Optical Fiber Patch Cord Maintenance and Cleaning Guide

We all know that optical fiber jumper is a widely used equipment connection accessory in the field of optical communication. It can connect a variety of network equipment and devices with optical fiber interfaces, such as optical modules, adapter panels, distribution boxes, wavelength division multiplexers and demultiplexers, optical fiber transceivers, etc. Here is the maintenance guide of optical fiber jumper.

1. Clean the optical fiber jumper in time

The contamination of the connector of the optical fiber jumper is an important cause of network failure. The contamination of the end face of the connector optical fiber by dust will lead to poor optical signal transmission quality. Generally, the main place to clean the optical fiber is the connector port at both ends. There are two main cleaning methods, one is dry cleaning, the other is wet cleaning. The commonly used dry cleaners have cassette type optical fiber cleaning boxes and one touch cleaning pens, while the wet cleaners have dust-free wiping papers, cleaning rods, etc.

2. Properly store optical fiber jumpers

Do not bend or stretch the optical fiber jumper excessively whether it is in use or not. Some damage caused by bending is visible to the naked eye, however, the loss in some cases may not be easy to judge, such as optical fiber micro deformation caused by ultra-low temperature, millimeter displacement caused by buffer or jacket defects, poor installation or other factors. Because such damage cannot be found directly, it is often ignored and may cause more problems in the long run. To avoid further losses, we should pay attention to the following points:

(1) Do not bend the optical fiber jumper beyond its minimum bending radius, especially in the narrow space of high-density optical fiber cabling.

(2) Use appropriate tools to redesign the fiber jumper path to protect the cable from damage, such as horizontal cable management rack.

(3) Do not collide with the optical fiber connector, otherwise the end face may be worn and the debris may stab the skin. Therefore, it is recommended to put a dust cap on the jumper at any time.

(4) If equipment is required to detect and identify faults, such as breakage and total attenuation inside the optical fiber jumper, optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) and optical fiber microscope can be used.