Monthly Archives: October 2013

What factors will affect the fiber splicing result?

I get the answer from a professional fiber splicing engineer- William Graham

He tell that:

1 Keep the fiber splicer and fiber cleaver in the case when not in use.

2 Be sure you are set on the proper splicing program for the fiber you are splicing.

3 Don’t expect good splices under adverse conditions of dirt, dampness and wind. Create good splicing conditions.

4 Keep the dome and heater covers closed unless you are splicing or heating

5 Close the cleaves as soon as you take out the cleaved fiber

6 Clean your splicer before you start splicing.

7 Use an air bulb and fine brush for cleaning.

8 Do not used spray cans or the propellants might do damage.

9 If splicing gel filled cable ensure it is really clean so you don’t gum up the splicer.

10 Clean any gummed up grooves with a piece of sharp wood. Never use metal.

11 Charge the battery when you finish. The splicer we use will do over 200 splices and heats on a charge.

12 Have a stable and secure place for your splicer when splicing. If it drops on the floor it is probably garbage.

13 Keep your shrink splice sleeves in a sealed container (ziplock bag)

14 If you drop the shrink splice sleeve on the floor, leave it there.

15 Never clean the fiber with alcohol after you have cleaved it or you might cause reflections.

16 Have the splicer serviced (calibrated) when necessary

17 Clean the cleaver before you start with a fine brush and alcohol, especially if using gel filled cable.

18 Close the cleaver between cleaves to keep out air-borne dirt.

19 And, finally, if you drop the cleaver on the floor its value will be drastically diminished.

Manage your fiber ends and empty the scrap container at the end of the day.

Do the splice job as above points, you will get a good splice. Additionally, I also have a write a tutorial about fiber splicing process. You can read all from here. http://www.fs.com/Optical-Fusion-Splicing-Tutorial-aid-350.html and if you need fiber optic jumpers also can sent requriments to sales@fs.com

A clear understanding of the difference between fiber pigtail and patch cord

Previously, I only know different in appearance of the fiber pigtail and patch cord.

The fiber optic patch cord = fiber optic connector + fiber optic cable + fiber optic connector

IMG_5915

but the fiber optic pigtail = fiber optic connector + fiber optic cable. I think like this is easy to separate between them.

12fibers SCUPC SM pigtail

Recently, I have readed a discussion about the difference between fiber pigtail and patch core. There are so many professinal people to discuss it. They give me a clear understanding that:

Patch cords are made from either single or multi-fiber cables (usually rated for indoor use) and connected at each end with fiber cable connectors (either single fiber or multiple-fiber connector). Sometimes patch cords are called jumpers, especially if they are simplex or duplex. The connectors are selected to mate with the interfacing equipment or cable connectors. The important idea is that the cable has a connector at each end. The fiber can be either tight or loose buffered and the cable can be made of various diameters (1.2 mm to 3.0 mm are common). The patch cord may have one type of connector (ST FC, SC, LC, etc) on one end and a different connector on the other as long as all the fibers are connectorized on each cable end – this is a transition jumper. Patch cords are commonly used to connect ports on fiber distribution frames (FDFs). The  new mpo connecter make it  possible to run a singel cable that automatically terminates 12 fibers in one easy plug in.  Compared to common patch cord with ST FC, SC, LC connetor, MPO cable is a truly innovative and amazing group of products that really takes fiber optics into the new millennium.

mtpmpo3

A pigtail is a cable (like a pach cord or jumper) with only one end terminated with an optical connector. Patch cords are often cut into shorter lengths to make two pigtails. Pigtails are found anywhere, but more commonly in optical assemblages or optical components

Pigtails are installed where they will be protected and spliced,lets say on the inside of the ODF and that’s why they are normally not sheathed. They have a coating colour so that you slice them on the corresponding colour on the out coming fiber.
On the other hand patch codes are used between the ODF to the WDM MUX or equipment. If you cut a patch code for use as pigtail then in case of future faulting where you are dealing with multiple pairs it will be difficult. But still if you need to cut the patch code check on its characteristics.

In general, the only major physical differnce b/w patch cord & pigtail is that patch cord is a fixed length piece of cable with dual ended fiber connector type may vary & pigtail is one meter standard OFC core with white white colored jacket. As per standard pigtail can only be used for OFC termination purpose & patch cord is to be used to connect the active component with ODF so that means pigtail can not be used at the place of patch cord.

Municipal Fiber optic networks

The city where I live, Palo Alto has a long tradition of providing municipal utility services (that is, electricity, water, gas, etc) to its residents. For the past several years the city has been considering implementing a municipal fiber optic system which would permit residents to have fiber optic cable link directly to their houses which provided television, telephone and Internet services (at very high bandwidths). Naturally, the incumbent service providers (cable and phone) strongly lobby against such moves (for precisely the same reasons these companies wish to be monopolists in the first place.) The incumbents have sabotaged municipal FTTH fiber efforts in the past — specifically in the “tri-cities” region in Illinois, around the far west suburbs of Chicago.

In this Sunday’s Mercury News, there’s an article which discusses the city’s plan to make a final feasibility study of the project and a recommendation to the city council. Even if the city council votes in favor of the project, there will be a city wide referendum, since fiber optic cable prices would require millions of dollars in bonds to finance.

As a resident of Palo Alto, as well as a technology advocate, I’m rather strongly in favor of such a move by the city, even though it carries some financial risk (if the fiber optic plan flops, the city would have to raise its rates for other utilities).

At last there might be a means of transmission which is separated from the fiber optic cable providers, something that the local cable and phone companies absolutely refuse to provide.

Imagine a network with massive amounts of bandwidth where multiple companies competed to send content down that connection to a consumer. How would this be anything but a win-win situation for everyone? The city sells the bandwidth to many different companies, consumers have lots of choices in content providers, and the content providers are collecting revenue for their content — and that’s the whole point anyway isn’t it?

SOURCE: http://it.toolbox.com