Intended use
Name the cell: packaging, water skid, or a small cabinet with a PLC and three field devices plus one spare copper port. A spare port is still a port the quote must include.
Site translation
5 Port Unmanaged Industrial Ethernet Switch
A machine cell with a fixed star of devices can stay on a 5 port unmanaged industrial ethernet switch when nobody needs VLANs, port shutoff, or a management address. Write that limit down so a managed quote is not mixed into the same comparison.
Review inquiry cardsWhat the job site has to declare
Documents and stages
Ask for the current datasheet, a mounting drawing, and the incoming check you will run. Delivery stages are document review, then shipment, then a power-up check. Commissioning is a separate line.
Site constraints
Record DIN rail depth, ambient range, and whether the switch sits in a closed cabinet. An IP40 mark belongs to a stated test. A -40 C to 75 C window must be the row for the exact model, not a family banner.
Power and copper
Most unmanaged five-port units in this brief take a local 12-48 VDC feed rather than Power over Ethernet. If one device needs 802.3af at 15.4 W, say so. The 100 ohm copper port still needs a speed: 10/100 Mb/s or 10/100/1000 Mb/s.
Managed and unmanaged are both reasonable, for different jobs
Managed switches support monitoring, segmentation, and policy control when the specification asks for them. That path adds a management address, a firmware trail, and sometimes a license. Unmanaged switches can reduce configuration work on a simple fixed network where every port is trusted and the topology will not change. The unmanaged path gives up remote shutoff and traffic counters. Pick the path in the brief. Do not let a factory substitute the other path without a written deviation.
New equipment may offer a clearer support window. Refurbished equipment may answer a legacy mechanical fit when condition, prior hours, and warranty wording are verified. If the cell can accept either, split the quotation. A blended price hides the condition.
How a buyer can check the small-switch numbers
Switching capacity for five 1 Gb/s ports, full duplex, is 10 Gbps when every port is inside the claim. Forwarding rate at 64-byte frames is about 1.488 Mpps for each 1 Gb/s port, near 7.4 Mpps for five ports. Ask the factory which frame size and which ports produced the datasheet cell. A 100 Mb/s port changes both figures. Measurement accuracy here means the datasheet states the method. This desk does not run the frame test.
Procurement scenario: a washdown-adjacent skid with five drops
Background: the integrator has a PLC, two drives, a valve island, and a panel PC, all copper, inside a cabinet 2 m from a washdown zone. The cabinet is sealed. The switch itself is not sprayed. Process: the note specifies a 5 port unmanaged industrial ethernet switch, DIN rail, IP40, redundant 24 VDC, no Power over Ethernet, and a temperature row the factory must copy from the exact model. Result: quotes either match that fixed star or they list a managed substitute as a deviation with its license called out. The note does not claim ingress protection for the whole skid.
Fiber, antenna gain, MIMO, channel width, and VSWR belong on a radio brief, not on this copper star. If a later uplink needs light, move that question to the RFQ planner and keep this page on the unmanaged copper job.
RFQ questions for the unmanaged cell
What is the project use in one sentence?
Write the machines that plug in and whether any port must speak a ring. A fixed star with no management is the reason this page exists.
Which delivery constraints matter?
US destination, quantity of switches, requested timing, and who receives the datasheet before shipment. A witness test is optional and priced apart from the unit.
What evidence is enough to compare?
The model row for switching capacity, forwarding rate, input voltage, mounting, and ingress protection. A photo of a green enclosure is not that row.
Ask factories for the unmanaged cell quote
Send the five-port map, the DIN rail note, the voltage, the quantity, and the destination. LinkScope Sourcing 13 will request factory replies on that sheet.