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Terminating fiber-optic questions.
- Thread starter dashpuppy
- Start date
Terminating fiber is going to be a lot harder than installing copper. Even if you just use the easy-connect ends that do not require polishing, to do any kind of troubleshooting on an optical network, you'll need an optical time-domain reflectometer to find optical impedance mismatches (kinks in the cable, faults). I've got an older one with a 1300nm laser in it that i was able to find, however, if you are going to be serious about this, you'd need to get a OTDR (with some kind of quality assurance behind the calibration). Most serious customers are going to expect that you can document the quality of the link. Copper is fairly easy, however, copper is usually just work area ports--fiber is going to be a damned important connection, in fact, the customer is going to be relying on that fiber line.
Netwerkz101
Gawd
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- Jul 11, 2010
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http://www.siemon.com/us/learning/videos.asp
They have a couple of fiber term videos.
I attended a 3 day class many moons ago and enjoyed learning to do it..
The #1 thing I came away with is: Buy pre-made cables.
The money spent will be recovered the first time you have
intermittant fiber cable issues.
That XLR8 tool wasn't around when I went to class.
Pretty cool stuff.
They have a couple of fiber term videos.
I attended a 3 day class many moons ago and enjoyed learning to do it..
The #1 thing I came away with is: Buy pre-made cables.
The money spent will be recovered the first time you have
intermittant fiber cable issues.
That XLR8 tool wasn't around when I went to class.
Pretty cool stuff.
Unless you have a dedicated cabling team it's going to be cheaper to buy pre-terminated cable. I went through NASA's fiber terminating course which did cover polishing, splicing, and the quick connects but unless you do it all the time and have a bajillion dollars in tools and testers you're going to waste a ton of time and money on mistakes.
The datacenter I work at now has a whole team that does this and this alone but the place is huge so the cost is offset. Basically stick with pre-fab cables especially if you have other duties to attend to.
The datacenter I work at now has a whole team that does this and this alone but the place is huge so the cost is offset. Basically stick with pre-fab cables especially if you have other duties to attend to.
Buying pre-made cables wont work, we run fiber through 1" pvc piping through out houses. The only thing in these pvc pipes is the fiber.
j'
It's not a bajillion dollars in tools. But it will run you around 15 grand for the works.
Both Panduit and Bicsi cert books have great information on terminating and testing fiber optic cabling.
I took the Panduit Course at the local community college. The cert meter we used was made by fluke and stickered for around $10,000. The microscope, cutters, crimp tools, strippers, etc... were around $5,000.
If I ran fiber cabling for a living, I could offset the cost, but for now, I just hire it out when I need the occasional fiber cable run across a building.
Both Panduit and Bicsi cert books have great information on terminating and testing fiber optic cabling.
I took the Panduit Course at the local community college. The cert meter we used was made by fluke and stickered for around $10,000. The microscope, cutters, crimp tools, strippers, etc... were around $5,000.
If I ran fiber cabling for a living, I could offset the cost, but for now, I just hire it out when I need the occasional fiber cable run across a building.
Best way to learn is to take a class on it. There's a lot of little things that you can't learn from a book or watching a video online. As far as connectors I've only used the the epoxy-less and splice on connectors from AFL. The splice on connectors are quite a bit easier to use but require a pretty hefty investment to use.
The actual process of splicing is fairly simple but depends on what type of cable you're using (outdoor/indoor, splice tray? pre-terminated pigtails or doing your own termination?) The quick and dirty run down is to strip your cable out and expose the buffer tube. Strip off a section of the buffer tube to expose the fibers, how much depends on the application. Slide your heat shrinks/boots over the fiber. Strip the cladding off and clean it. Cleave the fiber to spec, insert into splicer. Repeat for the other side and splice. If the splice reports an estimated loss that's acceptable to you install the heat shrink/boot and move on, if not break the splice and redo it.
As others have said the equipment is quite expensive for this as well and unless you do a lot of it you'll be better off to contract it out.
The actual process of splicing is fairly simple but depends on what type of cable you're using (outdoor/indoor, splice tray? pre-terminated pigtails or doing your own termination?) The quick and dirty run down is to strip your cable out and expose the buffer tube. Strip off a section of the buffer tube to expose the fibers, how much depends on the application. Slide your heat shrinks/boots over the fiber. Strip the cladding off and clean it. Cleave the fiber to spec, insert into splicer. Repeat for the other side and splice. If the splice reports an estimated loss that's acceptable to you install the heat shrink/boot and move on, if not break the splice and redo it.
As others have said the equipment is quite expensive for this as well and unless you do a lot of it you'll be better off to contract it out.
Shadowspawn
[H]ard|Gawd
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I highly recommend your boss sends you to class. If I was your customer I would expect you to be a certified installer and would send my business elsewhere if I found out you weren't.