Fibre Optic Continuity Test

Ignatow is a senior technical analyst with sprint paranet dallas tx a nationwide network services provider owned by sprint.

Fibre optic continuity test.

Before installing your fiber optic network one of the most important steps that you can take to ensure that data will be transmitted properly is to test your cables and connectors for continuity this tutorial will help you find out if your fiber cables and connectors are fit for transmission in just a few simple steps. The visual fiber tracer can verify continuity of a fiber optic path including any connections and ensure fibers are unbroken. The test source should match the type fiber generally led for mm or laser for sm and wavelength 850 1300 1550 nm that will be used on the fiber optic cable you are testing. A fiber optic tracer can be connected directly to the fiber optic cables that you re testing so that light can be sent through the cables.

If it s a long outside plant cable with intermediate splices you will probably want to verify the individual splices with an otdr also since that s the only way to make sure that each one is good. A patch panel is basically an array of different ports for patching 2 cables together without splicing them like a breadboard. Shown here is the basic setup of a fiber optic link and the instruments you can use to test for fiber continuity even if you have no traditional continuity testing tools. A continuity check is one method for fibre optic testing and is done to ensure that the fibre has not been broken at any point or to check that the fibre under test does indeed go from one location to the correct destination.

An overview of fiber optic continuity tests. For every fiber optic cable plant you will need to test for continuity end to end loss and then troubleshoot the problems. If they don t purchase 2 fiber optic jumper cables separately. You also need 2 fiber optic patch panels.

Possibly the most frequently used method is to use a safe visible light source particularly a safe high power visible. Similar to a common flashlight in appearance a fiber optic tracer uses only a low wattage led light source or light bulb. Test kits typically come with 2 jumper cables which you need to complete the test. If you are testing to some standards you may need to add some mode conditioning like a mandrel wrap to meet the standard launch conditions.

One basic type of fiber optics tester is known as a fiber optic tracer or visual fiber tracer. This type of fiber optic test is only intended to detect gross fiber defects such as macrobends.