Cisco Meraki MX-65 converting to Openwrt

Folks:

I got a MX-65 without power supply. While I waited for power supply, I decided to check if they can run on standard router power supply (typically 12V DC).

While the label says 54V DC, it actually boots perfectly on 12V DC supply using a Netgear DC adapter. The DC barrel connectors are 5.5mm x 2.1 mm for typical netgear and the MX-65 has a thicker pin and works with 5.5 x 2.5 mm center positive. Typically a Samsung or an Asus notebook would use that size barrel. I had a spare (they are pretty cheap) that had a female 5.5mm x 2.1mm and male 5.5mm x 2.5 mm and this just served me perfectly.

I used this guide verbatim and it converted to OpenWrt without even needing to open one screw in a 2 step process. The guide is here:

Convert MX-65 to OPenWrt

I am posting another note on my experience after I finished converting.

It is 12V 30W adapter, separate accessory as device is supposed to be fed by poe catalyst switch.

MX-65 can not be powered (input) using any of the two PoE ports. They are only for powering (output) to other PoE devices like phone or a webcam. There is some confusion about this on the web.

To power the PoE capable phone or other devices, one will need a beefier 90w power supply that Cisco ships with it.

As I am using it just as a sort of layer 2/3 switch, I have it going on a 12w power supply (12v, max 1a) and it is working fine with the 14mm long, 5.5mm x 2.5mm DC barrel connector.

Let me know if you want to check something out on the device.