Fibre Optic Continuity Test

To run a continuity test on fiber optic cables you ll need to use a fiber optic tracer.

Fibre optic continuity test. The visual fiber tracer can verify continuity of a fiber optic path including any connections and ensure fibers are unbroken. 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. Similar to a common flashlight in appearance a fiber optic tracer uses only a low wattage led light source or light bulb. This type of fiber optic test is only intended to detect gross fiber defects such as macrobends.

Ignatow is a senior technical analyst with sprint paranet dallas tx a nationwide network services provider owned by sprint. 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. 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. A patch panel is basically an array of different ports for patching 2 cables together without splicing them like a breadboard.

One basic type of fiber optics tester is known as a fiber optic tracer or visual fiber tracer. You also need 2 fiber optic patch panels. If they don t purchase 2 fiber optic jumper cables separately. Possibly the most frequently used method is to use a safe visible light source particularly a safe high power visible.

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. 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. 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.

An overview of fiber optic continuity tests. Test kits typically come with 2 jumper cables which you need to complete the test.