Category: Fiber Optic Cables

What Should You Know about Low-Smoke Zero Halogen Cables

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Halogen is a nonmetallic elements such as fluorine, chlorine, iodine or bromine. It is generally used as flame inhibitors in many plastics, including PVC that goes into cable insulation and electronic products. Halogens are a group of chemical elements including iodine, bromine, fluorine, astatine, and chlorine. When these elements are exposed to fire, they form hazardous gases which are harmful to harm the eyes, nose, lungs, and throat.
LSZH is a material category used to classify cable insulation. LSZH (Low Smoke Zero Halogen) cable insulation is made of materials designed to give of reduced smoke and no halogen when exposed to fire. When combined with other fire deterrents and control practices, Zero Halogen Cables can help reduce fire related casualties and property destruction. These cables will also don’t give off hazardous gas/acids or toxic smoke when exposed to fire.
LSZH cables decrease the extent of smoke produced through fire and is normally used in inadequately ventilated areas, for instance, airplane and some areas that people may be affected by smoke and toxic fumes.
Beside the halogen free features, LSZH cable also has lighter weight, this is convenient especially if the cables are run overhead in a dropped ceiling. At the same time, the impact of halogen free cables will also be lower if there is a fire because there are fewer toxic chemicals involved.
Many different Fiber Optic Cable suppliers are now making low-smoke, zero-halogen cables. And it is currently widely used in Europe and elsewhere in the world contains halogens. The European market is demanding that cables used in LANs. WANs, etc. Meet LSZH specification. The IEC 60332-1 governs the Flame Retardant Grade specifications in reference to LSZH cable.
Essentially the compound used in manufacturing cables meeting the above specifications reduces the amount of dangerous/poisonous gases in case of fire. The main difference in specifications between IEC 60332-1 versus UL 5181, UL 1666 and UL 910 is that the cable under the IEC specifications continue to burn while still emitting very low gases. UL specs demand that the flame be extinguished, but it can still be emit poisonous/dangerous gases.
Most safety advocates are calling for the used of LSZH cables, especially for the plenum space. Review your local building codes to determine if you must use LSZH cable. Non-LSZH cables will produce corrosive acids if they are exposed to water when burned; such acids may theoretically further endanger equipment.

A Comparison Of Multimode And Single Mode Cables

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Over the past few years, fiber optic cable has become more affordable and widely used. Fiber is ideal for high data-rate systems such as FDDI, multimedia, ATM, or any other network that requires the transfer of large, time-consuming data files. And the basic cables are multimode optic cable and single mode fiber.
A Comparison Of Multimode Cables And Single Mode Cables
Multimode cables have a larger core diameter than that of singlemode cables. This larger core diameter allows multiple pathways and several wavelengths of light to be transmitted. Singlemode Duplex cables and Singlemode Simplex cables have a smaller core diameter and only allow a single wavelength and pathway for light to travel. Multimode fiber is commonly used in patch cable applications such as fiber to the desktop or patch panel to equipment. Multimode fiber is available in two sizes, 50 micron and 62.5 micron. Singlemode fiber is typically used in network connections over long lengths and is available in a core diameter of 9 microns (8.3 microns to be exact).
Most building cables had 62.5/125 micron multimode fibers for LANs or security systems, while outside plant cables were all single-mode fiber. For some time, we have been encouraging people to install hybrid cables with both multimode fibers for today and single-mode fibers for the future regardless of the fiber optic cable price.
If you are transmitting from a smaller fiber core to a larger one, it is not a problem since the larger fiber like large core optical fiber will collect all the light from the smaller one with minimal loss. But if you transmit light from a larger fiber to a smaller one, the light in the larger core will overfill the smaller core and large losses will occur. How big are the losses we are talking about? Coupling a multimode fiber to a single-mode fiber will cause about 20 dB loss. Connecting a 62.5 fiber to a 50 micron core fiber will cause 2 to 4 dB loss, depending on the type of source (laser or LED). In any case, it can be enough loss to prevent network equipment from working properly.
Both 50 micron and 62.5 micron multimode fibers have the same cladding diameter and can use the same connectors and termination processes, but testing still requires using the correct matching fiber optics patch cords or the measured loss will be too low by a few tenths of a dB in one direction (50 to 62.5), or 2 to 4 dB too high the other way (62.5 to 50.)
Needless to say, these mismatched fiber losses affect the end user the same way they affect the installer, creating excess connection loss that can cause systems to malfunction or have high error rates, causing an expensive and annoying service call. Unfortunately, there is no optical mating adapter that will match two dissimilar fibers—although it has been tried many times. There is no solution other than preventing mismatched fiber terminations.

Have You Chosen the Right Cables Ties?

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You can frequently find racks, frames or panels in the cabling system. They are necessary components for cable management. However, sometimes you may easily forget about a small but helpful tool for cable management – that is cable tie. People’s first impression about cable tie is always a self-locking and colorful plastic strip. They think cables ties are pretty much the same. Seldom have they considered about whether they are choosing the right or not. In fact, cables ties have many different distinctions in construction, material, color, size and some special features. So do you want to know if your selection is right? Don’t worry. The following parts will give the explanation.
Cable ties have to be able to meet the most varied demands these days as they are used in the widest range of operations – from the simple bundling of cables with cable ties to the absolutely specific use of cable ties under extreme conditions. Thus, many factors are taken into consideration during the design of cable ties.
Cable Tie Construction
Cable ties can be classified as either one-piece or two-piece construction. One-piece cable ties typically have a plastic locking device molded into the head of the tie. The locking device ratchets the notched strap to tighten and lock. This design has a lower cost of manufacturing and is used for general applications around home or office. Compared to one-piece cable ties, two-piece cable ties are with higher performance. They consist of a stainless-steel locking device embedded into the head of the tie, and a smooth locking strap. This design offers high tensile strength, and resistance to mechanical and environmental stress for applications that require greater performance than what a general cable tie offers. In addition, the smooth, infinitely adjustable strap also allows for the exact bundled tightness. The head of the two-piece cable tie engages the strap when installed, and permanently locks in place. With a lower profile and smoother cross-section, the uniform cross-section distributes stress across the strap more evenly than with one-piece cable ties. Thus, the two-piece cable ties are more resistant to brittleness and breakage in harsh environments, particularly appropriate for harsh conditions, such as ultraviolet exposure, extreme temperature, and exposure to moisture or chemicals, as well as for applications where retrofitting is not an option.
Cable Tie Material
The material design of different cable ties also needs to consider for different applications, such as occurring indoors or outdoors; the environment’s temperature range; the presence of moisture, chemicals and radiation; flammability issues; and cost. Cable ties are available in a wide range of materials, each with its own specific properties. Among them, the most common type is nylon cable ties. Nylon ties can offer good resistance to weather and ultraviolet rays in lower temperatures. In addition, for applications in harsher environments that require extra durability in the face of heat, chemicals and other corrosive elements, there are stainless-steel cable ties.
Cable Tie Color
The most commonly used cable ties are white and black. But colorful cable ties are also popular with users. These cable ties with rainbow colors are very useful when you are trying to color-code your cables, or just want to match the ties to your equipment. Moreover, you can use different cable ties to mark different cables bunch which is convenient for cable management.
Cable Tie Size
When using cable ties, you should also consider the size and shape. First, be sure to measure the diameter of the cable bundle you’ll be tying and decide the length. In general, to buy cable ties with a little longer length is better. Because no one wants to find out at the last minute that the cable ties are too short to use. In addition to length, width or shape are also important considerations to choose optimal cable ties for your cable bunch.
Cable Tie Special Features
Though the standard-design cable ties can meet most of our requirements, sometimes, we still need something special for special applications. For instance, most cable ties lock permanently, but sometimes, we would prefer to looking for a solution that cable ties can be undone without actual cutting. Then, releasable cable ties have been launched in the market. In a releasable cable tie, the built-in locking tab can actually be disengaged, allowing the tail end of the tie to be pulled free from the head. Releasable cable ties tend to cost a little more than the standard type, but they save money and are more eco-friendly in the long run because you can reuse them over and over instead of just throwing them away. Additionally, for different special applications, there are mounted head cable ties, marker ties, etc.
Conclusion
It is very unprofessional to use random cable ties for your cable management. Knowing the secrets about cable ties can lead you to choose the matching cable ties for your applications. This will greatly reduce the unnecessary problems during actual practice. Actually, no matter cable ties or other assembles, each component of cabling system should not be underestimated. The right selection will greatly increase the efficiency of a cabling system.

what are differences of bare fiber,loose tube and tight buffer tube

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Bare fiber
From the fiber production process, which the composition of the fiber from the inside out: the core, cladding, a coating, and secondary coating. Optical signals in optical fibers are using light of the principle of total reflection. The glass fiber is the main channel of transmission of optical signals, the cladding is used to reflect the optical signal, and the coating is to protect the fragile core. Bare fiber means it has not been coated fiber.
Loose tube
The loose tube is outside layer of protection for fiber. Because of fiber’s very fragile, easily broken, which the production will be one or more optical fibers placed inside the loose tube, and then fill in the ointment. Then, coupled with strengthening the core which used to increase the fiber optic cable  strength and the outer sheath, such as aluminum foil and polyethylene jacket, became a fiber optic cable.
Tight buffer tube
With tight buffered single mode or multimode optical fiber secondary coating structure is called tight buffered optical fiber. The second set directly on the bare optical fiber is made of a coated optical fiber plastic, such as PVC, PVDF, LSZH, etc. It is the basic components for the manufacture of a variety of indoor cable, which can also be used alone. The tight buffer fiber can be used directly in pigtail for the connection of various types of optical active or passive components, instruments and terminal equipment connections.

Advantages of Using Patch cord

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Patch cord is an electrical or optical cable, which is used to connect one electronic or optical device to another for signal routing. Patch cords are the most niversal form of Ethernet cable available today. Patch cords are also used to route signals to mixing boards, processors, conditioners, drum machines and other instruments and components.
 The features that separate one type of electrical patch cord from another are thickness, safeguarding, length and connectors. Patch cords are most commonly found in computer network rooms. They are used to connect patch panels to network devices. This provides connection to the computers which are blocked in the remote network jacks. The patch cord provide a choice to select between single and multiple modes. With a multi-mode fiber patch in deployment, one need not to worry about the speed, bandwidth and transfer direction of data. With a fundamentally high speed and high accuracy system in place, fiber optic patch cords supply you a low attenuation connection between the fiber network cables or from the cable to the device. These cables are able to carry more than one signal over its length at the same time, in a way that no two signals conflict with each other.
This helps significantly in improving the bandwidth and data transfer rate of the cables. The material used to make these cables is glass and plastic. They are never made of metal. These materials are neither ferromagnetic and nor paramagnetic. While patch and crossover cables may look the same, they are used for two distinctive situations. A crossover cable is reqiured when connecting networks or computers together directly. However, if you are connecting computers to a switch, hub or router a patch cord is what you’ll need.

How Fiber-Optic Internet Works

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You’ve probably heard of fiber-optic Internet. You might even know that it delivers incredibly fast Internet to more than 10 million homes using a fiber-to-the-home connection (FTTH). But do you know what makes fiber Internet different?
The secret? Fiber-optic technology. Fiber-optic Internet uses different equipment and technology than other providers, making it faster and more reliable.
So – how does fiber-optic Internet work?
Optical cables
Traditional cable Internet services use underground networks of copper coaxial cables to transmit data to subscriber homes.
But fiber-optic Internet uses optical cables. . These cables are made up of thousands of optical fibers containing three parts:
The core: The center of the cable; the part that light travels through.
The cladding: Reflective optical material that surrounds the core.
The buffer coating: A plastic barrier that protects the optical cable.
More on fiber-optic cables
These optical cables are used to transmit the data signals that get you online.
Encoded light signals
Optical cables transmit data through encoded light signals, which travel through the core. The light is reflected back by the cladding, which allows signals to travel along the bends and turns of the cable.
What makes fiber different?
It’s fast
Using optical cables, data can travel extremely fast – so you get online quickly. Fiber providers deliver far faster connection speeds than DSL or coaxial cable providers.
It’s reliable
Optical cables don’t absorb the light that travels through them. Your data can travel longer distances, and your signal stays intact.
It’s consistent
According to FCC reports, fiber Internet consistently provides higher speeds than advertised.
Fiber TV and Phone
Fiber-optic technology isn’t just for Internet service. Some providers also offer television and phone services powered by fiber optics.
Fiber TV options
Fiber-optic TV, like fiber Internet, uses optical cables for faster transmission and clearer pictures. Fiber-optic technology allows fiber TV to deliver a wide variety of digital and HD channels. And the reliability of fiber-optic technology also means clear phone calls and more signals for your landline.