Fibre Optic Continuity Test

For every fiber optic cable plant you will need to test for continuity end to end loss and then troubleshoot the problems.

Fibre optic continuity test.

Ignatow is a senior technical analyst with sprint paranet dallas tx a nationwide network services provider owned by sprint. When you test fiber optic cable networks a visible laser source connected to one end of the cable can be used to verify the transmission to the opposite end. An overview of fiber optic continuity tests. A patch panel is basically an array of different ports for patching 2 cables together without splicing them like a breadboard.

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. You also need 2 fiber optic patch panels. One basic type of fiber optics tester is known as a fiber optic tracer or visual fiber tracer. 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.

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. If that light comes out the other end of the cables during a. Possibly the most frequently used method is to use a safe visible light source particularly a safe high power visible. 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.

The visual fiber tracer can verify continuity of a fiber optic path including any connections and ensure fibers are unbroken. 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. Similar to a common flashlight in appearance a fiber optic tracer uses only a low wattage led light source or light bulb. 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 they don t purchase 2 fiber optic jumper cables separately. To run a continuity test on fiber optic cables you ll need to use a fiber optic tracer.