The high decibel loss of fiber optic cable infrastructure can cause downtime… No one wants this! Here are some of the most common factors that cause dB loss:
1. Contaminated end face
glass fiber. Just like glass windows, when the glass is dirty, the performance of the fiber cable will be severely reduced.
Most of the fibers are covered, so they will not be contaminated. However, the end face is a place where the fiber is exposed and easily contaminated.
In order to avoid data transmission problems, please ensure that you follow the following rules: “Inspect, clean, and inspect.” Before installing the optical fiber, you should use this method. This will also prevent you from passing pollution while connecting.
2. Exceed the bending radius
Although fiber glass can be bent, excessive bending will cause optical loss and may lead to the obsolescence of fiber optic cables. This type of damage is most common during installation.
A good rule of thumb is not to exceed 10 times the diameter of the outer sheath. Therefore, for a jumper with a 2mm sheath, the maximum bending radius is 20mm. When in doubt, contact your supplier to obtain an accurate measurement.
3. A jumper
Many installers use zipper straps to keep the cables organized in the environment. This is a good idea for many types of cables, but not for fiber optics.
Although it is important for cable management to help maintain an organized environment, Velcro is a better choice for fiber optics. The zipper will squeeze the optical fiber, which may cause high decibel loss or even total transmission loss.
4. Fiber
Polishing the fibers on the end face is crucial, not only to avoid contamination but also to ensure that the ferrule is not too prominent. If this happens, when paired with another fiber or entering a transceiver, the fiber may break and/or split.
The best way to avoid this problem is to ensure that your manufacturer has a repeatable process that can guarantee the quality of their cables.
5. Ferrule misalignment
The data is transmitted through the core of the fiber optic cable. When the fiber optic cables are paired on the patch panel, the core wires need to be perfectly arranged to ensure the best data transmission.
As you may already know, in fiber optic cables, the sheath is the protruding part of the fiber optic connector. When the ferrule is not properly aligned, you will experience a dB loss.
In addition, cheaper components will result in mismatched cores and dB loss will be inevitable. Similar to cracked fibers, the best way to avoid this problem is to find high-quality fiber optic cables. Ben Franklin once said: “Although low prices are sweet, inferior quality is bitter after they have been forgotten.”
