here. Mounting kits and patch leads should be specified separately.

Common questions on this model

Can we use this to power the cameras?
No. It supplies no power on any port, so cameras connected to it need their own supply. If the position you are filling is a camera leg rather than an aggregation point, the PoE models sit in the same switches category.

Our cameras are only 100 Mbps — does gigabit matter at this point?
Yes, and this is where it matters most. Every camera sends its stream through this switch on the way to the recorder, so traffic that trickles into each floor switch arrives here combined.

How many PoE switches can we hang off one of these?
It is a port-count question rather than a capability question: each PoE switch uses one port here, and the recorder, router and workstations take theirs from the same twenty-four. Draw the rack out and count before ordering, or call 16454 and we will check the datasheet figures against your camera total.

Every DS-3E0524-E we supply is genuine Hikvision stock with the official one-year manufacturer warranty and delivery across Egypt. For project pricing, or help sizing the aggregation layer against your drawing, call 16454.